Belgium

The Belgian system is complicated as many competencies, including research, are handled at the regional level. It is therefore often difficult, if not impossible, to get answers at a national level.

VIB (Flanders Inter University Institute for Biotechnology - incorporating all Flemish Universities) receives substantial backbone financing from the government of Flanders, covering about 40% of the research costs. Grants from local, regional, national and international bodies and collaboration with industry provide additional resources. The annual research budget for VIB amounts to €55 million.

Funding for stem cell research comes from the general research budget of the Institute. It is not possible to get a breakdown because at this present time one does not exist. However stem cell research comprises a 'not unimportant' element of research in Belgium.

As far as we are aware the funding situation is the same in Wallonia - there is no breakdown available from which it is possible to tell how much is spent on stem cell research.
What further complicates the picture is that stem cell research is often done in the context of other research so is not always clearly labelled as 'stem cell research'.

There are plans for a Belgian Institute for Stem Cell Research at the University of Leuven to be created and headed by Dr Marleen Verfaillie (see below), who will start work there in October. The focus will be on coronary heart disease and diabetes, building on research which is already underway.
Marleen Verfaillie recently returned to Belgium after spending a number of years working in the US at the University of Minnesota. She is most renowned for demonstrating that adult stem cells might be used in the treatment of certain diseases, thus offering an alternative to embryonic stem cell research.

Other high profile Belgian projects concentrate on use of stem cells for the treatment of cancer, Altzeimers and Parkinson's diseases.

Scientists in Belgium have recently discovered how to clone human embryos from eggs matured in a laboratory. This should make it easier for scientists to create embryonic stem cell lines from cloned embryos and develop them to provide eggs and sperm for infertile couples.

Although anecdotal evidence suggests that stem cell research is fairly high profile in Belgium (it is often mentioned in the press), an analysis of the emerging domain of stem cell research produced by the Catholic University of Leuven shows that Belgian patenting activity is low, accounting for only 12 patents. Account should however be taken of the fact that Belgium is a relatively small country (population 10 million) when considering this and other figures and statistics on the subject. It is also possible that Belgian researchers choose to register patents elsewhere than in Belgium (the point in 5 below about international collaboration may be relevant here also).

In terms of publication output, Belgium produced 1.2% of world research in the area of stem cells between 1994 and 2003.

The conclusion of the report is that Belgian focus on stem cell research and technology can be typified as rather 'neutral'.

Therapeutic cloning is legally allowed in Belgium. Reproductive cloning is banned, as is the case in many other countries.

Under the 2003 legislation therapeutic cloning is allowed after agreement by the authorities. Conditions are that:

• The research has to be for therapeutic purposes
• The research has to be based on recent scientific knowledge
• The research has to be carried out by a registered laboratory
• Research can only use embryos up to 14 days of development
• No alternative with use of animal embryos is possible
• The method and chances of success must be extensively documented.

A Federal Advisory Committee for Bioethics monitors the situation.

It may be relevant that the UK and Belgium were the lead co-sponsors of a draft resolution on therapeutic cloning at the UN General Assembly in 2004; this was up against a competing, and more restrictive draft sponsored by Costa Rica and supported notably by the US.

Belgian research is highly integrated into international research, including with the UK. The report mentioned above shows that Belgian stem cell patents reflect co-operation with the Netherlands, USA, Germany, France and the UK.
In a recent interview Prof Cassiman (Genetics expert, University of Leuven) said he expects that in the future Eastern countries such as Korea will be able to progress stem cell research more quickly than Western countries because of their looser ethical restrictions.

There would be scope to attract Belgian scientists to the UK as this is currently not done on a systematic basis. There is however an awareness in Belgium of the 'brain drain' to other countries highlighted by Flemish Minister for Research, Fientje Moerman, who recently announced a financial incentives package for Belgian academic researchers returning from overseas.

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