The Alliance for Biosecurity formally recognized the sustained efforts of U.S. Rep. Charles Albert “Dutch” Ruppersberger, D-Md., to improve how the United States prevents and combats biosecurity threats with its Congressional Biosecurity Champion Award.
Congressman Ruppersberger on Oct. 19 received the award from the Washington, D.C.-based public-interest organization for his leadership and actions taken in Congress to improve U.S. national security, preparedness and response for biosecurity threats.
Ruppersberger, officially named in June as one of eight members of Congress to be recognized, received the annual alliance award on Thursday during an event and tour of an Emergent BioSolutions manufacturing facility in Maryland. The company is an alliance member and government contractor most known for its supply of the anthrax vaccine BioThrax.
“It’s really an honor,” Ruppersberger told Homeland Preparedness News following the event. “It’s something I’m proud of and can show my grandkids,” the fourth and newest born on Oct. 18.
“There is a lot of risk out there,” the Congressman said. “Every day, our nation is challenged by new threats ranging from cybersecurity to biowarfare. This is an area we have to remain vigilant in and stay on top of — there’s no in-between.”
The threats facing the United States, he said, come from terrorists, rogue regimes, nation-states and others sharing the common goal to undermine American life. And none of them check anyone’s political affiliation, Ruppersberger said, which requires that national biosecurity remain a bipartisan, united effort.
He was recognized as being a dedicated champion on biodefense and pandemic flu funding who supported the medical countermeasures innovation provisions in the 21st Century Cures Act as a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. In that role, Ruppersberger also has promoted increased support and funding for medical countermeasures through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the BioShield Special Reserve Fund, said Chris Frech, co-chairman of the Alliance for Biosecurity.
“The biosecurity industry doesn’t have a commercial market for its products so it relies on consistent funding from the federal government,” said Frech, who is also senior vice president for global government affairs at Emergent BioSolutions.
“The alliance commends Congressman Ruppersberger because of the actions he has taken as a member of the appropriations committee and his keen understanding about threats and the need to support the various agencies operating in the biosecurity field,” Frech told Homeland Preparedness News.
“As an appropriator, I know how important consistent and dependable funding is for innovation, especially when it comes to our country’s national security,” Ruppersberger said.
Additionally, the Congressman’s “understanding and interest in the area of bioterrorism threats while serving on the House Intelligence Committee,” Frech said, also contributed to Ruppersberger being chosen to receive the champion award.
Ruppersberger was the first Democratic freshman ever appointed to the House Intelligence Committee, where he served a committee-record 12 years, including four as ranking member, prior to his appropriations assignment.
Equally important, Ruppersberger has represented Maryland’s 2nd District for eight terms in Congress. The region includes a section of Baltimore City as well as parts of Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Harford and Howard counties, where a thriving trade and commerce hub exists thanks to the Port of Baltimore, the National Security Agency, Fort Meade, the federal Cyber Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay and other installations essential to the country’s national security.
Emergent BioSolutions, which has more than a dozen offices, has three manufacturing facilities in Maryland, with two located in Ruppersberger’s district: its Bayview Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) facility—one of three such sites in the United States — and its Camden facility, a contract manufacturing organization that conducts all phases of drug development, from product origin through to the final product for its customers.
Ruppersberger toured areas of the 112,000-square-foot CIADM facility that houses manufacturing suites, office space, and laboratories. The CIADM is a public-private partnership with BARDA established to develop and manufacture medical countermeasures for public health emergencies.
“It’s a great facility,” Ruppersberger said. “Clean, modern, state-of-the-art. Emergent is conducting first-class work on globally significant products. Maryland is a hub of biotech innovation and I’m glad we have innovative companies like Emergent … hard at work here to protect Americans from emerging threats both at home and abroad.”
Most recently, Emergent earlier this month completed its purchase of Sanofi’s smallpox vaccine business, which includes ACAM2000, the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved smallpox vaccine that Emergent will manufacture and deliver under contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the Strategic National Stockpile.
Also in October, Emergent landed a $25 million contract with the U.S. State Department to supply its first nerve agent antidote auto-injector product, a drug-device combo called Trobigard that’s currently not promoted nor distributed in the United States, although it is stockpiled internationally.
“We’re very excited about our expanded portfolio to address biothreats here and abroad,” Frech said. “It was important that Congressman Ruppersberger got a firsthand view of the facility, the processes and capabilities, and the role it plays in developing countermeasures for worldwide use.
“As for the Congressman’s speaking with our employees — it was a unique experience for them to talk with a member of the U.S. Congress who told them why what we focus on is important and why it’s important that we exist,” he said. “It was very meaningful for them.”
Said Ruppersberger: “The partnership between Emergent and the government is unique. Emergent depends on the federal government and the federal government depends on Emergent.”
The company can’t produce and prepare vaccines and antidotes without federal cash flow, he explained, and the government needs the vital products being produced by the company for the government’s stockpile.
“I could tell that the employees were extremely positive about their work; that they felt their worth and value to the nation,” added Ruppersberger. “They’re getting up every morning and going to a job where they’re helping to save peoples’ lives.”
Emergent BioSolutions is among several pharmaceutical and biotech companies and university research labs that are involved in developing measures and treatments for infectious diseases that comprise the Alliance for Biosecurity. Others include Bavarian Nordic, Romark Laboratories LC, the Texas A&M University System, Johnson & Johnson/Janssen, Soligenix Inc., and Meridian Medical Technologies, to name a few.
Formed in 2005, the Alliance for Biosecurity forges federal government-private sector cooperation over biodefense. The lobbying group works to ensure the United States has in place medical countermeasures that protect public health and provide national security, and supports public policies and funding to rapidly develop, produce, stockpile and distribute them.
“Public-private partnerships allow government and industry to work together to ensure the country is prepared for potential biothreats,” Frech said. “Emergent is proud of the role it plays in helping to solve a much larger problem.”