HHS Accelerates Seven Initiatives In Bioterrorism Research.(Brief Article)

2001 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced seven new initiatives to accelerate bioterrorism research and help strengthen the nation's ability to deal with the public health threat posed by bioterrorism.

The research programs at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are designed to take advantage of the recent outpouring of ideas from concerned academic and industrial scientists on ways to understand and combat potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID is the lead institute for research on bioterrorism at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

"Lethal bioterrorism has become a stark reality, and our ability to detect and counter this danger depends on having reliable, up-to-date knowledge," Secretary Thompson said. "Under these new initiatives, the submission, review and funding of this flood of scientific proposals will be expedited so that important research in this area can advance as quickly as possible."

"At NIAID, our offices have been deluged with calls from scientists who want to help," NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, MD, said. "At scientific meetings and conferences, I am often approached by researchers with promising ideas and a desire to contribute to the fight against bioterrorism. These new programs will allow us to channel that energy and new thinking toward enhancing our already significant bioterrorism research program."

The following initiatives will fund research investigating high-priority, "Category A" biological diseases as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia and viral hemorrhagic fevers. Many of these programs will encourage government partnerships with business and academia. Many of them expand or build upon existing NIAID bioterrorism or infectious disease research programs. Proposals and applications from scientists may be submitted immediately.

The Anthrax Vaccine Contract seeks to accelerate development of new vaccines against the agent that causes this disease. NIAID has designated the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to solicit and act as the main contact point for information about such potential vaccines. In particular, NIAID wants to support work on one of the most promising types of vaccines, called a recombinant protective antigen vaccine.

The Rapid Response Grant Program on Bioterrorism-Related Research will evaluate and fund new applications in five to six months after receipt, rather than the usual nine or 10 months. This program will encourage researchers to investigate new prevention strategies for those at risk of exposure, new treatments for those infected, and improved diagnostics. It will also fund basic research that provides a better understanding of the disease-causing organisms, particularly information gleaned from the genomes of these organisms.