BIOtechNow

This year, GMO Answers has placed a special focus on how GMOs can benefit our environment. We’ve released six infographics throughout the year addressing some of the most common environmental issues, and explained how GMO technology can actually help allay negative environmental impacts. Back in June, we launched the first in the series, an infographic showing the impact of GMOs on maximizing current land use. Contrary to myths about GMOs hurting the environment, GMOs allow farmers Read More 

With 2017 right around the corner, BIO is encouraging individuals to submit their panel proposals for the 2017 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology.  The BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology gathers business executives, government officials, academic researchers and industry leaders from across the globe, in one forum, to share the latest advances in renewable chemicals, synthetic biology, enzymes, food ingredients, biofuels, and other topics. The conference will be held July 23-26, 2017 at the Read More 

Finalists in each of three categories have been named in this year’s Buzz of BIO contest sponsored by the 2017 BIO CEO & Investor Conference to be held February 13-14 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Voting opens today to choose winners in these three categories: Public Therapeutic Biotech – publically traded companies actively developing a therapeutic product intended for FDA review that addresses human health issues. Private Therapeutic Biotech – companies actively developing Read More 

As we enter the final days of the 114th Congress, it is regrettable that the unintended consequences of the PTO’s administrative patent challenge system known as Inter Partes Review, or IPR, continue to threaten innovative, intellectual property-reliant companies that are helping to drive this nation’s economic growth. It is vital that patent reform legislative efforts crack down on abuses of the IPR system and impose greater checks on the unfettered discretion of the PTO’s administrative Read More 

Before innovative therapies can start helping patients, successful matches between investors and entrepreneurs seeking to develop new medicines must occur. Without access to capital, potentially lifesaving drugs will exist only as ideas. Every fall investors looking for good prospects in the biotech sector gather at the BIO Investor Forum in San Francisco—the birthplace of biotechnology and home to over 1,600 life sciences companies. Many of these companies and others from around the country come to Read More 

The topic of inter partes reviews (IPRs) has dominated conversation in patent circles for the last several years (see our archive for some of our past articles on the subject). As uncertainty grows in the biopharma community about IPR procedures and the future of innovation, BIO will make IPRs a major topic of discussion at our upcoming IP and Diagnostics Symposium (BIO IPDX) as well as BIO’s IP Counsels Committee Meeting in November. An administrative Read More 

Over the last decade Iowa has built a specialized and diverse bioscience industry. In particular, it has become a national leader in the agricultural biosciences where the state accounts for 10 percent of U.S. employment. As this article from The Scientist demonstrates, Iowa is no longer just an Ag bioscience hub, its significant investments in biopharma R&D are paying off and demonstrating the value of bioscience innovation in growing jobs and improving quality of life.

After months of criticism, including some from BIO, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) released a document that tries to address many of the legitimate and persistent concerns that have been raised. We appreciate that ICER is taking such criticism more seriously, and recently opened up its methodology to more public comment.  However, after reviewing the document, it remains clear to us that ICER still doesn’t quite get why so many organizations, including Read More 

The Orphan Drug Act has been a tremendous success and addressed a market failure by providing incentives to bring new treatments to those suffering with rare diseases. That’s why I was deeply troubled by Friday’s unfair article in The Washington Post targeting the Orphan Drug Act through selective and unsubstantiated attacks that seem designed to undermine this bipartisan and hugely successful regime that has helped so many patients with rare diseases live longer and healthier Read More 

Today, BIO releases Points to Consider on Truthful and Non-Misleading Product Communication. This document advances the dialogue on this issue toward achieving the shared aim of getting the right medicine to the right patient at the right time. The current “Information Age” holds significant promise to improve the ability of stakeholders to make well-informed healthcare decisions.  Never before has information about healthcare interventions, including innovative medicines, been so readily available from so many different sources and through Read More