Italy-USA: event on biotechnology with Milken Institute

(ANSA) - WASHINGTON, 13 NOV - "Italy's focus on the biotechnology sector - also reflected in the development of a national strategy - is indicative of our aspiration to play a leading role internationally in developing responses to the major challenges in the global health sector. In this sense, the relationship with the United States is of strategic importance for Italy: it was here in Washington that the interim report on the Working Table for the Internationalisation of Biotechnology Industries was presented only a few weeks ago" These were the words of the Italian Ambassador to the United States, Mariangela Zappia, during an evening dedicated to biotechnology, hosted yesterday at Villa Firenze in Washington on the occasion of the Milken Institute's 'Future of Health Summit'.
    The ambassador also recalled that, on the occasion of the G7 Health Ministers' Meeting held in Ancona last October, Italy announced $21 million in funding over the next three years to Car-X, a global non-profit partnership supporting the development of new antibiotics to combat antibiotic resistance.
    The 'Future of Health Summit', organised annually by the Milken Institute, brings together experts in the fields of medical research and biotechnology to discuss major global health issues. In addition to the CEO of the Milken Institute, Richard Ditizio, the evening organised at Villa Firenze was attended by representatives from the academic and private sectors, including Monica Bertagnolli, Director of the National Institutes of Health (Nih), Anthony Fauci former Director of the Nih's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and now Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington DC, Megan Frisk, Director of International Affairs at Arpa-H, and Camillo Ricordi, Director of the Centre for Cell Transplantation at the University of Miami. Founded in 1991, the Milken Institute is a think tank that focuses on major global challenges, from climate change to the use of Artificial Intelligence, from food security to health issues.