New Council of International Biotech Associations formed in EU

An international confederation of biotechnology trade associations has announced recently the ratification of bylaws creating the International Council of Biotechnology Associations (ICBA), with the expressed purpose of advocating for public policies that support the growth of the innovative biotechnology industry worldwide.

 Jim Greenwood, BIO’s President and Chief Executive Officer, was elected ICBA Chairman, and Nathalie Moll, Secretary General of EuropaBio, was elected Vice Chair, each serving a two-year term. The Council will meet annually at the BIO International Convention.

 "The increasingly global biotechnology industry provides breakthrough products and technologies that combat debilitating and rare diseases, reduce our environmental footprint, feed the hungry, use less and cleaner energy, and have safer, cleaner and more efficient industrial manufacturing processes,” said Greenwood. “However, the biotechnology sector faces both challenges and opportunities that cross borders. In forming the ICBA, our industry is taking an important step that allows us to better coordinate, organize and face these issues around the world together."

 "Biotechnology is geared at enhancing our quality of life and responding to society’s grand challenges such as an ageing and ever increasing population, healthcare choice and affordability, resource efficiency, food security, climate change, energy shortages and economic growth," said Moll. The ICBA will advocate for more efficient and effective governance, science-based regulatory systems and the right framework conditions for competitiveness and innovation to ensure faster and more equitable access to biotech products and processes for patients, farmers and consumers around the world.