Then they have to be decoded to see how each gene functions and malfunctions, causing diseases like cancer. The head of the Human Genome Project, Francis Collins, predicts that it will take up to seven years to locate the genes that cause heart disease, asthma and manic depression. Drug companies could design not just general drugs for illnesses that often have side effects and sometimes don't work, but custom-made treatment for an individual virtually guaranteed to be effective. Dr Collins believes the potential to cure crippling illnesses such as Alzheimer's is breathtaking, but the price is the misuse of genetic information in areas like employment against people whose genes portend future risk of illness. All that is decades away, but with more knowledge come more challenges and hard commercial realities.
Drug companies believe there are billions to be made.
Thousands of patent applications have been lodged, on the off chance that the identified gene just might one day be a vital one. Just the rumors about an imminent announcement of the sequencing of the human genome saw Celera's share price shoot up by more than 15per cent. That comes after stock market jitters in March, with the joint warning by President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair that such profound work should be for all, not for profit. With the unveiling to the world of the human genome, there will be a short-lived truce between the competing camps that, in the end, seem to have declared a dead heat. The Age Company Ltd 2000.