Asian Biosafety Practices Fall Short of International Standards.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- A report recently released by Sandia National Laboratories shows that researchers in 16 Asian countries often use insufficient biosafety practices. Biosafety Level (BSL) 2 practices are often employed for research involving BSL 3 agents. Nearly two-thirds of respondents investigating Japanese encephalitis, avian influenza, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) - which are all BSL 3 agents - perform their research under BSL 2 specifications.

This report was produced under contract by BioInformatics, LLC, an Arlington, VA-based research and consulting firm, and is now publicly available on the Sandia Web site. BioInformatics used its cutting-edge research expertise to create this report on Asian biosafety and biosecurity research practices in support of Sandia National Laboratories' Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Department.

"This research is simply an extension of the types of analyses we perform regularly for a variety of clients in the life science industry -- all of whom are interested in obtaining insights into the minds of life scientists," observed Dr. Tamara Zemlo, Director of Syndicated Research and Analysis. "Understanding the current practices and future needs of life scientists can be important for a variety of reasons -- from benchmarking technological innovation to evaluating the commercial potential of new product lines to assessing potential bioterror risks at home and abroad."

For this report, BioInformatics surveyed 300 scientists to assess the current practices employed in studying infectious agents by laboratories located in 16 Asian countries -- segmented by the level of biotechnological sophistication.

BioInformatics also performed an in-depth review of the tools and technologies supporting biodefense research, which is available in their 2004 report, "Market Opportunities in Biodefense Research." This report provides a thorough analysis of the commercial opportunities in this fast-growing and well-funded market.

The full report on Asian biosecurity is available at http://www.biosecuritycodes.org/docs/ Asia%20summary%20SAND%20report%20final.pdf (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

ABOUT BIOINFORMATICS, LLC

BioInformatics, LLC is a research and consulting firm located in Arlington, Virginia. BioInformatics supports marketing, sales and R&D executives in the life science, medical device and pharmaceutical industries through published research reports, custom research and consulting. BioInformatics sponsors the world's largest market research panel of scientific customers -- The Science Advisory Board (http://www.scienceboard.net) -- which consists of more than 30,000 scientists, physicians and other life science and medical professionals from 62 countries who participate in surveys that address emerging technologies, test customer reactions to new product concepts, measure brand awareness and assess advertising effectiveness.