Senate passes PAHPA bill

The U.S. Senate passed the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act Reauthorization of 2011 (S.1855). The bill includes the proposed creation of an independent entity to provide venture capital investment in companies with products and technologies that may be used as medical countermeasures. The bill also would provide $2.8 billion for a special reserve fund for medical countermeasures procurement for FY2014-18 and provide $415 million a year for FY2012-16 for advanced development support for countermeasures under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). In December, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a version of the bill that does not contain the venture capital proposal.

In a statement of administration policy issued in December, President Obama supported passage of the House bill and supported the addition of the venture capital entity to the proposed legislation (see BioCentury, Dec. 15, 2011). ...