Concerns Raised About Participation of Small Companies in Project BioShield

Main Category: Bio-terrorism / Terrorism
Article Date: 05 Oct 2005 - 14:00 PDT

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An HHS announcement on Friday that the federal government will purchase only 20,000 to 200,000 doses of a radiation sickness medication developed by Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals under Project BioShield has "led some to worry that small companies will ... shun" the program, the Washington Post reports. HHS officials did not explain the decision to purchase the limited number of doses of Neumune, but the request is "not nearly enough to make final development economically feasible" for the company, according to the Post. In addition, some lawmakers have raised concerns that Project BioShield, in which large pharmaceutical companies have declined to participate, is "headed for even rougher waters," the Post reports. HHS spokesperson Marc Wolfson on Monday called the request for Neumune an interim step, adding that "it may not be the amount we end up getting." Wolfson said that companies have until Nov. 28 to comment on such requests and that he expects revisions to the request for Neumune based on those comments. Hollis-Eden CEO Richard Hollis said, "BioShield was supposed to make sure we had a market so we could continue to raise the money to do our work. Given what we saw Friday, we feel very let down that BioShield is not being implemented like it was designed and passed." In addition, Hollis said, "Other companies looking at our experience can't be very encouraged," adding that "this certainly sends a very bad message." Robert White, a spokesperson for Rep. Thomas Davis (R-Va.), said, "We want BioShield to work, and that means creating market incentives to produce new classes of drugs. I think there are legitimate reasons here to worry that this request is not enough to sustain new development and keep private industry interested" (Kaufman, Washington Post, 10/4).

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