H E A LT H & S C I E NC ESUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017

World’s first museum of the

polar lands opens in France

Aims to show ‘the beauty of polar landscapes’PREMANON: As global warming reshapes theArctic and Antarctic, a new museum built by theson of a renowned French explorer aims to show“the beauty of polar landscapes” and illustrate theconsequences of climate change. The centre in east-ern France is “the only permanent museum devotedto the Arctic and Antarctic in the world,” said com-munications director Anthony Renou.

Built in the shape of a jutting iceberg and with60 percent of its volume buried underground, themuseum was conceived by anthropologist Jean-Christophe Victor-son of the French polar explorerPaul-Emile Victor-and Stephane Niveau, a naturalist.Once inside, visitors are plunged into a world ofintense white. Huge video screens show the icecaps amid the noise of an icy blizzard.

Photographs, items from polar expeditions andvideo presentations-on ecosystems, rising sea levels,indigenous peoples and other themes-bring thepolar environment to life and expose its vulnerabilityto global warming. The Arctic’s surface temperaturehas risen by more than two degrees Celsius (3.6degrees Fahrenheit) since the late 19th century-dou-ble the pace of the world as a whole. At the other endof the planet, scientists are most concerned aboutAntarctica’s western peninsula, sitting underneath akilometer-thick ice sheet with enough frozen waterto lift global sea levels by six or seven meters.

70,000 visitors per year? Warming air and ocean water are eroding dam-

like seaside formations called ice shelfs that preventmassive inland glaciers from sliding more quicklyinto the ocean. The museum, Espace des MondesPolaires Paul-Emile Victor, provides a visually com-pelling tutorial on these changes.

“The idea was to open a place that could serveas a support to teaching about the polar world,while approaching it in a playful way,” said themuseum’s director Stephane Niveau. Jean-Christophe Victor, who died in December at the ageof 69, had said he wanted to make visitors “feel thebeauty of these polar landscapes and lights, of thedisproportion of man in relation to the naturewhich surrounds him”.

The museum highlights objects and documentsfrom the expeditions involving his father, a pioneerof modern ecology who documented the polarwilderness. Paul-Emile Victor died in 1995 at age 87.The adventurer, who spent much of his childhoodin the region where the museum is located, carriedout his first missions to Greenland in 1934. Themuseum includes a documentation centre which isaccessible to researchers, a skating rink and a con-ference hall. The local authorities which manage theestablishment hope to attract 50,000 to 70,000 visi-tors per year. —AFP

PREMANON: This file photo taken on February 23, 2017 shows people visit the Paul-Emile Victor museum on February 23, 2017 in the French eastern village ofPremanon. —AFP photos

PREMANON: This file photo taken on February 23, 2017 shows People visiting thePaul-Emile Victor museum.

PREMANON: A child run past a mock whale tail during a visit at the Paul-Emile Victor museum.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trumphas chosen Dr Scott Gottlieb, a conservativehealth policy expert with deep ties to thepharmaceutical industry, to lead the USFood and Drug Administration, the WhiteHouse said on Friday. If confirmed by theSenate, Gottlieb would be in charge ofimplementing Trump’s plan to dramaticallycut regulations governing food, drugs, cos-metics, dietary supplements and tobacco.

Gottlieb is well known on Capitol Hill,where he has testified multiple times onhot-button health issues, including com-plex drug pricing matters, and is viewedfavorably by drug companies and pharma-ceutical investors. He sits on the boards ofseveral small drug and biotech companiesand is an adviser to GlaxoSmithKline Plc.“Thank God it’s Gottlieb,” Brian Skorney, aninvestment analyst at Robert W. Baird, wrotein a research note. “We view this as a favor-able development for the sector.”

Gottlieb was chosen over Jim O’Neill, alibertarian investor close to Silicon Valleybillionaire Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founderwho now advises Trump on technology andscience matters. O’Neill’s stated view thatdrugs should be approved before beingproven effective generated widespreadalarm. Gottlieb, 44, is a resident fellow at theconservative American Enterprise Institutethink tank and a partner at a large venturecapital fund. He is a former FDA deputycommissioner who has advocated a loosen-ing of requirements needed for approval ofnew medical products.

“Scott knows how the agency works andhe will move it forwards, though maybe notalways in ways the agency is comfortablewith,” said John Taylor, a lawyer and presi-dent of compliance and regulatory affairswith the consulting firm Greenleaf Healthand a former acting FDA deputy commis-sioner. In addition to his public health andhealth policy roles, Gottlieb has for the pastdecade been a partner at New EnterpriseAssociates, a large venture fund with invest-ments in the life sciences, medical technolo-gy and healthcare services.

Significant changes expected Critics of the nomination say Gottlieb’s

financial background present an array ofpotential conflicts of interest. Dr MichaelCarome, director of Public Citizen’s HealthResearch Group, said Gottlieb “has spentmost of his career dedicated to promotingthe financial interests of the pharmaceuticalindustry.” If confirmed, he added, “he willhave to be recused from key decisions timeand time again.”

Stephen Ubl, a spokesman for thePharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers

of America, said it “looks forward to workingwith Dr. Gottlieb in his new role and engagingwith him and the Agency as they seek tomodernize the drug discovery and reviewprocess.” Gottlieb, who declined to commenton the nomination, is unlikely to up-end theFDA in the way O’Neill might have, but he isnonetheless expected to bring significantchange, including moving the agency toincrease flexibility in the clinical trial develop-ment process.

In this he will be supported by therecently passed 21st Century Cures Actwhich instructs the FDA among otherthings to consider the use of “real world evi-dence” to support new drug applications.This could include anecdotal data, observa-tional studies and patient reports. “Peopledon’t want to take chances with safety, butthere’s increasingly some clamor to be moreflexible on the efficacy side,” said KathleenSanzo, who leads the FDA practice at thelaw firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. “Youneed to have some signal of efficacy. Thequestion is, how much?”

The FDA has attempted to push backagainst moves to sideline randomized clini-cal trials, long considered the gold stan-dard. In January it issued a report docu-menting 22 cases in which drugs thatappeared to show promise in early trialsturned out to be either ineffective or unsafeor both in larger trials.

One of Gottlieb’s priorities will likely beto streamline the process for approvinggeneric versions of complex, difficult-to-copy therapeutics. He has stated publiclythat he does not believe the FDA hasgood tools or policies to move such prod-ucts and has advocated the creation ofdifferent approval standards. “He’s athoughtful and nuanced kind of guy, andnot solely an industr y shil l ,” said JimShehan, head of Lowenstein Sandler ’sFDA regulatory practice.

A survey conducted by MizuhoSecurities USA Inc of 53 pharmaceuticalexecutives found that 72 percent favoredGottlieb over other potential candidates.Many described him as knowledgeable,experienced and balanced. “Gottlieb issomeone who the industry and investorsview as an incremental positive,” said RBCCapital Markets analyst Michael Yee. “Theindustry and investors need rational scien-tific logic and an understanding of risks andbenefits.” Patient advocates welcomed thenews. Gottlieb “has firsthand experience atthe FDA and as aphysician that has treatedpatients understands the breadth of workthat needs to be achieved on their behalf,”said Ellen Sigal, founder of Friends of CancerResearch. —Reuters

Trump chooses Gottlieb for FDA,

Pharma breathes sigh of relief

LIMA: Potatoes on Mars? Scientists arereporting promising results growing thetuber under conditions that mimic the RedPlanet in an experiment in Peru linked to USspace agency NASA. “Preliminary results arepositive,” the International Potato Center (CIP)said this week after a potato grew under sim-ulated Mars atmospheric conditions in anexperiment in Lima.

The CIP, in a report, said a potato wasplanted in a specially constructed CubeSatcontained environment built by engineersfrom the University of Engineering andTechnology in Lima. The experiment ranfrom February 14 to March 5. “Growingcrops under Mars-l ike condit ions is animportant phase of this experiment,” said

Julio Valdivia-Silva, a Peruvian astro-biolo-gist at UTEC in L ima who previous lyworked at NASA.

“If the crops can tolerate the extremeconditions that we are exposing them to inour CubeSat, they have a good chance togrow on Mars,” he said, adding that severalrounds of experiments will be conducted tofind out which potato varieties do best.Potatoes, one of the world’s largest foodcrops, are believed to have first been culti-vated by the Inca Indians in Peru around8,000 to 5,000 BC.

The potential ability of potatoes to growunder such conditions could signal promisefor food supplies under climate change andextreme environments. “The results indi-

cate that our efforts to breed varieties withhigh potential for strengthening food secu-rity in areas that are affected, or will beaffected by climate change, are working,”said CIP potato breeder Walter Amoros. Thecustom environment for the Potatoes onMars project was based upon designs andadvice provided by NASA. The scientists“concluded that future Mars missions thathope to grow potatoes will have to preparesoil with a loose structure and nutrients toallow the tubers to obtain enough air andwater to allow it to tuberize,” CIP said. Theyused very dry soils found in the southernPeruvian desert, noting they are the mostMars-l ike soils found on Ear th. The CIPexperiment is set to last five years. —AFP

Scientists grow potato under

Mars-like conditions in Peru