Opinion: The pandemic has exposed our broken pharma supply chain. Synthetic biology and brewer’s yeast could fix it
Covid-19 has depleted stockpiles of essential medicines in the U.S., straining our supply chains and hobbling the treatment of critically ill patients. The government and pharmaceutical companies are already decades late in trying to fix this problem and so far their proposed solutions fall short. To prepare for the next crisis — and make no mistake, there will be a next crisis — we need an entirely new way to make lifesaving medicines.
Two technologies — synthetic biology and fermentation — offer a promising alternative to traditional manufacturing.
