EDITORIAL
Biotech grant helps emerging industry

At one level, it is hard to take much pleasure from the fact that Hawai'i's biotech industry has been given a boost because of the threat of global bioterrorism.

Still, there's no getting past the fact that the state's dream of becoming a major biotech center took a strong step forward last week.

Hawaii Biotech Inc. announced that it has received a $15.5 million grant to begin pre-clinical development of West Nile fever and dengue fever vaccines.

The grant, through the National Institutes of Health, is prompted by Washington's concern about the growing threat of globalized disease, either spread deliberately by terrorists or through more natural means.

The recent experience with SARS is an excellent example. So while the threat of bioterrorism helps support this research, probing the frontiers of this science will have important benefits even in a time of peace.

It has long been argued that Hawai'i has a natural niche as a biotech research center. We have access to the vast resources, known and unknown, of the Pacific Ocean as well as to the still largely unexplored resources of the tropical rainforest.

Another advantage for Hawai'i is our excellent reputation as a place for clinical trials. Honolulu's compact geography, well-established infrastructure of hospitals and other healthcare facilities and our multiethnic population make it an ideal site for clinical trials.

The latest federal grant to Hawaii Biotech Inc. is relatively small in the overall picture. But in time, this step — along with other advances such as the emergence of a UH medical and research center in Kaka'ako — may be remembered as one of the moments when the dream of creating a vital new high-tech industry in Hawai'i moved to reality.