Biden’s executive order to support the American biomanufacturing sector

• President Joe Biden will sign orders on Monday to direct more government funds to the biotechnology industry in the United States.
• The goal is to reduce reliance on China for materials used to generate clean energy, weave new fabrics, and immunise populations against the COVID-19 pandemic.
• More information is expected at a White House summit on the subject on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden will sign orders on Monday to direct more government funds to the biotechnology industry in the United States, with the goal of reducing reliance on China for materials used to generate clean energy, weave new fabrics, and immunise populations against the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to administration officials, the executive order allows the federal government to direct funding for the use of microbes and other biologically derived resources to create new foods, fertilisers, and seeds, as well as to make mining operations more efficient.

They didn’t say how much money would be available, where it would come from, or how it would be distributed. More information is expected at a White House summit on the subject on Wednesday.

Through the National Institute of Health, the U.S. federal government already contributes to biotechnology research and development (R&D). Department of Agriculture and other government agencies Overall R&D funding in the United States has declined as a percentage of GDP since the 1950s, a trend that Biden has promised to reverse.

Potential applications include biodiesel fuels manufactured by Renewable Energy Group, COVID vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE), and genetically modified seeds manufactured by Corteva Inc. (CTVA.N).

“Other countries, including and especially China are aggressively investing in this sector, which poses risks to U.S. leadership and competitiveness,” said an administration official who declined to be named previewing Biden’s actions.

Biden will speak about the order in Boston on Monday as part of the “Cancer Moonshot,” an effort to spur research, develop new treatments, and reduce cancer deaths.

Cancer treatments, including those derived from plants or using re-engineered immune cells, have been developed using biomanufacturing.

Dr. Renee Wegrzyn, a longtime science adviser who most recently worked at the biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc (DNA.N), will also be named the first director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, a U.S. government-run biomedical research group.

“Today, we have many of the building blocks needed to make significant progress treating cancer, but we must come together to deliver on the promise,” said another administration official.

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Beau Biden, Biden’s son, died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46, which the president has said informs his enthusiasm for the project.

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