NTI | bio Offers Solutions to Strengthen Biosecurity and Reduce Biological Threats

Given rising H5N1 bird flu cases in cows and new cases in humans, enhancing global pandemic detection, prevention, and response is crucial. The 2024 Global Health Security Conference (GHSC) in Sydney, Australia earlier this summer provided an excellent opportunity for more than 1,250 health and security leaders to discuss solutions to address biological threats.

Team members from the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s Global Biological Policy and Programs (NTI | bio) contributed to the solution set by offering impactful tools and strategies that governments can use to advance global health security.

Global Health Security Index

The Global Health Security Index (GHS Index) was first released in 2019, measuring the capacities of 195 countries to prepare for epidemics and pandemics. Updated to incorporate lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 GHS Index report found that all countries remain dangerously unprepared for future epidemics and pandemic threats, including threats potentially more devastating than COVID-19.

This assessment, while sobering, is not irreversible.

“The GHS Index is the only comprehensive, independent tool for objectively assessing international preparedness for catastrophic biological threats, in a way that can be repeated every few years,” Dr. Jaime Yassif, Vice President of NTI Global Biological Policy and Programs emphasized during a panel discussion on advancing global preparedness.

Dr. Yassif presented the GHS Index as a cost-effective tool that can create political accountability for investment in pandemic preparedness by objectively measuring capacity and tracking progress over time. She also noted the Index’s strength in being a singular resource to support data-driven decision making to maximize the impact of investments in pandemic preparedness.

Global Biosecurity Dialogue

First launched in 2018, the Global Biosecurity Dialogue (GBD) is an international, cross-sectoral dialogue that works to advance actionable commitments to bolster biosecurity in countries around the world. NTI | bio hosted the 2023 GBD in Bangkok, Thailand in collaboration with the Regional Public Health Laboratory (RPHL) Network and the Department of Medical Sciences and Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand.

During a panel on advancing biosecurity and biosafety in Southeast Asia, Dr. Jintana Sriwongsa, an advisor at RPHL Network, presented GBD as an effective tool for promoting regional biosecurity and for advancing collaboration in the Global South. At the 2023 GBD, participants gathered from high levels of government, civil society, and other sectors to begin developing a vision for a more robust regional biosecurity strategy, along with stronger national-level capacities to bring the strategy to fruition.

Artificial Intelligence and the Life Sciences

Dr. Yassif briefed conference attendees on NTI’s report on the Convergence of Artificial Intelligence and the Life Sciences, which was published in October 2023. During the session, she underscored the report’s recommendations for actions that leaders within government, industry, the scientific community, and civil society should take to safeguard AI-bio capabilities.

The report authors advocate for the creation of an international forum that would serve as a venue for developing and sharing best practices for implementing effective AI-bio guardrails, identifying emerging biological risks associated with ongoing AI advances, and developing shared resources to manage these risks. Since the report’s release, NTI | bio hosted the first meeting of the International AI-Bio Forum and future forum meetings will focus on advancing progress in high-priority areas, such as risk assessment and model evaluations and guardrails for AI biodesign tools.

Disincentivizing State Bioweapons Development and Use

The risk of a global biological catastrophe continues to grow due to rapidly advancing capabilities to create and engineer pathogens with pandemic potential, coupled with possible interest in biological weapons among some states. Dr. Nathan Paxton, Senior Director at NTI | bio, emphasized the need to build an epistemic community focused on identifying potential solutions to disincentivize states from developing or using biological weapons during a panel on preventing, investigating, and responding to chemical and biological events.

To begin constructing this community, NTI | bio hosted a workshop in November 2023 focused on developing theoretical concepts and practical policy approaches to disincentivization. Participants discussed potential strategies related to accountability, enhanced transparency, improved attribution, and innovative prevention. NTI | bio is currently developing an essay collection that captures ideas from meeting participants and other experts in the field, to be published in late 2024.

Bio Funders Compact 

On the sidelines of the 2024 Global Health Security Conference, NTI | bio and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) launched the Bio Funders Compact. The Bio Funders Compact brings together global funders of life science research to commit to safeguarding the tools of modern bioscience and biotechnology against accidental and deliberate misuse. Sentinel Bio, a new philanthropic fund, and the Global Health Security Fund, join NTI and CEPI as founding signatories.

Dr. Aparupa Sengupta, Senior Program Officer at NTI | bio, presented potential avenues that organizations can take to fulfill commitments under the Compact, such as conducting pre-funding biosecurity and biosafety reviews and including biosecurity clauses in funding agreements.

Biological threats—whether naturally occurring or deliberately or accidentally released—can lead to a widespread catastrophe that countries are currently unprepared to contain. NTI | bio brought unique perspectives to the Global Health Security Conference, recommending numerous strategies to reduce risks and strengthen biosecurity. By utilizing capacity-measuring tools and fostering global, cross-sector collaboration, governments can bolster safeguards against future threats, moving towards a safer and healthier world for all.