On the threshold of immortality
When will people believe that they can live for 300 years, and what will it change
Alexey Aleksenko, Forbes, 05.03.2019.
The philosophy of life will change as soon as people realize that they can live for more than 75 years, says the founder of the Human Stem Cell Institute, Artur Isaev.
Photo by Alexander Karnyukhin for Forbes
Artur Isaev had already ten years of experience in entrepreneurship when in 2003 he decided to create a private biotechnology company "Human Stem Cell Institute" (ISCH). He just wasn't interested in making money anymore, he wanted to "get a good portion of inner satisfaction," he admits.
The main activities of the HSCC, whose capitalization exceeds 600 million rubles, are regenerative medicine, gene therapy and genetic diagnostics. The company has developed one of the world's first officially approved gene therapy techniques. Despite the international recognition of the ISC, Isaev still lives and develops business in Russia. "Mozart does not choose the fatherland," he explains. The businessman talked to Forbes about the problems of Russian biotech and the prolongation of human life.
– In the past year, two technology companies have reached a capitalization of $1 trillion at once. Why are the estimates in biotech at least an order of magnitude more modest?
– Monetary comparisons are irrelevant here: biomedicine confidently competes for primacy in terms of its impact on the technological revolution. One of the technical differences is related to investment cycles: in biotechnological projects, it is 7-10 years, compared with three years in IT startups. In information technology, whether it's cryptocurrencies or search engines, the b2c market is in your hands, and the biotech company is not allowed to reach the consumer by society itself: everything must pass through regulatory institutions, and this is a barrier to rapid capitalization growth. Another factor is the medical community, which studied on average 20 years ago. In healthcare, knowledge is slowly being updated, and because of this, the implementation cycle turns out to be longer. But it is quite possible to succeed in this cycle, which there are many examples of.
– Do you think that the impact of biotechnologies will grow?
– I'm sure of it. The prerequisites for this have matured, although medicine is not yet ready for the transition to a new reality. It has long been said that modern medicine should become preventive and personalized, but society is conservative: in most countries, 99% of doctor-patient contacts occur upon the fact of the disease. People don't believe in immortality. As soon as a person accepts the concept that he can live not 75, but 150 or 300 years, the whole philosophy of life will change. Children, marriage – everything takes on a different meaning. This applies even to abstract concepts: "homeland", for example, means completely different things depending on whether you live 60 or 1000 years. And, of course, this will mean the transition to preventive healthcare.
– When can this happen?
There are already signs that the situation is changing. The structure of people's expenses has changed significantly in recent years. If earlier a person invested the money earned in a house or a car, then for the new generation it is no longer as valuable for security as before. New services and technologies are changing the concept of life. A person can spend the released resources, for example, on a healthy lifestyle. Look at how many people are already using the first elements like fitness, aesthetic medicine or healthy eating. People began to spend significantly more money on this. There is no preventive healthcare on this list yet, but the situation will inevitably change. However, I will honestly say that those of our technologies that relate to prevention (I do not mean those related to reproductive genetics existing in healthcare) are very difficult to implement.
– The Human Stem Cell Institute is a rare example of a large biotech company that has been active in Russia for a decade and a half. Do you think your business model would be viable in another country, for example, in the USA?
– Yes, and it would be even more successful, because the environmental factor is of great importance. America is not comparable to anyone in terms of biotech, and even individual biotech clusters – San Francisco, Boston, San Diego - are many times superior to any of the European countries. This is due to the large and expensive healthcare, which allows very efficient selection of technologies that give even a small economic advantage. Large and expensive healthcare creates a good potential for capital investment and attracts investors to the industry. Look at the costs of first–in-class drugs in different countries - this is a good indicator of innovation. The share of the USA is about 60%, all European countries – 13%, Russia together with twenty fairly large countries, including Brazil – less than one percent. In the field of healthcare innovation, our market is about 400 times smaller than the American one. This is a big problem, how to solve it is a difficult question.
– And yet you are developing your business in Russia. What for?
– This is a painful question for me: why was all this done here? I will answer it with a quote from Bulat Okudzhava: "Mozart does not choose the fatherland." On the other hand, any company, even an American one, should focus on the global market. If this is taken into account, then the factor of the country of development takes on a completely different meaning. In recent years, we have been working as an accelerator, and I personally support several startups, and I build their ideology in this way. When young entrepreneurs are told: "Create a Russian biotech company, and you will be able to earn good money in Russia," is not true. We need to focus on the global market.
– Are there unique competencies in the field of biotech in our country?
– There are no unique competencies anywhere. There are strengths and weaknesses in different countries: in India, for example, antibodies and proteins are produced cheaply and efficiently. It seems to me that there is a good resource in Russia – the level of education at universities, although perhaps we are losing it now. Our scientists are known and appreciated in the world, but we are not talking about uniqueness.
– What prevents the creation of a modern biotech in Russia?
– Technology is developing rapidly. Today, the drivers of growth are concepts created not half a century ago, but 20-25 years ago. And at that time we were in complete ruin, and only in recent years we have started to innovate. On the other hand, in Russia recently – since 2008 – a lot of tools for the development of innovative business at the initial stages have been created. Then, in 2008, everything looked very speculative, but it was impossible to do it normally: you can't come to the desert and immediately start building biotech there. We have created different development institutions, some have become more successful, others less. A significant part of the funds went to the accumulation of experience. However, for 10 years now, different teams have been working in different directions and trying to convert the resources received into creating a high-tech economy.
– Is the Russian innovation infrastructure competitive?
– This is one of the main issues. We have a lot to work on and a lot to change. The innovation support system at the early stages is already sufficiently developed. The education system is at an acceptable level. And then the difficulties begin: the regulatory system is not yet very friendly to innovation. The legal system in matters of business and entrepreneurship is generally at a high level, but look: 99% of Russian laws are fine, but some of them are simply not being implemented. I have my own opinion about why it doesn't work, but the fact is that in general the environment is ineffective and it needs to be worked on.
– Nevertheless, you did everything right in this environment.
– Why did I succeed, but it will be difficult for an ordinary startup? Because I had experience working in this environment. And when a young entrepreneur comes, he should take the time to understand that on paper the rules are the same, but in fact they are different. Time is an expensive resource, and he spends it trying to realize that the announced rules are hypocrisy. Hypocrisy has become the country's economic problem.
– What can be done about it?
– Good question. It's almost like in medicine: until you admit that something hurts, and you start doing it, you can't solve the problem. I have to go to the doctor.
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