The Alliance for Biosecurity applauded Wednesday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approval of the Medical Countermeasure Innovation Act, S. 2055.
The legislation would accelerate the development of new vaccines and medicines meant to protect American citizens from potential deliberate biological threats, including smallpox and anthrax, as well as such naturally emerging disease threats as pandemic flu and Ebola.
Reforms in the legislation, which is endorsed by the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, would ensure that incentives are in place to attract private investment in product development and that the government contracting process is efficient, predictable and flexible. The goal of the reforms is to better prepare the U.S. for the next threats on the horizon before they manifest.
“We applaud Senators (Richard) Burr (R-NC) and (Bob) Casey (D-PA) for their continued leadership in improving our nation’s preparedness for biological threats,” Co-Chair of the Alliance for Biosecurity and Senior Vice President of Global Government Affairs at Emergent BioSolutions Chris Frech said. “This legislation includes a number of common sense provisions that could speed up the development of the vaccines and therapeutics to address the many threats identified by the government to protect the public here at home and our military abroad. The bill’s new private sector incentives and streamlined contracting process can help us to stay ahead of the curve when the next biological threat arrives – whether naturally occurring or man-made.”
Burr and Casey have been recognized by the Alliance for Biosecurity for their steadfast leadership and action in advocating for national health security improvements. The senators were presented with the Alliance’s inaugural Congressional Biosecurity Champion Award for their work last year.