Good Day BIO: COVID-19 news + Bayh-Dole's impact on ag tech

Today, we have news on COVID-19 cases, boosters, and impact on fertility, plus a look at the impact of Bayh-Dole on agricultural innovation and a few updates on the FDA Commissioner nominee and pandemic preparedness from the Senate. (820 words, 4 minutes, 6 seconds)

COVID-19 news roundup: Omicron's peak, booster shot efficacy, and more

U.S. Omicron cases seem to have peaked, but we’re not out of the woods yet. We have details plus vaccine news you might have missed. 

While Omicron cases are declining, the pandemic’s far from over: “The United States continues to identify far more infections a day than in any prior surge, and some states in the West, South, and Great Plains are still seeing sharp increases. Many hospitals are full. And deaths continue to mount, with more than 2,100 announced most days,” reports The New York Times.

Globally, cases and deaths continue to rise,reports the WHO—more evidence of the urgent need to address vaccine hesitancy and supply chains worldwide. 

Watch: How do we protect ourselves from COVID-19 variants? 

Get boosted. Boosters are up to 80% effective against hospitalization from Omicron, according to the WHO. 

Trying to conceive? Get vaccinated,says a recent study, which found COVID-19 vaccines do not affect fertility in women or men—but “men who tested positive for COVID within 60 days of a given cycle had reduced fertility compared to men who never tested positive, or men who tested positive at least 60 days prior,” reports Futurity. 

Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech are studying an Omicron-specific vaccine,Pfizer announced yesterday. 

What they’re saying: “While current research and real-world data show that boosters continue to provide a high level of protection against severe disease and hospitalization with Omicron, we recognize the need to be prepared in the event this protection wanes over time and to potentially help address Omicron and new variants in the future,” said Kathrin U. Jansen, Ph.D., SVP and Head of Vaccine Research & Development at Pfizer. 

The impact of Bayh-Dole on agricultural innovation

We talk a lot about the role of the Bayh-Dole Act in developing new medicines—but what about the impact on university ag tech transfers? Agweek takes a look. 

Bayh-Dole in a nutshell:The Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act (a.k.a. Bayh-Dole) empowers universities, small businesses, and non-profits to take ownership of inventions made with federally funded research, so they can license these inventions for further applied R&D and broader public use. 

It’s advanced biomedical innovation: “Bayh-Dole has spurred 13,000 startups, resulted in more than 100,000 new patents, and led to the disclosure of more than 420,000 inventions just from 1996-2017,” reported Bloomberg Law—as well as some 300 drugs on the market.   

But some want to allow the federal government to wrongly use it to “march in” and seize the patents—which could have widespread impact on all university research, including agricultural research. 

Here’s why: “If the federal government unilaterally disturbs deals between universities and private companies that would drive companies away from university collaborations…it could build a ‘wall’ between basic and applied research and could stifle developments that benefit farmers and humanity in general,” explains Agweek. 

The bottom line: “Farmers and agriculture could lose out in this struggle, if federal officials make it more difficult to transfer technology from the university laboratory to commercialization,” said Kevin Walters of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which is a repository for funds acquired through research deals between university researchers and the private sector, and invests money for use in future research.

The Bayh-Dole Act has been driving R&D and innovation for 40+ years—learn more at bayhdolecoalition.org. 

More Agriculture and Environment News:

RealClearPolicy (Opinion): Gene Editing: A 21st Century Tool to Combat Climate Change
“Gene editing aligns and mutually reinforces the incentives of the earth and her inhabitants—more and better food, more and cleaner water, all the while safeguarding biodiversity,” writes Dr. Allen Van Deynze, Director of the Seed Biotechnology Center and Associate Director of the Plant Breeding Center at UC Davis.

President Biden’s Wednesday:Meeting with private sector CEOs to discuss Build Back Better, then signing an executive order to make sexual harassment an offense in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The White House COVID-19 Response Team will hold a briefing at 11 AM ET. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The House is in recess. Bloomberg Law says FDA Commissioner nominee Dr. Robert Califf is expected to be approved, though he may not receive as many votes as he did in 2016. (His nomination was approved by the Senate HELP Committee on January 13; a full Senate vote has not yet been scheduled.) Meanwhile, Sen. Health Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-NC) have proposed legislation to strengthen pandemic preparedness and require Senate confirmation of the CDC Director, STAT News reports.