Anis Fahandej-Sadi is a Business Development Associate at OmniaBio Inc., with more than three years’ business development experience across laboratory and GMP instrumentation, and now manufacturing services in the cell and gene therapy space. After receiving his Master’s in Chemistry from the University of Alberta in 2018, Anis taught English in Korea for one year. Upon returning to Canada, he jumped into scientific sales in late 2019 as a Product Specialist at a Vancouver-based automated liquid handling manufacturer. He then joined Cytiva in early 2021, where he worked as a Business Development Representative within their Aseptic Filling Division (formerly Vanrx) helping to drive business for their Aseptic Filling Workcells. From there, he joined OmniaBio in late 2022. In his spare time, he can be found eating and plotting his next meal, planning international travel, listening to biographical or personal development e-books, and exercising to offset all the food.
The UK finally rejoined the €95.5 billion (US$102 billion) Horizon Europe scheme for funding sustainability research and tackling climate change, according to a recent report in Nature.
Why was the UK out in the first place? As with many UK & EU relationship issues, it comes back to Brexit.
Brexit – the process whereby the UK formally left the EU on January 31, 2020 – caused massive disruptions and confusion across multiple industries within the EU, the UK, and the world.
Pertinent to our readers, Brexit severed streamlined scientific funding and collaboration routes between the UK and the EU, including Horizon Europe.
Leaving this program created tangibly negative effects. As reported in The Guardian, in 2019 (pre-Brexit) 1,364 grants were awarded from EU-based funding, totalling €959.3 million. Compare this with only €22.18 million awarded across 192 grants as of August 2023.
Luckily, though after much stress and lost sleep on the part of the UK research and scientific communities, Downing Street has finally agreed to rejoin Horizon Europe.
Prior to Brexit, the UK allocated £6.9 billion into Horizon Europe stretching into 2025. These contributions were cancelled upon Brexit taking effect. Now with the UK rejoining, they’re back to contributing €2.6 billion annually to access this funding source.
How does this affect Canada?
How does Horizon Europe benefit Canada, North America and biotech? For the continued progression of cell and gene therapies, funding aimed at sustainability is a direct and necessary concern.
Firstly, consider climate change. It’s no longer a future boogeyman but our current reality.
Estimates pin U.S. economic losses caused by climate and weather disasters at US$165 billion for 2022. Canada is expected to shell-out CA$25 billion by 2025 for events caused by climate change. Canada is also predicting 500,000 jobs lost by 2050 due to excessive heat and premature deaths from climate change.
Programs like Horizon Europe increase investment in sustainable alternatives to meet our ever growing energy and material demands. This can allow us to safeguard and strengthen our supply chains, research institutes, and industries to the negative effects of climate change. This means safe and continued access to both next-generation research and the medicines that come from it.
Secondly, sustainability research provides new, sustainable ways to generate materials and energy, reduce waste, and recycle/upcycle waste we’ve already generated. This work is vital to resource intensive industries like cell and gene therapy. Between all the reagents, water and single-use bioreactors, we’re still in the cavalier days of figuring out the most efficient processes and manufacturing routes.
Sustainability research enabled by Horizon Europe could mean:
- More efficient (higher yield, lower waste generated) steps within cell and gene therapy manufacturing workflows;
- Sustainable reagent alternatives;
- Alternative, recycled/upcycled materials for bioreactors, pipette tips, and other consumables; and,
- Innovate methods to recycle and upcycle waste generated from the biopharma industry.
Though many of these ideas may be years away from fruition, continued investment through programs like Horizon Europe are critical to their future success.
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The climate crisis has direct implications on the research, development, and manufacturing of the medicines we need today and in the future, like those promised by cell and gene therapy.
Ear-marking funding to tackle sustainability and climate-change challenges are key to our future and the future of the cell and gene therapy field.
With the UK rejoining the Horizon Europe program, we’re collectively moving towards finding solutions for the sustainability problems we face today and those in our future.
Guest
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