U.S. will share 20 million vaccine doses with developing nations

We need “an entirely new effort…that involves working with the pharmaceutical companies and others and partner nations to vastly increase supply,” with manufacturing in the United States, he said in remarks yesterday.

Details? TBD—but the effort will be led by Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, and include Gayle Smith, the State Department coordinator for global COVID response and health security,” explains Pink Sheet.

The White House is still promoting the idea of a TRIPS waiver on patent protections, as noted in the fact sheet released yesterday—but this is a marked shift towards a better option.

“Even before the IP waiver was announced by the United States Trade Representative, BIO was working extremely hard to present the Biden administration with a much more effective plan to get shots in arms in developing countries around the world,” BIO’s Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath told Pink Sheet—read more about BIO's proposed SHARE program.   

“There is no way to know whether the president’s remarks today were in response to our many efforts—or other voices like Germany’s Angela Merkel, the only chemist to lead her nation—by saying this is not the right approach. I think the President is wise to listen,” Dr. Michelle continued.

Read BIO’s official statement.

Today is HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, an initiative of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to recognize those working to develop a safe and effective HIV vaccine—which, after 30 years of research, could be here soon.

Worldwide,around 38 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, including 1.2 million in the United States. Thanks to pharmaceutical innovations, it’s no longer a death sentence and can be a manageable condition for many—but we need a vaccine to eradicate it.

Now: “preliminary data from an early stage clinical trial out of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, suggests that a new HIV vaccine may hold promise,” explains ABC News.

In a phase 1 trial, 97% of adults who received the vaccine showed early evidence it could create the broad antibodies needed.

Moderna is also working on two mRNA HIV vaccine candidates,which will begin phase 1 trials this year. A result of a collaboration with IAVI and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, mRNA-1644 has been designed to neutralize HIV-1 antibodies. The other candidate, mRNA-1574 is the result of a collaboration with NIH and has several native-like trimer antigens. 

Learn more about the future of mRNA.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $35 million in funding to maximize biofuel production and minimize the carbon emissions of it. Details below.

DOE is investing in 15 research projects that will “advance new technologies to decarbonize biorefining processes used across the energy, transportation, and agriculture sectors.”

Why it’s needed: The fermentation process to create biofuel “creates carbon as a byproduct, with some processes wasting more than 1/3 of this carbon as CO2 emissions,” explains DOE. “As a result, there is a critical need to create new pathways for biofuel conversion that reduces carbon waste, prevents the loss of CO2 emissions, and in turn, maximizes the amount of renewable fuel a conversion process yields.”

The awardees include BIO member LanzaTech, which will “create technology to enable direct conversion of carbon dioxide to ethanol, a building block for low carbon intensity fuels and chemicals, at 100% carbon conversion efficiency to products,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).

“Biofuel is a powerful tool in the clean energy toolkit that has immense potential to power our ships and airlines with zero carbon emissions,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “DOE is investing in research to reduce emissions and maximize the availability of efficient biofuel as we strive to reach President Biden’s net-zero carbon goals.”  

Listen: Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech, recently joined the I AM BIO Podcast to discuss how the company is recycling carbon to make ethanol and other important tools and materials. Listen to the full conversation.

More Agriculture and Environment News:

Endpoints News: Ginkgo nabs $DNA, biotech's most sought after ticker, for free in sweetener from NYSE
“DNA—the most famous three letters in biology and the ticker for the world’s first biotech, Genentech, from 1999 until it was bought out by Roche for $48 billion in 2009—will now be the ticker for Ginkgo, a 12-year-old synthetic biology startup with grand ambitions to change not only how drugs, but also everyday products like meat and perfumes, are made.”

Office of U.S. Trade Representative: Readout of Ambassador Katherine Tai's Meeting with Secretary of Mexico Economy
Ambassador Tai emphasized the importance of several ongoing issues, including science- and risk-based regulatory approaches in agriculture; access for U.S. fresh potatoes to all of Mexico; an immediate resumption of authorizations of agricultural biotechnology products in Mexico; an energy policy that respects U.S. investment and is consistent with efforts to tackle climate change; and enhanced trade facilitation efforts. 

President Biden’s Tuesday: Heading to Detroit to visit the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Today, the Senate Finance Committee will look at funding and financing options for American infrastructure (10 AM ET), while AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s drug pricing hearing (also 10 AM ET).