Legislative
PhRMA says national supply of smallpox vaccine will
be ready by Q3 2002
Last Updated: 2001-11-02
12:58:02 EST (Reuters Health)
WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - US vaccine makers are "up to
the effort" of manufacturing 300 million doses of smallpox vaccine by the
third quarter of next year, an industry representative told lawmakers on
Friday.
The Department of Health and Human Services has pared down its list of
potential contractors for the vaccine from 10 to four, and those companies are
currently in negotiations to begin ramping up vaccine production, said Dr.
Michael Friedman, who recently became Chief Medical Officer for Biomedical
Preparedness at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Moves to rapidly increase America's store of smallpox vaccine are working on
two main fronts: drug firms are gearing up to make new vaccine and studies are
being conducted to see whether existing stocks can be diluted. The US currently
stocks 15.4 million doses of smallpox vaccine. None has been manufactured over
the last two decades.
Friedman said that Americans could expect 300 million vaccine doses--enough
for everyone in the population--by "the middle third quarter" of the
2002 calendar year.
But Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) told companies and federal officials to
"go back to the drawing board" to try to speed that timeline.
"The question is how fast can it be done...if money is not an
object," said Specter, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations
health subcommittee. The Bush Administration has requested $509 million for
procuring smallpox vaccine, though Congress has not yet acted on the proposal.
To complement the vaccine effort, researchers are conducting studies to see
if antiviral drugs might be effective as a backup in case of a smallpox
emergency, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institutes of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases. Scientists are testing cidofovir,
a drug originally developed to treat cytomegalovirus infectious in AIDS
patients, he noted.
But local officials cautioned that research efforts could be in vain if
Congress fails to give high priority to state and local health departments as
it considers emergency spending of up to $20 billion in the coming weeks.
"With smallpox, all the vaccine in the world isn't going to do any good
without the capacity to distribute and administer vaccine locally," said
Dr. Anita Barry, the communicable disease control director for the Boston
Public Health Commission. "And one thing is very clear: the current levels
of staffing, planning and preparedness at the local level are not enough, even
in cities that have initiated bioterrorism preparedness."
She called on Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge to establish a commission
of local health authorities to coordinate with federal officials on readiness
for bioterror attacks.
Lawmakers were sympathetic, noting that they plan to pour $2.3 billion to
$3.1 billion into the vaccine and local preparedness effort. Local health
departments represent the "front lines" of fighting against any
biological attack, acknowledged Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat who
chairs the Appropriations Committee.
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