Good Day BIO: Monkeypox update and a big purple tomato

Federal officials discussed the state of the monkeypox outbreak and USDA greenlights a big purple tomato—plus, lawmakers are expected to work on FDA user fee reauthorization through the weekend. (713 words, 3 minutes, 33 seconds)

Monkeypox case growth slowing ­– but there’s more work to do

Top U.S. health officials reported a decline in the growth of new monkeypox cases and outlined the federal response to the outbreak on Wednesday—Bio.News has a recap and video highlights. 

The context: “The rate of [case] growth is slowing,” reports the CDC. “We estimated the outbreak doubling time is approximately 25 days, which has slowed from earlier estimates of doubling times of around 8 days throughout most of July.”

What happened: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee hearing, Stopping the Spread of Monkeypox: Examining the Federal Response, featured high-level officials from the CDC, FDA, NIH, and ASPR (Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response).

Lawmakers want to see action: “COVID was never going to be the last public health crisis we face and neither is monkeypox,” said Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA). “I don’t want to just hear today about the steps you will be taking. I do want to see action.”

Officials are cautiously optimistic about the decline in case growth—“recognizing that we must continue to aggressively respond with our entire toolkit, including vaccination, testing, and education about risk, to inform behavior change,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

What have we learned after multiple infectious disease crises in a row? “It’s really important to invest in systems and actually sustain funding for the routine public health activities, which is the foundation for our ability to respond in an emergency,” said Phyllis Arthur, BIO’s VP of Infectious Disease and Emerging Science Policy. “If those systems are weakened, if they’re not reinforced and sustained with funding, if those people are not there, then we do have these failures of the ability to respond from one emergency to the other.”

More Health Care News: 

Biopharma Dive: Alnylam, Regeneron to advance NASH drug after early signs of potential
“A gene discovery four years ago led to a partnership between the companies, which plan to start a Phase 2 study later this year.” 

Science: Polio is back in rich countries, but it poses a far bigger threat to developing world
“New York state has declared an emergency, yet scientists say a big U.S. outbreak is unlikely.”

USDA greenlights purple tomato

In USDA’s first regulatory review response under new regulations, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) ok’ed a tomato that has been genetically modified to enhance its color and nutritional quality.

The tomato: Norfolk Plant Sciences’ “big purple tomato” is not only pretty, but also has high levels of anthocyanins, antioxidants found in blackberries and blueberries, which studies have found can protect against cancer, inflammation, and type 2 diabetes (H/T Wired).

How they did it: Researchers at the UK’s John Innes Centre “engineered the jewel tone by adding two genes from the snapdragon flower, which act like a switch to turn on the production of anthocyanins. Over the years, [the team] crossed their purple tomatoes with other breeds to make them bigger—and tastier—than the micro variety they initially grew,” explains Wired.

“We found the plant is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated tomatoes,”says APHIS. “This plant may be safely grown and used in breeding in the United States.” 

What it means: “If our review finds a plant is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk relative to the comparator plant, we issue a response indicating the plant is not subject to the regulations,” explains APHIS—meaning the purple tomato can now be grown and marketed in the U.S. 

Learn more at www.bigpurpletomato.com.

More Reading: USDA proposes plant regulatory review guidance

More Agriculture and Environment News:

Gevo: Gevo breaks ground on its first commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel facility, Net-Zero 1
The South Dakota facility “is expected to employ 1,000 people during the construction phase with approximately 90 full-time employees once operational. The facility will be constructed on 245 acres, very favorable for producing low-carbon SAF with site preparation beginning now and official construction expected to begin in 2023.”

President Biden’s Friday: Meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Negotiations on FDA user fee reauthorization—which expires at the end of the month—are expected to continue into the weekend, reports POLITICO Pulse. Meanwhile, legislation was introduced yesterday to create a national network of sickle cell disease treatment centers, which BIO member company Global Blood Therapeutics applauded.