Dear Colleagues,  I am just past the two-year mark as BIO’s President & CEO, which arrives as we find ourselves at a defining moment for the future of biotechnology. For fifty years, our industry has delivered one of the great innovation stories in human history. From the earliest recombinant DNA breakthroughs to the sequencing of the human genome, from transforming the fates of patients with sickle cell and cystic fibrosis to astonishing advances in immunotherapy, gene editing, obesity treatments, neuroscience and AI-driven discovery, biotechnology has redefined what is possible in medicine and human health. But as we embark upon the next 50 years, a stark question confronts us: America invented modern biotechnology, but will we author its next chapter or watch it be written somewhere else?  This question is no longer theoretical. China is now investing at unprecedented speed and scale, with a coordinated national strategy to dominate biotechnology and biomanufacturing. At the same time, here in America, our system for research and development of newer and better medicines has grown overly complex and costly. And it takes too much time. Adding to these man-made challenges are a growing slate of proposed policies – at the federal and state levels – that threaten to weaken the very innovation ecosystem that made America the birthplace of biotech. There are most-favored nation (MFN) proposals that would import socialist price controls and gut investment in biotech start-ups. There are Prescription Drug Affordability Boards (PDABs) that impose arbitrary price controls at the state level. There are efforts to undermine vaccine confidence, restrict mRNA and advanced technologies, and weaken intellectual property protections. Add to these the continued funding challenges facing many emerging biotech companies, and it becomes clear that the world is not waiting for us. We must evolve quickly, or we lose. And the American people cannot…