Drug Firms Say U.S. Slow to Buy WMD Countermeasures
Global Security Newswire
Drug company officials told a U.S. House of Representatives committee yesterday that the federal government was not moving fast enough under the Project BioShield law to stockpile WMD countermeasures, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 14).
BioShield, passed in 2004, provides $5.6 billion over a 10-year period for countermeasure contracts, Reuters reported.
“It's not being implemented the way it had been written,” Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals’ Chief Executive Officer Richard Hollis told the House Government Reform Committee yesterday. “Companies such as ours were supposed to be getting advance contracts.”
He said delays by the Health and Human Services Department have caused his company, which is working on a radiation countermeasure, to lose $600 million.
“We need not only a better BioShield but also a system that can deliver the best possible public response to emergencies,” said Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). “The United States is unprepared for a flu pandemic which could claim as many as 500,000 American lives. We have not purchased the antiviral medications we need.”
“Only a handful of states have the capacity to deliver essential medications and vaccines. There is no point having a new anthrax vaccine or nerve gas antidote if the people whose lives are at risk cannot get treatment in time,” Waxman added.
However, Bush administration officials defended their efforts to procure countermeasures. Stewart Simonson, assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness at the health department, said his agency has been working with a “genuine sense of urgency.”
“No matter how hard we try, some steps in the process cannot be rushed,” he said. “I know it doesn't always seem satisfactory to the industry.”
John Vitko, director of biological countermeasures at the Homeland Security Department, said preparedness has increased dramatically since the 2001 anthrax attacks. He said smallpox and anthrax vaccines have been stockpiled with plans to add additional countermeasures in the works.
“We are substantially better prepared than we were in October of '01,” Simonson said.
Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) plan to introduce BioShield II legislation to fill gaps in the 2004 BioShield law, Reuters reported (Maggie Fox, Reuters, July 14)
Drug company officials told a U.S. House of Representatives committee yesterday that the federal government was not moving fast enough under the Project BioShield law to stockpile WMD countermeasures, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 14).
BioShield, passed in 2004, provides $5.6 billion over a 10-year period for countermeasure contracts, Reuters reported.
“It's not being implemented the way it had been written,” Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals’ Chief Executive Officer Richard Hollis told the House Government Reform Committee yesterday. “Companies such as ours were supposed to be getting advance contracts.”
He said delays by the Health and Human Services Department have caused his company, which is working on a radiation countermeasure, to lose $600 million.
“We need not only a better BioShield but also a system that can deliver the best possible public response to emergencies,” said Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). “The United States is unprepared for a flu pandemic which could claim as many as 500,000 American lives. We have not purchased the antiviral medications we need.”
“Only a handful of states have the capacity to deliver essential medications and vaccines. There is no point having a new anthrax vaccine or nerve gas antidote if the people whose lives are at risk cannot get treatment in time,” Waxman added.
However, Bush administration officials defended their efforts to procure countermeasures. Stewart Simonson, assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness at the health department, said his agency has been working with a “genuine sense of urgency.”
“No matter how hard we try, some steps in the process cannot be rushed,” he said. “I know it doesn't always seem satisfactory to the industry.”
John Vitko, director of biological countermeasures at the Homeland Security Department, said preparedness has increased dramatically since the 2001 anthrax attacks. He said smallpox and anthrax vaccines have been stockpiled with plans to add additional countermeasures in the works.
“We are substantially better prepared than we were in October of '01,” Simonson said.
Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) plan to introduce BioShield II legislation to fill gaps in the 2004 BioShield law, Reuters reported (Maggie Fox, Reuters, July 14)
