Good Day BIO: 'Simple cuts could kill'

If we don’t fix the antibiotics market dynamic, we could return to a world where simple cuts could kill. We look at solutions to that problem, plus the looming food crisis. (690 words, 3 minutes, 27 seconds)

Without new antibiotics, ‘simple cuts could kill’

Antibiotics have saved millions of lives—but “if scientists don’t discover new antibiotics soon, the world will eventually return to the pre-antibiotic era when simple cuts could kill,” write BIO’s Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath and the AMR Action Fund’s Dr. Henry Skinner in Fortune.

The problem: “It's in the nature of bacteria and fungi to develop antimicrobial resistance,” write Drs. McMurry-Heath and Skinner. “Already, superbugs kill 700,000 people worldwide annually, according to the World Health Organization. If we do nothing, they'll kill 10 million every year by 2050.” 

It gets worse: Biotech companies researching novel antimicrobials “face an uphill battle because the market is flawed”—and many have gone bankrupt. 

“There are just 43 antibiotics in the development pipeline, compared to over 1,000 drugs for cancer,” they continue. 

Many organizations have been working on solutions—like the AMR Action Fund, which aims to invest $1 billion to help bring 2-4 new antibiotics to market by 2030. 

But we must change the “market dynamic,” too. Legislation like The PASTEUR Act would create a “Netflix-style subscription model for novel antimicrobials, where hospitals or governments pay a fee for as much or as little is needed,” while The DISARM Act would modernize Medicare reimbursement for antibiotics. 

Read and share the op-ed.

Listen: Dr. Michelle recently spoke with the AMR Action Fund and a biotech company working on a novel antibiotic—listen to their conversation on the I am BIO Podcast at www.bio.org/podcast or via Apple, Google, or Spotify.

More Health Care News: 

Reuters: U.S. CDC says all adults should get COVID-19 booster shots
“The U.S. health regulators last week expanded the eligibility for booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines to all adults aged 18 and older either six months after their initial Pfizer or Moderna vaccine doses or two months after their Johnson & Johnson shot.” 

The Boston Globe: Alnylam is getting a rare kind of leader
“Yvonne Greenstreet, named John Maraganore’s successor, will become one of the few Black women to lead a drug company.”

Biotech can help stop a food crisis—if policy allows it

We face a real risk of a food crisis—and burdensome government regulations on agricultural technology could threaten food security, argues one agricultural economics expert.

The problem: Around 30% of the global population lacked access to adequate food in 2020—320 million more people than in 2019, according to a recent UN report. Food insecurity could increase by 2050, when the population is expected to reach 10 billion. 

One solution: Gene editing, which can make essential crops more resilient in the face of extreme weather and pests and even enhance the nutritional content of food staples like rice, a key tool in combating global hunger.   

Read: A ‘really simple tool’ for food security 

But: Government regulations and trade barriers (such as in Mexico) are thwarting the deployment of tech like gene editing—despite the fact it has “the precision to simply speed up what nature has been doing for millennia,” writes University of Saskatchewan’s Stuart Smyth in The Western Producer. 

A great question: “Is society prepared to stand by and watch the rates of food insecurity soar among the global population while technologies that could reduce this languish in scientifically unjustified regulation?” he asks.   

How do we ensure food safety without stalling technological innovation? “Several countries, such as the United States, Brazil, and Argentina, have said that if genome editing technologies create a new plant variety that could have naturally occurred, additional regulatory oversight isn’t required.” Now, other key trading partners—particularly Mexico and the EU—need to make the same call.  

President Biden’s Tuesday: Signing into law several bills in support of veterans at 10:45 AM ET, then heading to Rosemount, Minnesota, to visit a technical college and discuss his infrastructure plan. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The House joins the Senate back from recess. “Democrats are preparing a temporary funding fix to keep the government open into the new year, with federal cash set to run out—again—at midnight on Friday,” reports POLITICO. What does this mean for Build Back Better—and drug price controls? We’re keeping an eye on it, but don’t expect major news this week.