PROJECT BIOSHIELD ACT OF 2004

Project BioShield is a joint effort by the departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and other Federal agencies as appropriate, to make modern, effective drugs and vaccines available to protect against chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attacks.

The Project provides the Department of Homeland Security $5.6 million for the purchase of improved vaccines and therapeutics between now and 2014. Already, the administration has begun to acquire various countermeasures for the Strategic National Stockpile, a stockpile of antibiotics, antitoxins, vaccines, medical supplies, medications, and surgical items, which is intended for use in response to national emergencies. These countermeasures include new smallpox vaccines, anthrax vaccines, therapeutics to neutralize anthrax toxins, and an antitoxin for botulinum toxin.

Project BioShield also supports the research and development of medical countermeasures through grants provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the main institute supporting biodefense research. The highest priority is on the development of vaccines and therapeutics against agents labeled by the CDC as "Category A," which include the organisms that cause anthrax, plague, smallpox, tularemia, viral hemorrhagic fevers, and botulism. Category A agents are those that have been determined to pose the greatest threats to the public health. DOR BioPharma has received and responded to two separate government Requests for Information (RFI) in regards DOR’s Ricin and Botulinum toxin vaccine programs.