President Biden signed a new executive order intended to boost biotechnology and biomanufacturing within the U.S. earlier this week.
According to the official statement issued by the White House, the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative (NBBI) will help drive advances in biomanufacturing across multiple sectors and impact industries such as agriculture and energy.
Some of the specific issues NBBI is looking to tackle are: growing domestic biomanufacturing capacity, expanding market opportunities for bio-based products, improving access to federal data, streamlining regulations for products of biotechnology, and protecting the U.S. biotechnology ecosystem from cyber attacks.
Today, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HSS) issued its own statement revealing its plans following the announcement of NBBI. Among the changes that could impact pharma, the HSS pledged to use funding from the initiative to support the development of FDA research programs for advanced manufacturing technologies in both the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
The department also promised to invest $40 million to boost the role of biomanufacturing for APIs, antibiotics, and any other crucial starting materials that could help develop essential medications needed in any future pandemics.