ARMI unveils initiative to beef up U.S. pandemic response

What it calls a roadmap to strengthen and accelerate pandemic response and preparedness in the U.S. has been launched by the Manchester-based Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute.

The initiative – called the National Technology Roadmap for Pandemic Response and Recovery – outlines a technology-based action plan for dealing with pandemics. It recommends special technology and commercialization efforts that could be implemented to respond to and recover from Covid-19,as well as longer-term research and development priorities necessary to improve readiness.

In its announcement, ARMI said the strategy is “the first pandemic roadmap driven by the manufacturing sector. Given that the manufacturing sector will be at the center of a stronger, faster and more coordinated U.S. response to and recovery from Covid-19 and future pandemics, this roadmap will help ensure U.S. preparedness and resiliency.”

The roadmap outlines six focus areas that it says will improve response through investment in technologies, platforms and infrastructure improvements:

• Supply chains: to ensure access to all raw materials and components needed for manufacturing
• Manufacturing: to meet demands for personal protective equipment, medical devices, therapeutics, and vaccines both rapidly and flexibly
• Deployment and access: to ensure products and support are available when and where they are needed most
• Data infrastructure: to help inform public health response decisions
• Predictive capabilities: to enhance early detection and tracing, prediction of new outbreaks, prediction of prognosis, drug development and vaccine design
• Regulatory processes: to facilitate the accelerated approval of safe and effective medical products critical to pandemic response

In developing the strategy, ARMI sought input from more than 75 multidisciplinary experts and senior leaders in the pandemic response, including representatives from academia, government, manufacturers, health care, data infrastructure and biosecurity, said Richard McFarland, chief regulatory officer at ARMI/BioFabUSA.

“The priorities and recommendations in the roadmap reflect the consensus of experts who have been working tirelessly throughout this pandemic,” said McFarland. “This is an invaluable resource not only for industry but also for Congress and the administration. Covid-19 demonstrated how critical sustained pandemic planning is — and how important it will be to align public- and private-sector priorities to ensure sustained pandemic preparedness in the future.”

ARMI is a public-private partnership focused on the development of advanced biomanufacturing and commercialization of cells, tissues and tissue-related technologies as well as a supply chain and trained workforce for biomanufacturing.