Ovid Therapeutics - Jeremy LevinBy Jeremy Levin, D.Phil, MB BChir
Tag Archive for: Statement
The 2023 State of the Union speech saw biotechnology rise as a priority for the European Union. It has been designated as a critical technology for Europe’s economic security. In March 2024, the European Commission presented its biotechnology and biomanufacturing strategy with a clear leadership ambition for Europe’s biotech industries. The Letta Report on the future of the Single Market, published April 2024, proposed a fifth freedom on research and innovation which would directly benefit biotech.
Biotechnology is helping us tackle challenges such as emerging diseases, the impact of ageing in healthcare, population growth, climate change, and the green transition of the economy. Precision medicines, advanced therapies, mRNA and gene editing technologies are transforming the way diseases can be diagnosed and treated, providing life-saving solutions. Biotechnology is also at the forefront of building a sustainable economy, developing better crops, providing new protein sources, and producing bio-based materials.
In a world where biotechnology has been enabling products and processes for decades, it’s time to step out from behind the technology and claim the resulting products and their value in our everyday life. It needs higher visibility and recognition of impact, moving beyond its ‘enabling’ brand which forever makes it sound like the benefits are just around the corner, rather than the existing significant economic and industrial impact.
Our species – modern humans, or homo sapiens sapiens – has ever striven for progress. And progress was greatly enabled by fire, a fundamental chemical phenomenon that allows the fast release of large amounts of energy.
Fossil carbon is in nearly everything we use in our daily lives ranging from power and fuels to fibers, coatings, and materials used in our clothes, packaging, toys, and household goods. Virgin fossil carbon use in these products is not sustainable given the current understanding of the impact of extracted, emitted, and waste carbon on our environment, climate, and vulnerable populations.