{"id":7049848,"date":"2026-08-28T08:57:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T08:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/as-u-s-china-biotech-race-heats-up-seattle-makes-its-case-to-d-c-geekwire\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T08:57:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T08:57:02","slug":"as-u-s-china-biotech-race-heats-up-seattle-makes-its-case-to-d-c-geekwire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7049848","title":{"rendered":"As U.S.-China biotech race heats up, Seattle makes its case to D.C. \u2013 GeekWire"},"content":{"rendered":"


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From left, Marc Cummings, Life Science Washington; Snehal Patel, Sana Biotechnology; Joe Horsman, Madrona Venture Group; Rebecca Bryant, Fred Hutch Cancer Center; and Alex Zanghellini, Arzeda, at a Seattle forum hosted by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology on Tuesday. (GeekWire Photo \/ Sydney Jackson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arzeda<\/a> designs enzymes for products ranging from laundry detergent to stevia. But when it comes time to manufacture at commercial scale, the Seattle-based startup often has to look overseas.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, when a federal biotechnology commission<\/a> visited Seattle on Tuesday, the industry came forward with a problem: They have the science, but lack the infrastructure and workforce pipeline to keep innovation on U.S. soil.<\/p>\n

Arzeda\u2019s designs reach an estimated 1.8 billion consumers worldwide, and the company<\/a> has spent the better part of two decades building its technology. The company\u2019s enzymes, sometimes designed in days rather than weeks thanks to AI, are largely manufactured in Western Europe and India \u2014 with one U.S. contract manufacturing partner in Wisconsin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finding domestic manufacturers with the expertise and capacity to make these specialized proteins has been difficult, CEO Alexandre Zanghellini<\/a> said. And for a company trying to commercialize new biotechnology, he added, manufacturing delays can be \u201ccatastrophic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The federal group visiting Seattle \u2014 the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology<\/a> \u2014 was created by Congress to address these kinds of problems. Since 2022, the team of 11 bipartisan experts have examined how biotech intersects with national security, and what the U.S. needs to do to remain competitive with China.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, the commission drafted a report to Congress<\/a> with 49 recommendations spanning at least $15 billion in federal investment over five years, with policies to get more private capital into biotechnology, build domestic manufacturing capacity, strengthen the workforce and reduce vulnerabilities in the supply chain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, with the commission sunsetting in December, its members are taking their case around the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The science is here, the infrastructure isn\u2019t<\/h4>\n

In Seattle, the urgent matter is finding a way to keep biotechnology breakthroughs in the United States. Alexander Titus<\/a>, a commission member who has headed AI-focused biotech initiatives in Seattle and nationwide, said Washington stands out for its early innovation and research.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology commissioners Alexander Titus, left, and Paul Arcangeli speak with attendees at a Seattle biotech forum on Tuesday. (GeekWire Photo \/ Sydney Jackson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cCompanies like Arzeda are having pretty serious leadership roles in the AI and bio space,\u201d he told GeekWire. \u201cA lot of the work we have done in the commission has revolved around helping the U.S. meet the moment when it comes to this nexus.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Institutions like the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and the Allen Institute have helped build a deep life-sciences ecosystem in Washington. UW\u2019s Institute for Protein Design, led by 2024 Nobel Prize winner David Baker, has spun out more than 20 companies. <\/p>\n

One is Arzeda, which has an increasingly fast agentic workflow that can fine-tune a model, suggest the next experiment, and allow researchers to test thousands of sequences in a single round. The company\u2019s first AI-designed commercial product was a stevia ingredient launched in 2024; it\u2019s now negotiating a $44 million contract with the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency<\/a> related to biothreat response.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While technology is moving quickly, the infrastructure needed to commercialize it is not \u2014 creating what Seattle biotech leaders called a \u201cvalley of death\u201d between research and manufacturing.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has federal funding for basic research, as well as a venture-capital system that can finance early-stage discoveries. But once a company needs to build or access physical infrastructure for commercial-scale manufacturing, the financing becomes much harder. Venture capital investors don\u2019t see the returns attractive enough, Zanghellini said. Banks aren\u2019t eager to finance them, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pull of overseas manufacturing<\/h4>\n

Meanwhile, China has spent two decades making biotechnology a strategic priority, and its 2026 Five-Year Plan doubles down on areas including biomedicine, biomanufacturing, pharmaceuticals and brain-computer interfaces. For U.S. companies in the race, that can create an uncomfortable incentive: If the infrastructure is cheaper and faster somewhere else, that\u2019s where the work often goes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, Seattle-based Sana Biotechnology canceled plans<\/a> for a manufacturing plant that was supposed to employ hundreds of workers in Bothell, Wash., instead opting for a contract manufacturer elsewhere to cut costs. Snehal Patel<\/a>, the company\u2019s executive vice president and chief technical officer, said on Tuesday he\u2019s optimistic the Seattle area could compete on speed and cost with China\u2019s fully integrated supply chain \u2014 with the right resources.<\/p>\n

Ideally, manufacturing facilities in the U.S. would offer flexibility and knowledge in different products and processes, while ensuring trade secret protection. <\/p>\n

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