According to a recent poll conducted by Research!America, one of the nation’s largest non-profit public education and advocacy alliances, almost half of Americans say the review process for approving the latest medical breakthroughs takes too long. Mary Woolley, president of Research!America said:

“Americans have faith in our scientists and research institutions but think we can do more to speed up that process. In our latest poll, 72% of Americans say they are confident in our current system for reviewing the effectiveness and safety of new medicines and medical devices before making them available, but 41% say the approval process takes too long. Speeding up our process without sacrificing safety is clearly important for health and also for maintaining global leadership.”

John Edward Porter, former Illinois Congressman and chair of Research!America, added:

“To truly improve the health of all Americans, our health care system must have a stronger foundation of research. Investing in medical research brings hope for solutions to diseases that currently have none, and it controls costs by basing our health care on the best science, telling us which tests and treatments work best for which patients. It also gives us a stronger economic future by creating more knowledge-based jobs.”

This announcement comes just two days before the President’s health care summit on February 25.

Good morning! This Tuesday roundup brings you a top-10 list of biotech innovators, anti-trust law, and a set of NSF’s greatest science photos from 2009:

TOP TEN BIOTECH INNOVATORS – Fast Company recently released a list of its top-10 biotech innovators. Novartis, Synthetic Genomics and Roche/Genentech count themselves in the top five, but are in the company of some of our industry’s greatest competitors. The list definitely errs on the side of medical biotechnology, but there is at least one shout-out to the industrial/environmental sector’s biofuel efforts as well. Check to see if your company is on the list too, and let us know what you think about the choices in the comments below.

THE CASE FOR BIOTECH TREATMENTS’ 12-YEAR DATA EXCLUSIVITY – Over at Antitrust and Competition Policy Blog, the authors argue that the recent dust-up over a 12-year data exclusivity period for biotech treatments ignores the facts. Namely that while shortening this 12-year exclusivity period might have a miniscule effect on the cost of healthcare reform, the damage caused to the R&D pipeline and biotech companies in general would be devastating:

We argue that regulatory data exclusivity is a sideshow. Current estimates find that the effect of data exclusivity on health care expenditures would be trivial. For this and other reasons, any potential benefit to patients that might result from a shorter period of data exclusivity would be outweighed by the financial risks to the biotech industry, and particularly the negative impacts on investments in research and development. More importantly, we believe that the current focus on data exclusivity is misplaced. Weak competition in markets for biotech drugs poses a much greater and longer-term problem for patient access – without effective competition, pricing of many biotech drugs will remain high indefinitely.

NSF ANNOUNCES TOP SCIENCE GRAPHICS – The NSF recently announced the 2009 winners of its International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge, and the winner is self-assembling polymers! Check out these amazing photos of life at work, especially for you teachers struggling to capture students’ attention.

Good morning.  The video scene was light last week.  There is, however, a curious gem among them – the first video that we’ve seen by the Iranian government touting their biotech program.  We’re actively soliciting comments.  In addition to our video roundup we’ve got the latest from Luke Zimmerman and his conversation with the chairman of Biogen as well as the latest moves by Carl Icahn.

IRANIAN BIOTECH – Biotech is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Iran.  But watch this video and think again.  Actually, we’d be interested in what the scientists and biotech experts think of this “official” update on Iranian biotechnology.  Apparently there are some uses of YouTube that the government allows.

CANADA IS MORE THAN THE OLYMPICS – It is also biotech.  Here’s a video of the announcement of  the Government of Canada  investing $38 million for a new research complex at Brock University. “The Niagara Health and Bioscience Research Complex (NHBRC) will bring together research and industry, and play a key role in advancing Canadas science and technology infrastructure”.

Now for a few breaking stories of the morning …

A SCIENTIST AT THE HELM OF BIOGEN? – That was the conclusion of Luke Zimmerman’s interview with Biogen’s chairman Bill Young.  Young also hinted that the company’s new leader will likely come from the outside.

NC BIO 2010 THIS WEEK – This week is North Carolina’s Biotech 2010 conference.  According to reports, organizers are expecting a big turnout despite the tough economy.  Last year’s conference was the first that passed the 1,000 attendance mark.  This year Raleigh is expecting up to 1,300.  We’ll be following activity there all week.

CARL ICAHN GIVES NOTICE TO GENZYME – In a release issued this morning, folks at Genzyme said they’ve received notice from Carl Icahn that his group plans to “nominate four individuals to Genzyme’s board of directors at the company’s 2010 annual meeting of shareholders. They are Mr. Carl C. Icahn, Dr. Steven Burakoff, Dr. Alexander J. Denner and Dr. Richard Mulligan.”  The Genzyme release goes on to outline many “important” internal changes that Genzyme has taken over the last seven months on behalf of shareholders.

AAS, SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY AND FEEDING THE WORLD – Last week’s AAS conference included an interesting panel on synthetic biology and biotech and its important role in feeding a hungry world.  Of particular note was the role of public opinion.

The public’s acceptance or rejection of new technologies that could determine future food supplies will be the domain of Susanna Priest, a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. A communications researcher, she has argued that public debate is essential to public attitudes toward such technologies.

“I think that’s essential,” he said. “We’ve seen lots of technologies where we didn’t get adoption because we didn’t get consumer acceptance and understanding. Irradiation of food has been possible for over 50 years but we still haven’t gotten to general use because there is still a fear and lack of understanding of it.” Branen added, “To me everything we’re doing today requires an extensive discussion and an interdisciplinary approach. We can’t just focus on the technology but must look at the social and political aspects of the technology as well.”

Well, folks… welcome to Friday. Here are a few biotech stories for your morning perusal, including one that highlights what biotech-related apps you might want to take a look at:

BIOTECH APPS FOR IPHONE ADDICTS – Over at MyBiotechLife they have updated their list of favorite science apps for the iPhone and iPod. So for all those Mac fanboys out there, you should really check this out as well as their previous list of top-10 apps.

CANADIAN GOV’T DECLARES ENVIROPIGS SAFE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT – Environment Canada has cleared the enviropig of its first regulatory hurdle by confirming that the transgenic pig is not harmful to the environment. Though there is a long road ahead before clearing the enviropig for human consumption, the animal’s low-phosphorus feces would have a tremendous impact on pork farms’ environmental footprint:

The Guelph scientists were able to reduce phosphorus pollution by creating a special composite gene that enables digestion of a normally unavailable form of phosphorus. This allows the pigs to produce manure that is 30 to 65% lower in phosphorus than found in the manure of regular pigs — blamed for polluting surface and groundwater when raised in intensive livestock operations.

NEW METAL FOAM HOLDS PROMISE FOR ORTHOPEDIC TREATMENT – Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new metal foam, which could mean a new generation of biomedical implants – except these would be much more bone-like in their weight/energy absorption, and would likely reduce the implant rejection rates seen from more traditional methods like the titanium rods currently in use:

…in addition to the extraordinary high-energy absorption capability and light weight of their novel composite foams, the “modulus of elasticity” of the foam is very similar to that of bone. Modulus of elasticity measures a material’s ability to deform when pressure is applied and then return to its original shape when pressure is removed. The rough surface of the foam would also foster bone growth into the implant, improving the strength of implant.

Nothing says good morning like a fresh look at biotech advances! With that in mind, here are a few highlights from today’s news stories…

GENETIC TESTING CURBING SOME INHERITED DISEASES – The Associated Press takes a balanced look at the controversy surrounding genetic testing for prospective parents. The reporter weighs the benefits of a clear downward trend in testable genetic diseases with the ethical implications posited by opponents:

Births of babies with cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs and other less familiar disorders seem to have dropped since testing came into wider use, The Associated Press found from interviews with numerous geneticists and other experts and a review of the limited research available … Genetic testing pushes hot-button issues: abortion, embryo destruction and worries about eugenics – selective breeding to rid a population of unwanted traits. Yet it is touching a growing number of people…

DUPONT TO COLLABORATE ON HIGHER-YIELD CROPS FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred unit will contribute gene technology to a growing coalition of NGO’s to help develop a new robust maize variety with higher yields, while utilizing less fertilizer. Partners in this effort include the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and the South African Agricultural Research Council.

The group said it hopes to use transgenics as well as other biotechnology tools to create and share new maize varieties using fertilizer more efficiently and to help small farmers get higher yields, even where soils are poor and little commercial fertilizer is used.

BRAZILIAN MERGER CREATES A BIOFUEL POWERHOUSE – Brazilian biofuel producers ETH and Brenco will soon merge operations, creating one of the world’s largest biofuel producers – with an estimated annual production of 3 billion liters of cane biofuel.

Good morning and happy Wednesday! Biofuels, prostate cancer treatments and San Diego all highlight today’s roundup. Let’s take a look!

NOW INTRODUCING, COMPETITIVE BIOFUEL – We all know about biofuel’s environmental advantages, but the challenge remains in producing a fuel that’s both environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Well, we may finally be in luck. Danish biotechnology company, Novozymes, launched a new enzyme which it said will make it possible to turn agricultural waste into biofuel at a competitive price:

The new enzyme, known as Cellic CTec2, breaks down cellulose in agricultural waste into sugars that can be fermented into ethanol, and could convert corn cobs and stalks, wheat straw and woodchips into fuel.

Chief Executive Steen Riisgaard has optimistic goals:

“Our partners expect production costs to fall below two dollars per gallon once their first commercial-scale plants are fully operational, and the cost will continue to drop in the future.”

PROSTATE CANCER DRUG SHOWS PROMISE – British researchers announced yesterday that about half of the men that were given Johnson & Johnson’s abiraterone in a Phase II trial experienced a substantial reduction in levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in their blood, the standard measure of prostate cancer activity:

The latest Phase II study tested it in patients after treatment with both hormone therapy and Sanofi-Aventis’s Taxotere, or docetaxel, the only currently approved chemotherapy to show benefit in late-stage prostate cancer…Three-quarters also had a drop in the number of circulating tumor cells, another measurement linked to increased survival rates, and five of the 47 patients were still taking the drug and getting benefit three years after the trial started.

SAN DIEGO GETS BIOTECH BOOST – Bustling biotech hub San Diego has just received a $4.95 million grant from the federal stimulus package to improve education, training, and placement services for people who are seeking jobs in San Diego’s life sciences and health care professions:

The three-year grant allotted for the San Diego region will be used to boost a collaborative education and training program for more than 1,000 incumbent and unemployed workers in the life sciences, according to an announcement issued by San Diego State University, Biocom, the San Diego Workforce Partnership, and the Southern California Biotechnology Center at Miramar College.

How will this affect the future of biotech on San Diego? The folks at Xconomy have set up a panel of experts to tackle this very question. More info can be found here.

If you are concerned about the coming global food crisis – and you should be! – you don’t want to miss today’s op-ed in POLITICO by Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. He really hits the nail on the head when it comes to biotech innovation’s role in feeding a growing world population.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece, called “Don’t forget the world’s food gap”:

Late last month, leaders from around the world convened in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s annual conference of international leaders to address shared global challenges. While efforts to restore stability and prosperity to our financial system rightfully framed the conference agenda, I was most encouraged by the forum’s consideration of a topic even more fundamental to the survival of people around the globe but one that has received far less attention in the press and among policymakers: In order to feed a global population boom of 9 billion people by 2050, we will need to more than double our current levels of food production and develop a set of innovative strategies to combat a host of global-hunger-related and nutritional issues.

The urgency of this challenge cannot be understated. Indeed, the United Nations has said that world food output needs to grow by 70 percent by 2050 to address this dramatic increase in global population. Today, malnutrition is associated with half of all deaths in children under the age of 5 each year, and more than 1 billion people currently suffer from hunger and poverty. These numbers can be expected only to grow as our population increases by one-third over the next four decades.

Great challenges demand even better solutions, and better solutions can come only from the collaboration and competition of those willing to advance new ideas and technologies. Recently, I agreed to chair the new DuPont Advisory Committee on Agricultural Innovation and Productivity for the 21st Century, which seeks to do just that, by exploring how agricultural innovation can help us meet the food, feed, fiber and fuel demands of the coming decades. Innovation will lie at the heart of the agricultural revolution necessary to accomplish our goal of feeding the world by 2050 without increasing pressure on our world’s already strained and limited resources. In fact, innovation in agriculture won’t just provide more; it can also provide “better” — growing crops with nutritional benefits and developing seed that increases yield worldwide…

Read the rest of the op-ed HERE.

Well folks, the Olympics are in full swing as the extreme sport of curling gets underway today. But what has me most excited are my new Olympic mittens! Jealous?

Now, let’s see how biotechnology is HEALING, FEEDING and FUELING the world today!

HEAL: DNA TEST MAY DETERMINE LIKELYHOOD OF DISEASE – Like something out of the movie Gattaca, scientists at Edinburgh University are in the process of perfecting a fast, low-cost DNA test that can determine a person’s chances of developing certain inherited, and often fatal, diseases, just by analyzing a drop of your saliva:

The method, based on chemical analysis, is cheaper and promises prompter results than conventional DNA testing because it does away with the need for expensive enzymes, researchers said.Dr Juan Diaz-Mochon, of the University’s School of Chemistry, said: “This technology offers a speedy, cost-efficient alternative to existing methods of DNA analysis.

FEED: YET ANOTHER EXPERT BACKS BIOTECH CROPS – Britain’s chief scientist, John Beddington, has already expressed his positive opinion of biotech crops as part of the solution to global food security. Now, the science and technology advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Nina Fedoroff, is urging world leaders to do more to promote GM technologies to combat the global food crisis:

“There is a critical need to get beyond popular biases against the use of agricultural biotechnology and develop forward-looking regulatory frameworks based on scientific evidence,” the scientists say. They argue that an agricultural revolution is needed to address two threats to global food security over the coming century.

FUEL: BIOFUEL CONTINUES TO RISE UP – Big news in biofuel as British Airways announced that it will start producing a small portion of its jet fuel from municipal waste, under a deal with U.S.-based biofuel company Solena Group. The new biofuel plant would convert 500,000 tons of waste annually into 16 million gallons of green jet fuel, which would substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to regular jet fuel. The aviation fuel will be produced from gasification of the waste into a “syngas” which is then converted by the Fischer Tropsch process into liquid fuel.

VIDEO BONUS (You really need to check this out) – For the very first time, biologists at UCSD have identified and imaged the specific region in vertebrates where adult blood cells arise during embryonic development. This discovery is a huge step in creating safer, more effective stem cell therapies for patients with leukemia, multiple myelomas, anemia and other diseases of the blood or bone marrow. But wait, there’s more! Through this time-lapse imaging, we can actually see the primitive embryonic tissues of a zebrafish producing the parent stem cells that create all adult blood cells over the life of an organism.