The Monkey Man

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

25 years ago, in my first job in the USA, I assumed a challenge in my new business development role. It entailed working for a biotech company with endocrinology-based immunodiagnostic products to measure hormone and peptide levels in human serum — all Greek and Latin then to my lexicon!

All of my formal educational training was a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a USA post-graduate MBA degree. My single ray of hope to cope with the industry understanding was my overwhelming passion for healthcare that I covertly harboured right from my childhood days.

Hundreds of products and their features to learn their technical details and clinical application usage as well – an exercise in gargantuan proportions. Products had their usage in research and clinical setting, and the narrative had to be designed accordingly. Their application was in human samples with the well-defined protocol for use in clinical laboratories, with an FDA (Food & Drug Administration) scrutinized approval that was indicated in the package inserts that accompanied these products.

The beauty of these products lies in the eyes of the beholder — the research community! America revels in research grants and researchers tweak the procedures to make them work to achieve their desired outcome. Grants are aplenty that fund the bravehearts with sources being consortiums, pharmaceutical companies, and a few more. Findings are presented in research papers of leading scientific journals and symposia to gain an approval nod from peers and the larger world scientific community. These research expeditions happen in several other human body fluids like saliva, and animal samples.

At a scientific conference, a lady approached me and inquired about our product usage in primates. Within the four walls of our company, we had not validated in monkey samples, mostly rhesus macaque and marmosets species. I convinced my management to sponsor these studies, in exchange for research data – a win-win for both.

Monkey Data started to flow in — a new chapter for our products. To design newer studies and further the breakthrough research findings, I made frequent trips to the primate centres in Atlanta, Georgia and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It's indeed a rare sight to watch these species being subjects of study, specifically the marmosets which are tiny yet hyper-active. The vast expanse of the well-endowed facilities was a standout feature. I shared my experience with my colleagues during lunch-time discussions.

In 1998, I made another visit to the centre in Atlanta. A couple of days later they reported a freak accident. During the transportation of a caged monkey, its body fluid splashed onto a research assistant’s eyes who was hospitalised and died a few days later. It made headline news; my colleagues knew about my trip and made kind inquiries about my health. After this, I was nervous to tread the research path!

So much for the monkey business while I was aptly nicknamed “The Monkey Man.”