Out of Compassion of Out of Rights? A Story about an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Human Clinical Trial

This article examines the intersection of compassion and rights, and how the two concepts are constituted and wielded in the context of human clinical trials. Doron, an ALS patient who was recruited to a clinical trial, believed that he had the right to post-trial treatment according to the wording of an informed consent form he signed before joining the trial. However, the biotech company sponsoring the trial instead offered him ‘compassionate use’ access, i.e., access at its discretion rather than as a legal obligation on its part. I argue that under a ‘bioeconomy of value’, the human clinical trial regime has been subordinated to two competing discourses: that of compassion and that of patients’ rights. Both are interpreted and deployed differently by the different stakeholders, namely the patient, the biotech company, and the medical establishment. I argue that the adoption, by bioeconomy actors, of a social value discourse of compassion is designed to preserve a hierarchy that deprives the patient of their power and their rights. Simultaneously, this practice highlights the power of the biotech industry as a moral partner and ‘saviour’ in its relationship with patient organisations and its role as a medical–scientific actor in the Israeli healthcare system.

From Standard to Region-specific Monocrops

Industrial agriculture has promoted the expansion of monocrops around the world, aided by the circulation of highly standardized plant varieties. However, given the adverse environmental effects of this agricultural approach (such as genetic erosion) and the challenges posed by climate change, some biotech companies are trying to complexify industrial agriculture’s relationship to “place”. They are beginning to consider local particularities in the design of seed products. Focusing on the experience of an Argentinian biotech company, this article explores the creation of microbial seed treatments that claim to be “region-specific” and whose production is mediated by novel meta-genomic techniques. Through the notions of association and mediation, the article reflects on the diverse meanings of region-specificity (geographical, environmental, relational) that are mobilized in the creation of these products. In this way, the article highlights the role of computational technologies, plants, and microorganisms in the shaping of scientific and corporate meanings of place.

A Study on Biopesticides Market in Telangana

Biopesticides are a crucial component of integrated pest management programs for pest control. In India, so far only 12 types of biopesticides have been registered under the Insecticide Act, 1968. The present study entitled 'A study on biopesticides market in Telangana’ was intended to examine the marketing mix and BCG Matrix for selected biopesticide companies, awareness towards biopesticides. The results revealed that K N Bioscience company, Pratibha Biotech company and Varsha Bioscience company biopesticide products are useful for all crops and these companies products are mostly available in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat region. The prices of chemical pesticides in all categories are more than the price of biopesticides whereas the price difference ranges between Rs 230 to Rs 680. The BCG analysis shows that Verchi power and Paci-N power products of K N Bioscience company fall in the stars quadrant, Biostrom and Shock products of Varsha Bioscience company fall under the question marks quadrant, CID, Pro-kill and De-bug are the products of Pratibha Biotech company fall in cash cow quadrant. VBT and Toxin products of Varsha Bioscience company fall under the dog's quadrant.

Teams That Innovate: The Language of Difference-Driven Inquiry at the Workplace

Leveraging a team’s diverse perspectives can be a powerful way to foster team innovation. A common approach to leverage team differences involves tool-based approaches, including brainstorming, mind-mapping, and whiteboarding. However, the effective use of ideational tools as a means to innovation often assumes high levels of team cohesion and productivity—dynamics that may not be safe to assume, especially in teams with high levels of diversity. This study investigates how workplace teams at a Biotech company use discourse to innovate, and in doing so, instantiate a larger rhetorical practice known as difference-driven inquiry.

First person – Alessandra Gallo

ABSTRACTFirst Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Alessandra Gallo is first author on ‘Role of the Sec22b–E-Syt complex in neurite growth and ramification’, published in JCS. Alessandra currently works as a medical affairs manager for the biotech company Alzohis, Paris, France, in the lab of Romain Verpillot, investigating the molecular mechanisms of neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration.

A new platform for drug discovery

Professor Tuomas Knowles gained his PhD in biophysics from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 2007 and went on to work at Harvard University (MA, USA) before returning to Cambridge as a lecturer, gaining professorship in 2015. He is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Fluidic Analytics (Cambridge, UK), a biotech company developing next-generation protein analysis platforms that operate under native conditions in solution. Here he speaks to Future Drug Discovery Editor Jennifer Straiton about Fluidic Analytics' new platform Fluidity One-W, discussing how it works and what benefit it can bring to the field of drug discovery.