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By Category: Policy & Initiatives

Top Level Biosecurity Lab to Move to Kansas If Approved

(Food Safety News) Nobody ever said moving “Plum Island” to Kansas was going to be easy or cheap. But until that move can occur, Homeland Security won’t have its state-of-the-art facility for combating biological threats to the United States. Plans for the lab have been in the works since shortly after 9/11. The groundwork has Read More »

June 20, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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NIAID Issues Contract For Advanced Work on Smallpox-Marburg Virus Vaccine

(Global Security Newswire) The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has issued a contract to a Danish biotechnology firm to finance advanced research of experimental vaccines that could be used against both the Marburg and smallpox viruses. “This new contract will support the advanced development of candidate vaccine components and technologies that accelerate Read More »

June 20, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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BARDA, Emergent BioSolutions Forge Pact to Set Up Biodefense Response Facility

(Genetic Engineering News) Emergent BioSolutions and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) are establishing a Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing. The center will facilitate advanced development of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) medical countermeasures, ensure domestic pandemic influenza vaccine manufacturing surge capacity, share facility construction costs, and provide workforce Read More »

June 20, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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$400 million to boost bioterror vaccine manufacturing

(FiercePharma Manufacturing) Three companies, one Swiss, one British and one U.S., will share $400 million to boost vaccine manufacturing capacity in the U.S. that the government can draft in the case of a pandemic or bioterror threats. Emergent BioSolutions ($EBS), GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) and Novartis ($NVS) are the recipients of the first phase of the buildup Read More »

June 20, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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DHS Threat Analysis of Biodefense Lab Better, But Problems Remain: Report

(Global Security Newswire) The U.S. Homeland Security Department’s latest analysis of the potential threat posed by a planned biodefense laboratory in Kansas is a “substantial improvement” from a 2010 assessment, but still does not sufficiently describe the potential dangers related to the site, according to an independent expert report issued on Friday. The National Bio Read More »