Good Day BIO: 2 minutes on pandemic preparedness

What lessons did we learn on supply chains and pandemic preparedness from COVID-19? How would allowing the federal government to exercise “march-in” rights harm university research and future innovation? We answer these questions. (647 words, 3 minutes, 14 seconds)

2 minutes on pandemic preparedness

We learned a lot about supply chains and preparedness during COVID-19. Here’s two minutes with Phyllis Arthur, BIO’s VP of Infectious Disease and Emerging Science, on what worked and how we can better prepare for the next one.

The key lesson: “We need to build some kind of sustainable, new level of supply chain and manufacturing infrastructure across all the different medical products we need, and couple that with workforce and health care support, such that those people who have to deliver that…are also ready to surge when they need to,” she said during yesterday’s SmartBrief panel on life sciences supply chains—watch:

What worked during COVID-19: “We really bet on multiple different technologies hoping something would work. All the technologies that were first in line actually had some data with them, which gave you a really decent probability of success,” she said.

What about the next one? We need to prepare different technologies (including vaccines, diagnostics, antibodies, etc.) and practice using them on “pathogens of pandemic potential,” so they can be “ready to go when we see the unknown pathogen.”

The bottom line: We have to remind ourselves “how much we lost in two years”—as much as $28 trillion in economic losses. The cost of not being prepared next time is “head and shoulders higher than the cost of maintaining a strong infrastructure in the pre-pandemic period."

Watch and share two minutes with Phyllis Arthur.

Want to watch the whole event? It’s available on-demand.

More Reading:

• A two-year timeline of the biotech industry’s response to COVID-19
• PREVENT Pandemics Act is ‘a solid first step’

How using ‘march-in’ rights would threaten university research

For 40+ years, the Bayh-Dole Act “has encouraged research universities to transfer technology and innovation to the private sector for commercialization,” says the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). But this system—and future innovations—are now at risk.

Remind me, what’s Bayh-Dole? The bipartisan Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act (a.k.a. Bayh-Dole) “gives universities rights to license intellectual property they generate with federal funding for basic research and inventions,” says ITIF, which has led to robust, innovative research programs at America’s universities and 300 drugs.

But this system is now at risk—due to a “dubious idea” that policymakers can use the “march-in” provisions of Bayh-Dole to claim IP due to the price of the drug, most recently on a prostate cancer drug.

“The petition flagrantly misrepresents the meaning of the Bayh-Dole Act,” said Joe Allen, Executive Director of the Bayh-Dole Coalition. “The Act’s purpose is to facilitate the commercialization of technologies developed from federally funded inventions—not to serve as a backdoor for price controls of successfully developed inventions.”

And exercising “march-in” rights would put future university research and innovation at risk—including future cures (maybe for the next pandemic) as well as agricultural R&D needed to address climate and food crises.

Here’s why: “If the federal government unilaterally disturbs deals between universities and private companies that would drive companies away from university collaborations…it could build a ‘wall’ between basic and applied research and could stifle developments that benefit farmers and humanity in general,” explained Agweek. 

Learn more: On Tuesday, March 29, ITIF will hold a free event, How Using March-in Rights Would Threaten America’s Research Universities, featuring experts on innovation policy, tech transfer, and business—click here to register.

More Agriculture & Environment News: 

Phys.org: How a biofuel crop can mitigate climate change
“Newly published Michigan State University research details how switchgrass, a biofuel crop, can mitigate effects of climate change when grown on marginal land—agricultural land of little value. For farmers, it may also provide economic returns in these otherwise unproductive spaces.”

President Biden’s Friday: Visiting the Polish-Ukrainian border today, per CNBC.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Enjoy the weekend.