WASHINGTON, DC - The Subcommittee on Health, chaired by Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA), today held a hearing to examine H.R. 3299, the Strengthening Public Health Emergency Response Act. H.R. 3299, authored by committee members Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), would update and enhance the nation’s abilities to respond to biothreats.
“The bill before us today reforms our nation’s medical countermeasure acquisition process, incentivizes research to combat the next generation of deadly diseases, and increases accountability of preparedness spending," stated Chairman Pitts. “Such improvements will go a long way toward helping our preparedness for future public health emergencies, such as Ebola, by creating new incentives for developing necessary medicines and vaccines and streamlining the contracting process for medical countermeasures. Incentives are necessary to attract private investment in product development. And so too must the contracting processes be efficient. We must get this right. The stakes are too high and the cost of failure too dire."
When questioned by Rep. Brooks about the change in leadership at HHS’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and differing perspectives in additional incentives being available to develop medical countermeasures, Dr. Richard Hatchett, Acting Director of BARDA, said, “We are very concerned about ensuring that we have the appropriate incentives in place to support medical countermeasures and development."
Additional information on today’s hearing, including a background memo, witness testimony, and an archived video can be found on our website here.
