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Policy

House measure creates biodefense authority

October 2, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 40

A bill creating a new agency, the Biomedical Advanced R&D Authority, was passed by the House last week. The agency will be in the Department of Health & Human Services and will coordinate all federal biodefense work, including the discovery and production of vaccines against bioweapons such as anthrax. The bill (H.R. 5533) authorizes funding at $160 million annually for fiscal 2007 and 2008. As a complement to the 10-year, $5.6 billion Project Bioshield, the new agency will try to fill a gap in federal support for biodefense R&D by funding more of the time-consuming drug development process. This funding is needed because private companies have been reluctant to invest in new drugs and vaccines that might not be used. A similar bill is pending in the Senate (S. 3678) and is expected to be passed before the Senate adjourns.

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