3 rd International Conference on Engineering Professional Ethics and Education 2013 (ICEPEE’13) Ethics of Trending in Pharmaceutical & Therapeutic- related Biotechnology Abeir Hussein M. Gameil Dept of Biotechnology Engineering International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Nassereldeen. A. Kabbashi* Bio-Environmental Research Centre, Dept of Biotechnology Engineering International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia nasreldin@iium.edu.my Abstract—There exist a large disparity between the developed and developing countries, in terms of accessing affordable medication. Pharmaceuticals are generally costly; due to the high capital costs involved, as well as the cost of abiding by regulations, standardization, safety & purity concerns. However, it can also be observed that the biotechnology industry has shifted focus towards health areas that would bring the most profits. This may seem alright when the health areas are those related to diseases that rank high in mortality. However, what of health areas that do not put the patients in mortal danger, for example, skin diseases, weight-loss, and hair loss? Compared to cancer, diabetes, asthma, and kidney failure, obviously these issues, whilst being damaging to self-esteem & social life, are not as severe. On the other hand, there are children who have rare and debilitating diseases that limit their life expectancy to childhood. If the industries as well as the research funders continue to trend this way, what would remain of funds for these diseases? This paper seeks to enlighten on the underlying ethical dangers of this trend. The paper also re-emphasizes the value of technology transfer in aiding research related to these diseases for purposes of early diagnosis as well as therapeutics, through biotechnology. Keywords: ethics, pharmaceuticals, rare diseases, technology transfer. I. INTRODUCTION Many researchers in the field of biotechnology often shirk from taking projects related to rare and debilitating diseases, and are content to work with less challenging work. As a result, a trend can be seen that favors more profitable areas in pharmaceutical and therapeutic biotechnology. Before we can address this issue, we should first understand the term ‘rare and debilitating diseases’. Debilitating diseases are diseases that make a person very weak or infirm, according to the Oxford Dictionary (British English). A rare disease, also referred to as an orphan disease, is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. Most rare diseases are genetic, thus they tend to be chronic and present throughout the person's entire life, even though symptoms may not appear immediately. Many rare diseases appear early in life, and about 30 percent of children with rare diseases will die before reaching their fifth birthday. A disease may be considered rare in one part of the world or amongst a particular group of people, but still be common in another. An example is cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease: it is rare in most parts of Asia but relatively common in Europe and in populations of European descent. Within smaller communities, the founder effect can result in a disease that is very rare worldwide being prevalent in that community. Many genetic and infectious diseases are found to be prevalent in a given 82