ASPR releases multiyear budget assessment for medical countermeasure priorities

In order to support medical countermeasure priorities for the U.S. government, a new report from the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) projected needs of up to $79.5 billion between fiscal years 2023 and 2027.

The Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasure Enterprise (PHEMCE) Multiyear Budget (MYB) stated this funding as necessary to prepare for the next public health threat. It represents a $15.5 billion increase over the 2022-2026 report, although it is not itself a budget request, merely an analysis and recommendation. Congress and others can use these MYBs to assess funding needs to meet various chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, without issue from other presidential budget requests.

“A strong medical countermeasure enterprise will allow us to respond more effectively and efficiently to the next public health emergency,” Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell said. “The PHEMCE Multiyear Budget serves as a useful tool for Congress to know just how much funding is needed to protect the country from whatever comes next.”

Primarily, the report cited three factors for the significant budget need increase: the anticipated rollout of the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) prototype pathogen approach for the development of candidate vaccines, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)’s successful developments that allowed 13 medical countermeasures to enter the national stockpile and improvements to threat-agnostic technologies and rapid response measures.