IA. Biotech Update

Late Breaking Items:

Healthcare: Efforts continued in the Senate and House in consolidating the various healthcare bills within the respective chambers into single bills. The House leadership has scheduled the release of consolidated bill for Thursday (Oct. 28). The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 28) reported the anticipated House bill will expand Medicare eligibility to insure low income families, expand Medicaid cost allocations to the states, and address the ‘doughnut hole' in the seniors' prescription drug program. Cost of the House bill is forecasted at over $1 Trillion. To offset some of this cost the House is expected to impose an increasing payroll tax on those companies having a payroll larger than $750,000 annually that choose not to provide health coverage to their employees. Details on the Senate leadership efforts to consolidate the three healthcare bills in the Senate remains a work in process. The Congressional Budget Office reported the Senate Finance Committee bill carried a forecasted cost over 10-years at $829 Billion. Several governors have stepped forward to reference the substantial increase proposed revisions in Medicaid will have on their state budgets.

Climate/Greenhouse Gases: The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee has begun discussion on a climate bill from Senators John Kerry (D.-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D.-CA). This bill calls for a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2020. (The House passed bill calls for a 17% reduction.) Both Senate and House bills require companies to hold permits defining allowable emission limits for greenhouse gases, based on the theory greenhouse gases are responsible for a long-term rise in global temperatures. EPA has issued its estimated cost of the Senate and House bills would cost the average household $80-110/year (if one assumes there are 100 million households in the U.S. the impact of either bill equates to $8 – 11 Billion/year). The Oct. 27 Des Moines Register carried a story citing four independent statisticians who were asked to review climate data for trends. Their conclusion, “You're going to get a different (trend) line, depending on which year you choose (as the base year).” A report from the UK Friends of the Earth entitled, “Climate Change, Food, Poverty and the Price of Failure to the UK,” concludes, “without emission cuts of at least 40% by 2020, wheat, rice and maize yields will plummet, affecting trade and consumption patterns.” (Editor's Note: Interesting to note these conclusions are based solely on a mathematical models that statistically are questionable and ignore the economic impacts a radical change in costs of production/processing/distribution that would result from enacting their recommendation.)

At the Oct. 29 seminar on Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade: Promoting Policy Coherence, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speakers from the Int'l. Food & Agriculture Trade Policy Council and the Int'l. Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development addressed the importance of addressing climate change within the context of securing world food security. The two groups also issued reports and recommendations for policymakers. For details contact Sharon Bomer at BIO (sbomer@bio.org).

The House of Representatives has approved $121 Billion in the appropriations bill for USDA, $7.3 Billion going to nutrition programs.

USDA has awarded 83 grants totaling $17.5 million for food and feed safety standards covering four major areas: response, intervention, innovation and prevention. Nine states will receive funding.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced it would agree to drop rules that would have restricted the number of times a patent applicant could change its application. The change is a result of a lawsuit brought in 2007 challenging the rules, which later received a court ruling that the rules were unconstitutional.

Members of the Midwest Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments have adopted policy resolutions supporting the increased use of ethanol and biodiesel. Also adopted was support for establishing ethanol blender pumps and the use of sound scientific methods when attempting to calculate carbon emissions. The 11 Midwestern states participating are IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, NE, ND, OH, SD, and WI.

BIO reports:

FDA issued:

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told the Senate HELP Committee that the House passed bill (Food Safety Enhancement Act) needs to be stronger and have greater funding. The House bill provides $3.7 Billion, partly funded by the industry paying an annual $500 fee per facility.

The Royal Society, UK's independent scientific academy, issued a report, Reaping the Benefits: Science and the Sustainable Intensification of Global Agriculture. The Society supports genetically modified crops for increasing yield and minimizing the environmental impact on the farm sector.

The 2009 World Food Prize Laureate was presented to Dr. Gebisa Ejata for his work in Ethiopia in plant breeding of sorghum.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel is urging EU governments to “stop blocking imports of animal feed if it contains only traces of banned genetically modified organisms as such policies harm the meat sector.”

Mexico's Ministry of Agriculture has announced the approval of 15 experimental permits for field trials of genetically enhanced maize. The announcement ends 11 years of moratorium. The applications came from Dow AgroSciences, Dupont-Pioneer and Monsanto.

President Obama announced $5 Billion in funding for biomedical research projects, 20% to be focused on genomic research. An estimated 12,000 grants will be awarded

The U.S. General Accounting Office issued a report suggesting, “Congress should consider revising or ending the $0.45/gallon tax credit for blending corn ethanol with gasoline.” GAO estimated the blend credit could cost $6.7 Billion in lost government revenue, up from $4 Billion last year.

Early 2009 testing by the National Assessment of Educational Progress found 4th graders in the U.S. had made virtually to gains in math scores since their 2007 testing. International data from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study placed U.S. 4th graders at # 11 and 8th graders ranking at 9th.

U.S. EPA and the European Union have announced separate plans to study possible health effects and business implications of nanotechnology.

U.S. Department of Energy announced 37 grant awards, totaling $151 million, have been made for transformational energy research projects. Among the funded projects was one from Iowa State University for $4.37 million to study metabolic engineering and synthetic biology to increase lipid production, carbon dioxide update and thermal tolerance of algae for producing biofuels directly from sunlight and carbon dioxide.

A recent item reported by the Wall Street Journal was a survey of employers found 2/3rds of those surveyed plan to require workers to pay more of their healthcare bill via higher premiums, larger deductibles and copays. GM is reportedly going to high-deductible insurance will require an individual to cover the first $1,300/year in health costs and families would need to cover the first $3,100/year.

Food & Agriculture

The Center for Consumer Freedom has launched a campaign to educate consumers about high fructose corn syrup. A few studies since 2004 have hypothesized the sweetener may have a link to increasing obesity rates. Some food companies have begun using these unsubstantiated studies to secure a marketing edge by playing on an alleged consumer fear, according to the Center.

Tate & Lyle report consumers continue to be prepared to pay more for foods that note health attributes and are becoming more sophisticated in their attitudes toward diet and food labeling. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive and covered German, French, English, Spanish and Italian consumers. Approximately 80% said they would be prepared to pay more for foods having specific health claims, like ‘helps to control cholesterol' or ‘improves cardiovascular health.' Three out of four respondents said fructose is their favorite sweetener.

Context Marketing, surveying 600 online respondents between 20-64 years of age, found, “Newer food quality and ethical claims on food are grabbing consumer attention away from more established claims like ‘organic' or ‘free range.' The top three claims were ‘low-mercury seafood', ‘no pesticides' and ‘no artificial hormones.'

Monsanto and Solae have received notification from FDA granting Generally Regarded As Save (GRAS) designation for their genetically enhanced soybean containing stearidonic acid (omega-3).

Bayer, in cooperation with academic researchers in China and Australia and the Dutch biotech firm Keygene N.V., has reported completion of the mapping of rapeseed (also known as canola).

The European Commission failed to secure sufficient agreement to approve Syngenta's MIR604 insect resistant maize. The Commission failed to secure the necessary votes covering Monsanto's MON 88017 and MON 89034 and Pioneer's 59122xNK603 varieties as well.

The European Commission is reported to be considering labeling requirements to aide consumers in identifying ‘animal friendly' products and incentives to producers to improve animal welfare.

Bayer CropScience and Japanese Scivax Research & Development have agreed to research and develop high yield plants that can tolerate abiotic stress conditions. The plant to be studied will be cotton.

Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals

The Federal Trade Commission has given its approval for Pfizer's acquisition of Wyeth, but will require the divestment of assets in the animal health market. Pfizer has reached agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica to sell part of Wyeth's Fort Dodge Animal Health business. Pfizer anticipates a 15% reduction in the combined entity's work force.

Ecuador's government has announced plans it will issue ‘compulsory licenses' to local manufacturers allowing the production of over 2,000 patented drugs. Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer have voiced their willingness to support the government action. Similar actions have been taken by the governments in Brazil and Thailand.

The Oct. 29th edition of the Des Moines Register ran a story, “New Iowa Approach to Health Care Examined.” The article referenced efforts by a Harlan, IA clinic that has re-organized its operations to track patient health indicators via computer to help identify health problems before they become emergency room visits.

Industrial Bioprocessing & Biofuels

The Nov. 8-11 BIO 2009 Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioenergy will focus on three primary areas: New Biopolymers and Biomonomer Platforms, Stimulation of Methane Generation from Coal, and Commercialization of Renewable Chemicals. Mike Ott, IBA's Associate Director will be part of an international panel making a presentation.

Researchers at the University of IA reported in Applied & Environmental Microbiology the use of whole-cell biocatalysis for the oxidation of naphthalene to 1-napthol in a liquid-liquid, two-phase system. The work comes out the Chemical & Biochemical Engineering Department.

Genencor, a unit of Danisco (with a facility in Cedar Rapids), have developed a new HS-protease product for the washing industry that reduces energy and water consumption.

Brazil may look to the U.S. to import ethanol, given the weaker dollar and sugar prices near a 30-year high, according to a Reuter's story.

Poet (with several Iowa facilities) has received a $6.85 million DOE grant to further its goal of establishing a 700 tons of biomass/day infrastructure and a market for corncobs. An additional $13.5 million is anticipated next year.

Poet is reported to have developed a co-product (Inviz) from its ethanol production that can be a replacement for a petroleum-based product used in many household goods.

Hartwig Energy Consulting has released a forecast that global biofuels are expected to double by 2015. Global ethanol demand is expected to represent 12-14% of the world gasoline pool by 2015.

Iowa State University has been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study plant structures, genetics, mechanisms and metabolism associated with biological hydrocarbon production.

Brazilian researchers reported in the International Journal of Food Science & Technology using fiber inulin as a flavor-fixing agent. The research reported achieving a 7-fold increase in dietary fiber and a 25% reduction in the glycemic index by replacing the partially hydrogenated vegetable oil with inulin oligofructose.

A nationwide survey by the National Corn Growers Association found 95% of the 1,000 U.S. voters that were polled, agreed that farmers are trusted messengers on agricultural issues covering corn products and ethanol. Ethanol was viewed by 65% of the sample as a good alternative fuel.

Metabolix (with an ADM joint venture facility in Clinton) has received a USDA grant for further enhancement of its development work on biobased and biodegradable plastic resins.

Metabolix is reported to have completed field trials of genetically enhanced tobacco capable of producing polyhydroxyalkanoate-based polymers.

Green Plains Renewable Energy (with facilities in Shenandoah) has unveiled it pilot project producing algae capable for biodiesel production. The process draws upon CO2 coming off its ethanol production facility.

Neutraceuticals

Earlier this month the European Food Safety Authority rejected nearly 2/3 of more than 500 health claim submissions from the functional foods and food supplements industry. Critical factors for probiotic health claim submissions were genetic typing, internationally recognized naming protocols and evidence of consistency in the final product.

USDA has updated its nutrient database with more than 200 new nutrients and thousands of nutrient references.

Probiotic products for sale in Canada must comply within 6 months with new health claim guidelines developed by Health Canada.

Economic Development

French President Sarkozy has announced a 139 million euro investment to establish a fund to support development of medical and biotechnology research.

Quebec's Minister of Economic Development has announced a new strategy for developing the pharmaceutical industry.

The KS Bioscience Authority will provide $50 million to eight venture capital firms to advance KS-based life science companies. Each venture capital firm is required to raise at least $25 million from private or institutional sources. There are currently 26 KS companies ready for investment through the Authority's Heartland BioVentures program.

The Task Force on IP and Genetic Testing has submitted its 300-page report and recommendation to the US Patent and Trademark Office. The report is titled, “Final Draft Report on Gene Patents and Licensing Practices and Their Impact on Patient Access to Genetic Tests.”

Venture capital investment in the 3rd quarter came in at $4.8 Billion into 637 deals, as reported by MoneyTree™. Biotechnology deals secured the highest level of investment at $905 million in 104 deals.

The FL Task Force on the Study of Biotech Competitiveness has submitted its report to Gov. Crist. The report recommends more state financial support, changes in tax and environmental laws to help grow-attract-retain biotechnology industries. Since 2003, the state has spent $750 million for more than 120 biotech research and development companies.

General Electric announced establishing a new $250 million venture fund for new life sciences technologies.

WI Governor Doyle announced the changes in WI's investor tax credit laws, made earlier this year, has lead to 8 biotechnology companies locating in WI.

New from the Technology Based Economic Development Resource Center (www.ssti.org):

Interesting Research see The Journal of Life Sciences Weekly Brief at www.tjols.com .

(Want to promote your biotechnology conference, symposium or training class? Submit your event for a free listing on the Event Calendar that appears on IowaBiotech.com and other affiliate state associations. To maximize your event attendance, advertise your event with our IowaBiotech.com national network to cost effectively target your audience within Iowa, by region or nationwide for the low rate of $125 for a three month ad (this is the discounted IBA member rate). IowaBiotech.com is part of a specialized national network of biotechnology and life science ‘trade associations' based websites representing more than 4,500 biotechnology, medical device, pharmaceutical companies, non-profit research institutions, universities and supporting service sector companies. For information on advertising or to submit your event to the calendar, please access www.IowaBiotech.com/calendar.)

Research Grant Opportunities

26 federal agencies covering more than 800 available grant programs have joined into a single website for easy access, www.grants.gov. Iowa State University also supports a Funding Source website at http://grants/svr.admin.iastate.edu/Funding/homepage.html.