Does Polish science have something to boast about? We are, of course, talking about the area of biomedicine.
Yes, in addition to being a researcher for more than 20 years, I am also the director of the Necki Institute, which is the largest scientific center conducting research in the discipline of biomedical sciences. All of our projects are related to understanding how an organism should work and what causes disorders and disease development to suddenly occur. In such a discipline, we are good as scientists and recognized internationally. On the other hand, a very large part of the research carried out at scientific institutes is basic research, giving us answers as to why a cell or an entire organ stops functioning properly. Often, when we manage to find that answer, we publish great scientific papers, while later nothing happens in terms of implementation in the clinic. This is one of the things that should certainly be changed in Polish science and the scientific, biomedical community.
I look at the data: in 2023 alone, a record number of applications to start clinical trials were registered in Poland. For example, in the area of hematology there are a lot of them. What happens after that? Clinical trials are conducted?
Yes. It's interesting to note that there is actually a lot of clinical research going on in Poland, but it's mostly commissioned research by large foreign biotech companies that have branches in our country and benefit from access to patients and doctors. They are conducting clinical trials, which is of course a good thing, because if we have a new drug that has been tested, it will also find its way to the Polish market, and we will all benefit from that. On the other hand, if we wanted to look at how many clinical trials of medical compounds or medical products that have been developed in Poland, we would be greatly surprised, because in fact I know of maybe two such cases where inventions made in Poland or discoveries made by Polish scientists have made it to clinical trials. And this is one such thing that concerns me personally.
And what is the reason for this?
I have my own theory on the subject. Someone may say that we don't have enough money for research. Yes, we don't have enough money, but there is research that has been well-funded, groups of scientists who are really great, research results that are very promising from the point of view of application in the clinic or implementation in the biomedical market, and nothing happens... I see that we lack systemic experience of what to do with promising result...
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