It’s time to get serious—about superbugs and sustainability

ICYMI, one of our members published a compelling op-ed explaining why, particularly in a pandemic, we need to continue to be concerned about antimicrobial resistance (AMR)—and what we can do about it.

“50% of hospitalized patients who died of COVID-19 also had secondary bacterial infections,” wrote Christopher Burns, President and CEO of BIO member Venatorx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“By contrast, just 1% of hospitalized COVID-19 survivors suffered from secondary infections,” he continued.

And the superbug problem is getting worse. As many as 10 million people could die of drug-resistant infections by 2050, according to experts, if we don’t develop new antibiotics quickly. 

Venatorx Pharmaceuticals is working to develop new medicines to treat hard-to-fight and drug-resistant infections, with funding from private investors and the federal government. (Check out their pipeline here.) 

And even with so many resources going to COVID-19, the biopharma industry is stepping up to the plate. Last month, 20+ biopharmaceutical companies—including Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, and others—launched the AMR Action Fund, to invest nearly $1 billion to bring 2-4 new antibiotics to patients by the end of the decade. 

But a long-term solution requires help from policymakers—“to address how the newest and most clinically appropriate antibiotics are paid for when used in a hospital,” and to incentivize “risk-taking scientists and investors that successfully deliver novel antibiotics to patients,” continued Burns.

The bottom line: “It’s time to get serious about developing new medicines to fight superbugs and uniting behind long-term fixes to the commercial market failure. Otherwise, the coming scourge of superbugs will prove just as—if not more destructive—than the COVID-19 pandemic,” he concludes.

Learn more about the problem at www.workingtofightamr.org.

Learn more about what the industry’s doing about it at www.amractionfund.com.

More Health Care News:

AP: Pharmacists can give childhood shots, U.S. officials say
“Pharmacists in all 50 states are now allowed to give childhood vaccinations under a new directive aimed at preventing future outbreaks of measles and other preventable diseases.” 

The New York Times: FDA’s emergency approval of blood plasma is now on hold
“Donated by people who have survived the disease, antibody-rich plasma is considered safe. But clinical trials have not proved whether plasma can help people fighting the coronavirus.”

BIO member Zymergen just announced a new partnership to develop crop protection products based on nature, using synthetic biology. We’ve got the scoop.

The news: Zymergen, a biomanufacturing company that “partners with nature” to develop new materials, announced that they’ll work with agricultural sciences company FMC to develop crop protection products based on nature.

Leveraging Zymergen’s library of more than 1 million gene clusters and synthetic biology, the companies will accelerate development of products utilizing "the solutions that nature has already evolved to create," as Zymergen explained to Forbes.

And that’s not all Zymergen’s been up to lately. The company lent automation experts, robots, and other equipment to regional testing and therapeutic companies to help speed up COVID-19 testing. 

What they’re saying: “By partnering with nature to discover and produce molecules, we can create breakthrough solutions which address critical industry problems. Together, our goal is to convert the complexity of nature to create useful products that allow growers to better control pests and diseases,” said Zach Serber, Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder of Zymergen.

Why it matters: The world’s rapidly growing population is facing a food supply chain hit hard by rising temperatures and increasingly robust pests. In addition, farmers and rural economies are also hit hard by economic turmoil and need to find ways to make their crops more resilient against the changing climate. The bioeconomy—which includes innovative players like Zymergen—is confronting all of these challenges head on with sustainable, nature-based solutions.

Now, it’s up to policymakers to support the bioeconomy with good policy.

And if you haven't done so yet, be sure to register for the BIO IMPACT Ag & Environment Conference, where we'll convene industry experts, lawmakers, researchers, and academics to discuss how we use biotech to build a more resilient world for tomorrow.