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By Category: Countermeasures

New Biodefense Office, Existing Agency Could Cover Same Ground

An Obama administration plan to establish a “strategic investment firm” for promoting development of biological-weapon and other disease countermeasures could raise questions over division of responsibilities with a Health and Human Services Department agency engaged in related work, Congressional Quarterly reported Wednesday (see GSN, Aug. 20).Unlike the existing Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which Read More »

September 24, 2010
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Research
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New $186.6 million contract shows anthrax threat real

In an indication that the threat of an anthrax outbreak as a result of bioterrorism remains a major priority for the Obama administration, Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions received a contract valued at up to $186.6 million from the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a recombinant protective antigen anthrax vaccine, which is likely to Read More »

September 23, 2010
| Filed under North America and Countermeasures
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Vaccine work offers protection against weaponized plague bacteria

Plague has been used as a weapon since the Middle Ages, when armies would hurl plague-infested bodies over castle walls; more recently, the United States, Japan, and the former Soviet Union have all studied the use of Y. pestis as a biological warfare agent; new research on the immune system’s response to plague could improve Read More »

September 23, 2010
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Research
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DHS Gives NY $18 million for Radiation Detection System

AP/PhysOrg.com. ) A report says treatment has improved substantially at U.S. hospitals for several ailments including heart attacks, pneumonia and…

September 23, 2010
| Filed under North America and Countermeasures
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Contracts Awarded For Vaccine Improvements

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department has awarded as much as $100 million in contracts for projects to update and increase the pace of preparation of systems and materials for countering biological threats, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 27). The contracts arrive one month after U.S. Read More »