President Biden recently issued an executive order worth billions for biotech and biopharma.

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News recently published a good update. On September 14, 2022, the White House hosted a Summit on Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing to discuss President Biden’s executive order “Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy.” Here’s their coverage, below are a few highlights, and check out our earlier post for more details and links to primary sources.

Excerpts:

In her closing remarks, [Meghan Frisk, PhD, Director for Biotechnology Risk and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation at the National Security Council] distilled the main themes of the summit meeting:

• Biotech is foundational to our economy and national security.
• We need to lead to compete to deliver innovative solutions to global challenges. We need to remain mindful of the risks and have transparent and open discussions around biosafety and biosecurity.
• We need to train a workforce that harnesses the diversity of our country, gives opportunities to all, and is built on our values.
• We need to involve and engage our societies, so we are considering people and ethics throughout the lifecycle of tech development and deployment. “Do it with care,” she said.
• There will be an ecosystem of government, academic, and industry to realize the shared vision for our bioeconomy.
• We will do this side by side, and shoulder to shoulder, with our international partners.
• Together, the community will lift up the following key steps—with funding of more than $2 billion—to advance President Biden’s Executive Order to launch a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative to lower prices, create good jobs, strengthen supply chains, improve health outcomes, and reduce carbon emissions.

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“I’m absolutely over the moon about the current administration’s commitment to building a strong, resilient biomanufacturing infrastructure and a well-funded diverse R&D community to support the rapid growth of America’s biotechnology capabilities,” noted Ellen Jorgeson, PhD, CSO of the Brooklyn-based synbio company Aanika Biosciences. “The new initiatives being funded are the result of years of effort on the part of the biotech community to communicate how critical this technology is to our country’s future well-being.”