A lack of world-class laboratories for viral testing means work on preventive treatment may be moved to Taiwan
Hong Kong could lose its chance to be a pioneer in Sars research because it has too few world-class laboratories to carry out viral testing, according to both local and overseas medical researchers.
The warning came after US-based pharmaceutical firm PRB Pharmaceuticals discovered the limitations of Hong Kong's high-security research facilities. PRB was forced to stop testing its anti-Sars product Vira-38 in September, when the laboratory it was using was closed down, and no other local lab was available to continue the work.
The Prince of Wales Hospital, which is the Chinese University's teaching hospital, had to stop cultivating the Sars virus at its 'level-three' laboratory after it failed to meet international standards for handling the risky procedure. A second level-three lab, at the Department of Health, is not available to the private sector.
PRB approached Hong Kong's only other level-three laboratory, at the University of Hong Kong, last month but was told it was too busy with its own Sars research to help carry out further testing for outsiders.
Under World Health Organisation guidelines, only level-three, or BSL-3 (biosafety laboratory 3), laboratories are secure enough to work on active Sars viruses.
PRB warned that it might have to move the whole project to Taiwan if it failed to receive the technical support it needed from the local medical community or the government.
