"Project BioShield Is Offering Incentive for Vaccine Makers"

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January 31, 2003

 

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

 

"Project BioShield Is Offering Incentive for Vaccine Makers" Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com) (01/30/03); Chase, Marilyn

 

Senior health officials say the incentives offered through the Bush administration's Project BioShield program should inspire more vaccine companies to develop new, lifesaving products.  Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said the $6 billion initiative offered enough financial incentive to override any past reluctance to participate in such programs due to concerns over "the lack of a guaranteed market."  Funding for the Project Bioshield program would be used to purchase improved vaccines for smallpox, anthrax and botulinum toxin over 10 years.  The program would also provide NIAID and National Institutes of Health a streamlined authority that could accelerate the grant approval process for biodefense research for new remedies, and the Food and Drug Administration, which could go through Project Bioshield to obtain approval for the use of emergency drugs and vaccines for a bioterror attack.  Fauci added that more important than the sizeable investment in the program was the creation of a "permanent, indefinite funding authority" that would not be subject to budgeting changes.

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