Good Day BIO: We’re off track to meet our climate goals. Enter biotech.

BIO President and CEO Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath released a statement on the recent gun violence in the U.S. In today’s news, we look at a new climate performance index—and how biotech can help—and kick off Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month. (725 words, 3 minutes, 37 seconds)

We’re off track to meet our climate goals. Enter biotech.

The U.S.—like almost every other country—is way off track to reach its climate goals, according to a new index. Enter biotech, which is reducing the emissions of everything from aviation to summer barbecues.

The news: The U.S. ranks #43 (among 180 countries) on climate change performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality, according to the latest Environmental Performance Index (EPI), compiled by Yale and Columbia. On climate indicators alone, the U.S. ranks #101. 

The context: “That’s a major plummet since the last time the researchers ranked countries in 2020, when the U.S. was in 24^th place,” reports The Verge.

Enter biotech—which, as we report pretty much every day, can provide tools to help us  “increase crop yields,” “improve carbon sequestration,” “reduce water use,” “reduce food waste,” and “bolster animal welfare,” among others.

Aviation’s a big one—accounting for 2% of all carbon emissions and 12% of transportation emissions. However, sustainable aviation fuels can substantially reduce the footprint of flying—and even bring it to net zero.   

And we can’t forget our food as biotech’s improving our barbecues—advancing plant-based meats that can satisfy a variety of diets as well as reduce emissions, writes Grace Spencer for Bio.News. “Depending on the substitutions and biotechnologies used, plant-based alternative meats can generate 90% less greenhouse gas emissions per quarter pound than traditional meat,” as well as reduce water consumption.

Read the whole thing.

6 million people – and the sixth-leading cause of death

As we begin Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, we look at the scale of the problem—and whether a cure could be here sooner than we think.

Alzheimer’s is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, according to the National Institute of Aging, though “recent estimates indicate that the disorder may rank third, just behind heart disease and cancer, as a cause of death for older people.”

By the numbers: “Current estimates are that about 5.8 million people in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, including 5.6 million aged 65 and older and about 200,000 under age 65 with younger-onset Alzheimer’s,” according to the CDC, with a disproportionate impact on women and people of color.

But there are reasons for hope—with a potential gene therapy and vaccine under development, as a recent episode of the I am BIO Podcast explained.

What they’re saying: “We’re developing a therapy that we hope to be a functional cure to the disease. A single administration therapy via an outpatient procedure that the patient only needs to be treated with once,” said Nolan Townsend, CEO of Lexeo Therapeutics.

Meanwhile, the FDA recently permitted marketing of a new Alzheimer’s diagnostic—the first in-vitro diagnostic for early detection of amyloid plaques, which can give doctors same-day information about whether “a patient’s cognitive impairment is due to Alzheimer’s disease.”

Read more on Bio.News.

Listen to the podcast episode.

Save the Date: On June 21—summer solstice, the longest day of the year—the Alzheimer’s Association will hold a global fundraising day. Learn how you can join the fight.

More Health Care News:

Novavax: Novavax initiates phase 3 trial of its COVID-19 Omicron strain vaccine as a booster
“Two-dose primary regimen of NVX-CoV2373 already demonstrated cross-reactive immune responses against Omicron and other variants,” says the company. The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet next Tuesday, June 7, to discuss Novavax’s request for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine.

Asbury Park Press (Opinion): The true driver of the high cost of medicines
“While it may make for an easy talking point, the innovative biopharmaceutical manufacturers leading the way to breakthroughs on treatments for devastating diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are not the cause of out-of-pocket price increases for prescriptions – and the data backs this up,” writes Debbie Hart, President & CEO of BioNJ.

President Biden’s Wednesday: Participating in the U.S. Coast Guard change of command ceremony, then meeting virtually with administration officials and major infant formula manufacturers to discuss accelerating production and imports.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Memorial Day recess continues.