Biotech reacted to the pandemic with remarkable speed, helping to change the course of history and the biotech industry itself in the process. BIO’s Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath digs into the story in the new BIO Digital preview episode of the I AM BIO Podcast, brought to you by FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies.
The first question we had to answer: What is this new virus? “I’m not sure we’ve actually found the original source, but we do have a lot of clues about where it came from,” said Dr. William Karesh, EVP for Health and Policy at the EcoHealth Alliance. We were able to do that so quickly due to 10+ years of advances in biotechnology, particularly genomics—showing that COVID-19 was a 90-94% match for bat coronaviruses.
He credits a One Health approach—which you can learn more about today at 11:05 AM ET.
“Companies committed 110% of their resources to the challenge that was before them,” says Dr. Cartier Esham, BIO’s Chief Science Officer. “They had to shift resources they had, but they were committed to science.”
One example: BIO member Twist Bioscience developed synthetic versions of the virus, eliminating the need for scientists to handle dangerous pathogens, explains CSO Aaron Sato.
“But it wasn't like we had to do it in terms of to generate more revenue,” he adds. “We just really felt that it was a key initiative to do.”
All of this improved the public’s perception of the industry. “Positive ratings of pharmaceutical companies went from 32% in early 2020 to 62% in early 2021,” says Ron Faucheux, Chief Analyst at Certus Insights.
And the pandemic changed the way biotech firms see themselves—listen to the whole thing to learn how. You can also get the episode via Apple, Google, or Spotify.
P.S. We just announced that U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join us later this week at BIO Digital—get the details.
