Sen. Kennedy to Introduce $5B-$10B Anti-Bioterrorism Package, Including Measure to Speed Vaccine Production

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is planning to introduce a $5 billion to $10 billion anti-bioterrorism package that would speed up vaccine production, relax some antitrust regulations for pharmaceutical companies and improve local emergency response efforts, the Wall Street Journal reports. The legislation would "lower barriers" to getting new drugs and vaccines approved, providing funding for additional FDA personnel to work on the approval process, and would provide vaccine manufacturers "some" liability protection from patients who report adverse reactions to vaccines. The relaxed antitrust measures would allow drug companies and the federal government to coordinate efforts to produce needed vaccines, allowing, for example, one company to focus on vaccine production while another focused on antibiotic development and production. The legislation would also authorize funds for providing extra security at labs in the United States and Russia that house "dangerous pathogens." Kennedy held a meeting this week with several pharmaceutical executives to discuss "specific details" and is looking for input on the proposal, which has not been finalized, from "key" Republicans. Senate Democrats said they hope to bring Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) on board with Kennedy's package. An aide for Frist, who joined Kennedy in proposing a $1.4 billion bioterrorism initiative package, said Frist is "interested in developing a more comprehensive antibioterrorism package, but hadn't settled on a final proposal." Nearly $2 billion of the funding proposed by Kennedy would come from the $40 billion antiterrorism package already approved by Congress, while the rest would come from "other sources" and would be subject to congressional approval (McGinley, Wall Street Journal, 10/19).