A Republican and a Democratic member of Congress are calling on the Biden administration to add seven Chinese biotech firms to a list created by the Defense Department to highlight firms it says are allegedly working with Beijing's military. In a letter dated March 29 seen by Reuters, Republican Michael Gallagher and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi asked Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to take the action since Beijing could harness the power of biotechnology to strengthen its military. "Urgent action is needed," said the lawmakers, who serve as the chairman and ranking member of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, citing risks that China could "create synthetic pathogens" to gain military advantage. "The Department of Defense provides responses directly to members of Congress in matters of this kind," a department spokesman said in a statement. "We have no additional information or further details to release at this time." A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said "some people" in the United States should stop suppressing Chinese companies under false pretexts. "When it comes to 'using biotech to strengthen its military,' the U.S. side should reflect on itself, rather than groundlessly attacking and smearing China," the spokesperson, Liu Pengyu, said in a statement. The letter is the latest sign of growing concern in Washington about China's biotech sector. The U.S. Congress is considering legislation to bar federal agencies from contracting with China's BGI and WuXi AppTec, among others, as part of an effort to keep China from accessing American genetic data and personal health information. U.S. intelligence officials in late February told senators working on the bill that Chinese pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec (603259.SS), opens new tab had transferred U.S. intellectual property to Beijing without consent, Reuters reported. Being placed on the Pentagon's Chinese military-backed companies list doesn't involve immediate bans. However, it can be a blow to companies' reputations and represents a warning to U.S. firms considering doing business with them. It could also put pressure on the Treasury Department to sanction them. In their letter, Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi call for the addition of Innomics and STOmics, which they allege are subsidiaries of BGI. BGI Genomics Co (300676.SZ), opens new tab, a publicly listed subsidiary of BGI Group, was added to the list in 2022. Reuters reported in 2021 that BGI has made sales worldwide of prenatal tests developed in collaboration with China's military and has used them to collect genetic data from millions of women for sweeping research on traits of populations. BGI has said it is not controlled by the Chinese government or military and that it respects human rights. The letter also names Origincell, for allegedly operating a bio-storage cell tank and having ties to the Chinese military and Vazyme Biotech (688105.SS), opens new tab, which allegedly makes bioactive compounds and has investors with ties to the military. "STOmics Americas is a U.S.-based company that has no operations in China nor any connections whatsoever with the Chinese military," the BGI Group said in a statement.   Source: Reuters

Guwahati Biotech Park celebrated the first anniversary of its Technology Incubation Centre with a grand event on Tuesday. The event was conducted in the auditorium of Guwahati Biotech Park. Keerthi Jalli, Deputy Commissioner and CEO, Guwahati Biotech Park welcomed the dignitaries She also spoke on the upcoming Business Enterprise Zone and the campus being developed for the same. Phase II expansion plans have also been laid out for augmenting lab space and startup coves. She spoke on the vision to make GBP a Centre of Excellence for Biotech and allied sectors in the entire North East. The event was graced by chief guest, Keshab Mahanta, Minister of Science and Technology. The occasion marked significant achievements, the inauguration of the first of its kind in the North East, a NIDHI PRAYAS Centre of Technology Incubation sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, GOI, the inauguration of a state-of-the-art packaging unit funded by ARIAS Society, recognition of 7th Talent Search Contest winners where winners win huge funding in grants, the release of one-year achievement report of Guwahati Biotech Park and exchange of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with educational institutions.  Minister Keshab Mahanta in his speech emphasised the government’s support for the biotech and allied industry and the importance of fostering an ecosystem conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship. He also launched the Assam Biotechnology Council website which will serve as a single platform for accessing the incentives and grants outlined in the Biotechnology policy for the State of Assam. Anyone can apply for these grants through this website for augmenting their startup dreams.  

The Gavi vaccine alliance is in talks with Bharat Biotech over potential procurement of the company's Covaxin COVID-19 shot for the COVAX global vaccine distribution programme, a Gavi spokesperson told news agency Reuters on Thursday. "We are in discussion with (Bharat Biotech) as we consider the overall needs of the COVAX portfolio in 2022. However, we have no agreement for supply of Covaxin to COVAX at this time," the spokesperson said in an email. The World Health Organization in November gave Covaxin, India's first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine, approval for emergency use. Three of the 10 vaccines the global agency has approved are mass-produced in India. About 180 million Covaxin doses have been administered in India and more than 3 million doses have been exported or donated. Gavi said it was also working with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for the world's biggest vaccine maker to start supplying the Novavax vaccine to COVAX. Gavi has a firm order commitment for 300 million doses of the shot, with options for an additional 700 million doses. The SII has stockpiled tens of millions of doses of the Novavx shot, which it calls Covovax, and has shipped more than nine million doses of the drug to Indonesia in bilateral deals. The SII is also a big supplier of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the country and COVAX. The Centre, which resumed vaccine exports in October after stopping shipments in April to inoculate its own citizens, has so far donated or sold more than 1 billion doses in total. The world's biggest vaccine-making country has capacity to produce about 5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses a year. Source: NDTV

The Directorate General of Drug Administration has given permission to local institute Globe Biotech Ltd. to produce their Corona vaccine ‘Bangavax’ for running clinical trial. Globe Biotech Research and Development division chief Dr. Asif Mahmud delivered the information on Wednesday. Globe Biotech, a sister concern of medicine producing institution of the country Globe Pharmaceuticals Group of Companies on July 2 last year claimed that they have invented the vaccine. It is the first institution of the country which has claimed of inventing the Corona vaccine. The institution began their research to invent it on March 8. On October 18 Asif Mahmud said that their vaccine was tested successfully on animals. The World Health Organization has a list of 156 vaccines for pre-experimental use and Globe Biotech has three of them. AH

Claiming that they have got very promising results from pre-clinical trials on rabbits and mice of the coronavirus vaccine styled ‘BNCOVID’ developed by it, Bangladesh’s Globe Biotech Ltd on Monday said they want to bring it to the market by January next if they are allowed to launch the first phase of human trials very soon. The Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company said they have completed all the necessary preparations for making their vaccine initiative a success, but they said everything now depends on the government’s cooperation in completing the required processes. “We hope the government will stand beside us and assist us in every necessary area. If we all can make collective efforts, we hope, we’ll be able to start giving our vaccine to people across Bangladesh by January next,” Harunur Rashid, chairman of Globe Biotech, told a press conference at a city hotel. He said pre-clinical trials suggest that their vaccine is as promising as the other leading corona vaccine candidates in the world. “If we can now make united efforts, we can export the vaccine to all over the world alongside meeting the local demand.” Stating that the government has set aside Tk 10,000 crore for the corona vaccine, Harun said they will be able to earn over Tk 50,000 by exporting the BNCOVID vaccine if only the government extends the necessary support to them. “Developing a vaccine is a daunting task. But our team worked hard and made an impossible job possible.  We’ve built a cent percent foundation for the vaccine as we’re now at the stage of conducting phase-1 and phase-2 clinical trials,” he observed. He urged the government and the regulatory body, including DGDA, to allow them to conduct the clinical trials of the vaccine as soon as possible. “We believe our vaccine will turn out to be one of the effective vaccines in the world and we’ll be able to save many lives. But we need government patronage to make it possible.”  Globe Biotech CEO Kakon Nag said their vaccine has already proved safe and effective in the pre-clinical trials on mice following an animal model and the results of the pre-clinical trial were published in the international platform, biorxive.org -- an archive for unpublished pre-prints in life sciences. “We’re now preparing the protocol for conducting a clinical trial of the vaccine together with  Contract Research Organisation (CRO),” he said. Kakon hoped that CRO will soon apply to the Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) with the protocol for getting the approval for the clinical trial of the vaccine. Once they get the BMRC’s approval, he said, CRO will apply to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) for permission to carry out the clinical trial. Mentioning that Bangladesh is now witnessing the second wave of coronavirus, Kakon said recent studies recommend that D614G variant is cent percent responsible for it. “The BNCOVID vaccine developed with our own technology is the only and the first vaccine against the D614G variant.” “We’ve done whatever necessary to bring an effective and safe vaccine to the market, but the further steps and final success depend on the cooperation of the government and the people of the country,” he observed. Kakon said now their only responsibility is to provide vaccine doses for the clinical trial as per the protocol. Asked whether they have any plan to conduct the trial of the vaccine in any other country, he said they are now focusing on trials only in Bangladesh as their primary target is to provide the BANCOVID here. “If we want to export the vaccine, then we may need to conduct the trial in other countries.” The Globe Biotech CEO said they want to complete the trial within a short time by appointing a bigger number of volunteers as many people are contacting them to work as volunteers. About the possible price of the vaccine, he said it is now difficult to say the exact price of it since their product does not reach the final stage. “But we can say it will be relatively cheaper.” Speaking at the programme, Prof Mamun Al Mahtab, chairman of the hematology department at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), said he hopes the BANCOVID will be an effective vaccine. “BANCOVID has just completed the preclinical stage. Even then, this vaccine may finally become unsuccessful. But we appreciate this imitative  of Globe Biotech.”  BSMMU deputy registrar Dr Sheikh Abdullah Al Mamun thanked Globe Biotech for making efforts for devolving the vaccine. “But you’ve to still go a long way to succeed.” On July 2, Asif Mahmud, in-charge of research and development of Globe Biotech Limited, announced at a press conference that they were developing a Covid-19 vaccine as they completed preliminary animal trials successfully. Asif Mahmud was present at the press conference, but did not say anything about the vaccine. Source: UNB AH