Biotechnology

In 1990, the U.S. Government launched the largest and most ambitious biology project ever: mapping the human genome. As significant to biology as putting a man on the moon was to physics, the goal for completion was fifteen years at a cost of two billion dollars. Thirteen years later, the U.S. Department of Energy and National Institute of Health had led a highly successful public-private partnership across research centers in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, Spain, and China to map 92% of the human genome with 99.99% accuracy.

This initiative helped dramatically reduce the cost of human genome sequencing over the last twenty years. The first “draft” genome sequence in 1999-2000 cost ~$300 million worldwide (of which the National Institute of Health provided 50-60%). By 2017, commercially available techniques reduced this cost to below $1,000. This single metric portends groundbreaking potential for a wide variety of healthcare and quality of life applications. It also highlights a high return on government investment.

Healthcare is only one segment where technology is harnessing the building blocks of biology. Agriculture, industrial materials, energy, and advanced manufacturing also seek to capitalize the potential of molecular biology to enhance their products and services to provide paradigm-shifting solutions to complex problems.

In 2018, biotechnology is a $106.9 billion industry with over 2,200 businesses and an IBISWorld estimated annual growth of 1.7% over the next five years. This growth is fueled by a wide array of product applications for expanding markets, while closely tied to the inherent risk of research and development at the frontier of science. Biotechnology as a science, process, and industry breaks new ground each day while capital markets, regulatory frameworks, and norms of conduct adjust to a novel landscape.

Biotechnology inches closer to a tipping point where its impact on our daily lives could rival the development of the internet. At this tipping point, the volume of challenges will equal opportunities. Public and private sectors most adapted to meet these challenges will be best postured to harness the opportunities. Retaining U.S. competitive advantage in biotechnology is possible, but not guaranteed.

In December 2017, the Trump administration published its first National Security Strategy, which calls upon the United States to respond to growing political, economic, and military competitions around the world. This framework of strategic competition contends that emphasizing American competitive advantage across all elements of power is necessary to secure the nation and is a prudent response to the contemporary global environment. 

Over the last six months, it struck the authors of this paper how many leaders in the biotechnology space were drawn there by its outsized potential for our lives and economy over the next century. If only half their forecasts are correct, the United States cannot afford to abdicate its leadership and competitive advantage in biotechnology. Those who lead in the science and industry are positioned to draw the most benefit at the points of technological breakthrough. Such positioning is precisely the type of advantage the 2017 National Security Strategy seeks.

Biotechnology faces some unanswered questions and challenges. These include regulatory frameworks, the role of government in basic and applied research, intellectual property protections, capital markets, privacy, and international norms of conduct. American leadership in resolving these challenges will maximize the potential of biotechnology’s contribution to all pillars of the National Security Strategy, while providing options for a myriad of current and future security challenges.

This paper’s tailored policy recommendations, nested with the 2017 National Security Strategy, provide perspectives on how the U.S. Government can shape the landscape for national success in biotechnology. Continued American advantage is not a foregone conclusion.

Read the report →