KARACHI, Jan 7: Director of the Institute of Pharmacology, Georgetown University Medical Centre, United States, has called for greater collaboration between local research institutions and drug development centres in the developed world.

"Research institutions in Pakistan are currently at an embryonic stage and they will have to do a lot in order to compete internationally," said Prof Aquilur Rehman while delivering a lecture on "Genetic Manipulation in Cancer Therapy" at the Department of Microbiology, University of Karachi, on Wednesday.

Dr Rehman, who is an expert on gene therapy in cancer treatment, said considerable success was being achieved by scientists in the developed countries working on production of new drugs for cure of various types of cancers.

He said hundreds of billions of dollars were being spent on research for treatment of cancers through gene therapy and scientists were trying to target "Raf-1" special gene, found in cancerous cells to fight the disease. According to him, although some kinds of cancers including leukemia were still untreatable, researchers had been successful in inventing new drugs to fight breast, colon and prostrate gland cancers with the help of chemo and gene therapies.

Answering a question, he said Pakistani scientists and researchers serving at international research institutions and universities had the spirit and desire to return and serve their motherland but what they needed was research facilities of international standards. - PPI