The Biden administration launched a new initiative last week to encourage biotech protection and research in the United States.
On Monday, President Joe Biden signed on executive order to with the goal of boosting the domestic medical supply chain and making the U.S. less reliant on foreign manufacturing. Then on Wednesday, the White House pledged more than $2 billion to launch as part of this national manufacturing initiative to fund efforts to build or expand drug manufacturing sites in the U.S.
Today, most of the medicines sold in the U.S. are manufactured in facilities located all over the world, with over half of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used to make drugs being made in China and India. Even beyond medicine, other research tools used in the U.S. fell into short supply throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of the federal government's new initiative, the Department of Defence (DoD) will invest $1 billion over the next five years to help both public- and private-sector biotech partners expand manufacturing capacity for "products important to both commercial and defense supply chains," according to the White House. The DoD will also invest another $200 million to support enhancements to biosecurity and cybersecurity for these facilities.
Separately, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will invest $40 million to expand production of antibodies, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and starting materials for "essential medications" in effort to "respond to pandemics."
Elsewhere, the White House plans to invest in regional biotechnology and biomanufacturing programs in states like New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Oregon, and Alaska. The regional investments will rebuild pharmaceutical supply chain to lower drug costs, catalyze a sustainable mariculture industry, better utilize mass timber to increase affordable housing production and aid in forest health, enhance the production and distribution of regenerative tissues and organs, and develop a robust pipeline of biotech talent, according to the White House.
Beyond drug manufacturing investments, the Biden administration will invest $500 million in grants through the Department of Agriculture (USA) to support innovative and sustainable fertilizer, plastic and fuel supply.