Page 14 - Genomic Medicine in Emerging Economies

Are Developing Countries and Emerging Economies Investing in Genomics? 3

nations that are investing in more productive capacity. They are moving away
from their traditional economies, which have relied on agriculture and the
export of raw materials. Leaders of developing countries want to create a better
quality of life for their people. Therefore, they are rapidly industrializing and
adopting a free market or mixed economy. Emerging markets are important
because they drive growth in the global economy.
In this book, we use the notions “developing country,” “emerging econo-
mies,” and “resource-limited settings” to denote an environment in which
(1) resources assigned for genomics research and infrastructure are scarce,
(2) access to genomic knowledge and information is restricted to only small
groups of highly qualified individuals, (3) clinical implementation of genom-
ics is limited to a handful of examples, (4) genomics education of healthcare
providers is poor or nonexistent, and/or (5) collaborative opportunities with
renowned institutions are rare in most cases because of geographical, societal,
political, or economic barriers.

ARE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND EMERGING
ECONOMIES INVESTING IN GENOMICS?

One of the challenges or criticisms facing the development and application of
new genomic technologies is the perception that these technologies will only
benefit the more developed and rich countries and that emerging economies
will not be able to afford the cost or will not have the necessary infrastructure
to successfully benefit from these new technologies. Emerging economies face
specific challenges with respect to the support genomics research. Compared
with developed countries, most developing countries lack the qualified per-
sonnel, infrastructure, and research centers that could spearhead the genera-
tion of new knowledge by training and educating young scientists, medical
students, clinicians, etc.

Developed countries in general devote an important portion of their GDP to
research and development expenditures. According to the WB this was the case
in 2015 for Germany (2.88% GDP), Denmark (3.01% GDP), Finland (2.90%
GDP), and Sweden (3.26% GDP). On the other hand, the research and devel-
opment investment in 2015 for developing countries was much lower, as illus-
trated by countries like Colombia (0.24% GDP), Chile (0.38% GDP), India
(0.63% GDP), and Thailand (0.63% GDP) (World Bank, 2015).
An interesting observation is that these limited investments in research could
either lead to a very limited and poor implementation of clinical genomic
practices or could, in some cases, lead to a successful more targeted develop-
ment and application of these new technologies.