Alliance for Biosecurity praises Senate passage of 21st Century Cures Act

The Alliance for Biosecurity commended the U.S. Senate’s passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, which contains provisions to promote innovation and efficiency in the development of new medical countermeasures.

A key issue the organization cited in the bill was a provision for the development of vaccines and treatments to strengthen national security and promote public health preparedness for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.

“A combined and concerted effort among government agencies and biopharmaceutical companies has greatly improved our preparedness capabilities over the last decade, but medical countermeasure programs must evolve to continue functioning efficiently,” the Alliance for Biosecurity said on Wednesday.

The Alliance for Biosecurity is a coalition of biopharmaceutical companies and laboratory partners that promote strong public-private partnership to ensure medical countermeasures are available to promote public health.

The group said the medical countermeasures provision in the legislation would also encourage private sector development of medical countermeasures by creating a priority review voucher program for national security threats identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The company also praised U.S. Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Bob Casey (D-PA), and U.S. Reps. Susan Brooks (R-IN), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Fred Upton (R-MI) for their work in adding medical countermeasure provisions to the final version of the bill.