BRIEF— BIO boss to step down after 2020 election

Jim Greenwood, president and chief executive of US trade group the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), will step down after the 2020 Presidential election, he has announced.

The industry veteran and former Congressman became BIO’s second leader in 2005 and, since then, the group has tripled in size, now boasting 176 employees and an $85 million operating budget.

Mr Greenwood wants to stay on for another 15 months to help transition a new leader to represent the industry globally and to ‘defend innovation from domestic political attacks’, according to a BIO statement.

The 68-year-old said: “I will continue my full-throated advocacy to ensure our elected officials do not kill innovation in a populist furor and prevent our scientists from delivering a new generation of genomic cures.”