COP29, AMR, and a busy week in D.C.

A busy week in Washington begins, and we recap what you need to know about COP29, antimicrobial resistance, and more news on infectious disease. (1050 words, 5 minutes, 15 seconds)

From Washington State to Baku, biotech climate innovations on display

As the world gathers in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the COP29 United Nations Climate Summit, BIO is ensuring biotech’s role in addressing climate policy and food security is part of the conversation.

What’s happening at COP29:BIO organized a panel on Saturday, “Leveraging Biotech Value Chains to Advance Food Security and Sustainability,” to discuss ways to improve the landscape for biobased innovations in sustainable agriculture, biobased feedstocks, and biomanufacturing. Tamra Spielvogel, BIO’s Senior Director, Climate Policy, also joined a side event, “Materials to Systems: Scaling Finance for Energy Efficiency, Clean Energy & Biobased Solutions,” and a panel discussing “circular bioeconomy solutions from the land.”

BIO’s take: “Leveraging of biotechnology innovation is going to be key in order to enable advances in climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience” and in providing food security, according to Spielvogel. 

Case in point: BIO member Okanagan Specialty Fruits switched off a gene in apples to produce a fruit that won’t brown after slicing—reducing waste that harms the climate and food security.

What’s happening in Washington State:BIO organized a visit to Okanagan’s facility by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), who belongs to the bipartisan Congressional Food Recovery Caucus, which seeks to fight food waste.

Okanagan’s take: “A big platform for our future is really in disease resistance, things like fire blight resistance and bringing forward apples that will basically be able to defend themselves against those diseases,” CEO Neal Carter said.

Read more at Bio.News. 

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), center-left, and Okanagan Specialty Fruits CEO Neal Carter, center-right, with other employees of the company, during the congress member's visit.

What you need to know about AMR

AMR—antimicrobial resistance—is an ever-worsening threat, and we need to develop new antimicrobials quickly. As U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week and World AMR Awareness Week begin, we look at the growing risk of AMR and what can be done to effectively combat it today and in the years to come.

Antimicrobial resistance is when bacteria and fungi no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat.

Why it matters: According to a Sept. 2024 Lancet report, in the next quarter century, researchers project 169 million deaths associated with AMR, and more than 39 million deaths directly from AMR infections. This puts the public health burden of AMR higher than many global epidemic-level diseases like HIV/AIDS.

“We know we’re racing against time,” said Emily Wheeler, BIO’s Vice President of Infectious Disease Policy at the World AMR Congress. Yet, despite the crisis, the pipeline for new antimicrobials is “fundamentally broken.”

The scale of the challenge: “Though there is exciting science in discovery and development, these innovations face a post-approval ecosystem that makes it near impossible to stay afloat. We’re facing a drought in bringing these innovations out of R&D and effectively to patients, just when we need a flood of new therapeutic options,” she explained.

Passing the PASTEUR Act would help. Reintroduced in April 2023 by a group of bipartisan U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives, the PASTEUR Act would create a system through which the government could “enter into contracts with innovators to pay for consistent access to novel antimicrobials with payments that are decoupled from the volume of antimicrobials used,” explained Wheeler.” BIO is one of more than 230 organizations supporting the PASTEUR Act.

5 stories to read (and share) about why AMR matters:

1. AMR continues to pose a global threat
2. BIO at the World AMR Congress: ‘We know we’re racing against time’
3. AMR infections increased 20% during COVID-19 – and continue to pose a threat
4. AMR vaccines might be a new tool to fight this global health threat
5. Sepsis Awareness Month: 3 things you need to know about sepsis

Milken Summit: BIO’ s John F. Crowley calls for innovations in access

Biotech breakthroughs enable advances in treating and preventing disease, but we need similar levels of innovation in access, BIO President & CEO John F. Crowley told the prestigious Milken Institute’s Future of Health Summit.

The key takeaway: Innovation and access are top strategic priorities when it comes to enabling biotech’s benefits, Crowley said.

On innovation: “The science and medicine is here. We just need to make sure we’ve got an infrastructure and ecosystem that helps us,” Crowley said. This requires a resilient supply chain, capital, intellectual property protection, and new approaches to clinical trials.

On access: Half the revenue from a medicine goes to drug developers. “The rest of it is lost in the system,” he said. “You’ve got the [pharmacy benefit managers] and wholesalers, and pharmacies. We need transparency in that.”

A call for innovation in access: “President Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act eight years ago. We need a 21st Century Access Act—reimagined co-pays, out-of-pocket costs, the whole system,” according to Crowley.

Read more at Bio.News.

What Else to Read This Week

Measles is on the rise globally due to low childhood vaccination numbers, according to the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Measles is preventable with two doses of the measles vaccine; yet more than 22 million children missed their first dose of the measles vaccine in 2023,” says the joint announcement. “Coverage of 95% or greater of two doses of measles vaccine is needed in each country and community to prevent outbreaks.”

Oregon reported its first human case of avian flu and California reported five new cases Friday, per the University of Minnesota. This brings the total number of human cases reported in the U.S. this year to 52, with half in California. Most cases appear to be from exposure to infected farm fowl or dairy cattle. Federal and state officials are calling for expanded testing among farm workers.

Beltway Report: What's Ahead in Washington

President Biden is attending the G20 Summit in Río de Janeiro.

On Capitol Hill, Congress’s Joint Economic Committee tomorrow will look at “building on the successes” of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which requires companies to amortize R&D expenses over five years, reducing the full deduction to 20% annually. The House Appropriations Committee has scheduled a hearing tomorrow on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with NIH Director Monica M. Bertagnolli. The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing, “Meeting the Challenges of Global Brain Health: Diagnosis and Treatment for the 21st Century,” on Wednesday.

BIO is busy in D.C., too. The BIO Clinical Trial Diversity Summit takes place tomorrow at Howard University, bringing together stakeholders from across the clinical development landscape to engage in meaningful dialogue on how to enhance diversity and inclusion in clinical research. BIO will also host the IP Counsels Committee Conference, the only conference focused specifically on intellectual property in biotechnology, today through Wednesday.