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Now that you’ve
read the Five …
Bio innovations have played an essential role during the coronavirus pandemic.
Biology in a crisis …
Innovations in biological science have quickened the global coronavirus response—and signal broader competitive disruptions for business.
Science as unusual
In this edition:
A quick briefing in five—
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It’s working
New crosscurrents are already emerging.
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The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives
The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives
… and beyond
But the rapid pace of biological science will soon bring competitive disruption, too—and not just in healthcare.
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It’s fraught, too
But the Bio Revolution, once unleashed, brings risks and serious ethical considerations.
This year is on course to be the hottest
Upping your “bQ”
The Bio Revolution’s opportunities and risks require navigating not just competitive implications but also moral issues. Start with the following questions:
How the Bio Revolution could transform the competitive landscape
How the Bio Revolution could transform the competitive landscape
Article – McKinsey Quarterly
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How the Bio Revolution could transform the competitive landscape
How the Bio Revolution could transform the competitive landscape
Article – McKinsey Quarterly
The full genome of SARS-CoV-2
was sequenced and published in weeks, compared with months
for SARS-CoV-1.
Advancements in nucleic acid–based diagnostics enabled more effective and speedy diagnosis of COVID-19, though the many challenges with diagnosis during the
crisis leave ample room for further improvement.
Nucleic acid–based vaccine production and AI-powered
R&D have propelled vaccines into preclinical and Phase 1
trials at greater speed and
scale, relative to the 2015 Zika epidemic, though their success remains unclear.
Therapies for infected patients are being developed using genetically edited animals, siRNA, RNAi, T-cells, stem cells, and patient gene expression (mRNA) profiles. Their efficacy remains to be proven.
Ongoing bio innovations such as AI-enabled epidemiology may help forecast future outbreaks. When they do occur, algorithms could help predict hot spots and indicate transmission dynamics.
Identification
Treatment
Epidemiology
Diagnosis
Vaccines
1.2
0.5
1.2
0.8
0.7
0.2
0.3
0.2
Human health and performance
Agriculture, aquaculture, and food
Consumer products and services
Materials and energy
Examples of applications in biomolecules and biosystems, potential direct economic impact annually, 2030–40, $ trillion
The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives
The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives
Report – McKinsey Global Institute
Dive deeper
The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives
The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives
Report – McKinsey Global Institute
Dive deeper
R&D ecosystems
Agriculture and pharma incumbents are collaborating with Cairbou Biosciences, CRISPR Therapeutics, and Pairwise to harness unique biocapabilities.
5 of 5
Precision
Trace Genomics is profiling the soil microbiome to interpret health- and disease-risk indicators in farming.
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Personalization
Dating service eHarmony believes DNA analysis could unlock the innate laws of attraction—and streamline the matchmaking process.
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Platforms
Ginkgo Bioworks, which produces bacteria with
industrial applications, created the Ferment Consortium to give spin-off companies full access to its genome-mining platform for cell programming.
Ferment Consortium
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Capabilities
Amyris’s new production methods combine digital and biological skills to provide pure, stable skin-care products in high volume, at low cost, and from renewable resources.
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Inequitable access or effects
Privacy and consent concerns
Hard-to-forge consensus
Low barriers to potential misuse
Unintended consequences
Self-replicating biology crosses borders
The Bio Revolution: Risks and ethical concerns
believes DNA analysis
The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives
The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives
Report – McKinsey Global Institute
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What are some of the risks associated with the Bio Revolution that might affect my company’s reputation in markets and industries, as well as the public’s trust?
How should I integrate new biological-technology capabilities into existing R&D processes? To what degree should I partner with science-based start-ups to drive innovation?
How many resources should I allocate to investing in biological technologies and capabilities?
Where do I stand in relation to my peers in understanding and harnessing biological technologies? What, in other words, is my “biological quotient”?
How the Bio Revolution could transform the competitive landscape
How the Bio Revolution could transform the competitive landscape
Article – McKinsey Quarterly
Dive deeper
How the Bio Revolution could transform the competitive landscape
How the Bio Revolution could transform the competitive landscape
Article – McKinsey Quarterly
Dive deeper