Texas life sciences; plus bioengineered hemp

A new report highlights the economic impact of Texas’s life sciences sector, and the USDA recently cleared a genetically modified hemp. (500 words, 2 minutes, 30 seconds)

Texas’s life sciences ecosystem is booming, says new report

A new report released yesterday by the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute (THBI) highlights “one of the strongest and most innovative economic industry sectors in Texas.”

The report:Texas Life Sciences: Building the Innovations of Tomorrow, presented at yesterday’s Texas Life Sciences Summit, spotlights the state’s booming life sciences sector.

The key findings:

• Over 116,473 directly employed, with an average annual salary of $100,000.
• 7,463 businesses (and growing) as of 2021.
• $4.1 billion in R&D spending in 2021, exceeded only by California and New York, according to BIO’s latest TEconomy report.

Texas’s ecosystem helps startups survive “the valley of death,” the financially challenging preclinical research stage, the report explains. 

Major marketplaces include:

• Austin, home to the University of Texas System.
• Dallas, including The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, ranked #1 globally for publishing high-quality scientific research and home to six Nobel laureates since 1987.
• Houston, with Texas Medical Center, the most concentrated life science cluster in the world.
• San Antonio, where healthcare and bioscience comprise the largest economic sector, contributing over $44 billion annually and employing one-fifth of the workers.
• Other growing markets, like Brazos Valley and El Paso.

What they’re saying: “Everything they can do in Cambridge, we can do in Texas,” Victoria Ford, President and CEO of THBI, told The Boston Globe in June 2023.

More Health News:

Reuters: U.S. takes next step in Medicare drug price negotiations with pharma companies
“The Biden administration said on Tuesday it has responded to offers from the manufacturers of 10 high-cost drugs selected for the U.S. Medicare program’s first-ever pricing negotiations, but provided no details.”

USDA clears hemp bioengineered to boost medicinal qualities

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently greenlit hemp genetically modified to eliminate two widely controlled cannabinoids and boost another showing promise as a therapeutic.

“Badger G” hemp was developed to eliminate tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and cannabidiol (CBD), an ingredient said to reduce stress. Producing hemp with more than minimal THC or CBD is illegal in most states.

A therapeutic boost: Badger G has higher levels of cannabigerol (CBG), which “shows promise as a therapeutic for such afflictions as glaucoma, inflammatory bowel disease and Huntington’s disease,” and has traditionally been more expensive to produce, according to Hemp Today.

The biggest regulatory hurdle now: 7 CFR part 340, which controls the movement of genetically engineered products over state lines, to prevent the introduction of “plant pests.”

The next steps: Badger G and several other plants received exemption from part 340 regulation by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which means they’re greenlit for growing.

What they’re saying: “Approximately 25% of the hemp crop in the U.S. is discarded due to THC/THCA levels beyond the 0.3% threshold set forth in the 2018 Farm Bill,” the University of Wisconsin researchers who developed Badger G told APHIS. “Our new line will allow farmers to be in full compliance with these regulations.” 

Read more at Bio.News.

President Biden’s Wednesday: He’s expected to discuss lowering health care costs in an address from the White House.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Recess.