Washington DC: US President George W Bush announced on Monday, the much awaited and talked about Bioshield project. Bioshield is an ambitious project expected to span for about 10-years with the objective of making the US safe from bio-terrorism and other healthcare disasters. Speaking to a packed audience of over 8,000 delegates, US congressmen and various state governors at the Bio 2003 in Washington DC Convention Center, the president said the government’s objective is to speed up R&D on effective vaccines and other forms of medical solutions over the next ten years. “For the sake of the national security the US congress must pass the Bioshield legislation as fast as possible,” President Bush appealed.

This is widely seen as a shot in the arm for the biotechnology and pharma industry, which are going through tough market situations. Billions of dollars are expected to flow into the system in supporting the Bioshield project.

On the same occasion the FDA announced that it would seek to reduce the time taken for each level of approvals.

Continuing his spirited words on the industry, the President called upon the leaders across the Atlantic to lift the ban on biotech products in European countries. Europe has closed its door for biotech imports and many US companies, mostly the GM foods businesses, are effectively blocked out of one of the world’s biggest markets.

Speaking eloquently on the need for the US to maintain its lead in the biotechnology industry, the president said, 'Our (US) biotech industry is strongest in the world and we need to keep it that way.'

Biotech also makes for a good election plank. President Bush sought to reach out to the senior citizen by addressing a much debated issue of medicare. The US government has included modern prescription drugs in our medicare scheme and the President announced that a framework for a senior citizen forum of is being put in place to help them 'choose a medicare they (senior citizen) need and not what a Washington bureaucrat think they need.'

'We have the need to modernize medicare and we need your (biotech industry) help,' President Bush said.

For the biotech industry and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) getting President Bush to address them has been a major coup. BIO President. Carl B Feldbaum described it as an acknowledgement of the industry’s impact on medicine, agriculture and environment.