President George W. Bush signs S.15-Project Bioshield Act of 2004, in the Rose Garden Wednesday, July 21, 2004.
President Bush on July 21, 2004 signed into law Project BioShield, which provides new
tools to improve medical countermeasures protecting Americans against a chemical,
biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) attack.
The President first proposed Project BioShield in his 2003 State of the Union
address and Congress approved it last week. Project BioShield is a comprehensive
effort overseen jointly by Secretary Thompson and Secretary Ridge, and involving other
Federal agencies as appropriate, to develop and make available modern, effective drugs
and vaccines to protect against attack by CBRN weapons. Project BioShield will:
Expedite the conduct of NIH research and developmenton medical
countermeasures based on the most promising recent scientific discoveries.
Give FDA the ability to make promising treatments quickly available in
emergency situations – this tightly controlled new authority will enable access to
the best available treatments in the event of a crisis.
Ensure that resources are available to pay for “next-generation” medical
countermeasures. Project BioShield will allow the government to buy improved
vaccines or drugs. The fiscal year 2004 appropriation for the Department of Homeland
Security included $5.6 billion over 10 years for the purchase of next generation
countermeasures against anthrax and smallpox as well as other CBRN agents.
As the result of the Project BioShield legislation, the Administration has
already begun the process of acquiring several new medical countermeasures:
75 million doses of a second generation anthrax vaccine to become available for
stockpiling beginning next year.
New medical treatments for anthrax directed at neutralizing the effects of anthrax toxin.
Polyvalent botulinum antitoxin.
A safer second generation smallpox vaccine.
Initial evaluation of treatments for radiation and chemical weapons exposure.
Today, based on the new BioShield authorities, Secretary Thompson will launch
multi-year initiatives to develop advanced treatments and therapeutics for exposure to
biological agents and radiation poisoning.
Today’s action is just the latest step the President has taken to win the
War on Terror and protect our homeland. America is safer and stronger than it was
three years ago as a result of President Bush’s leadership.
Dr. Penrose "Parney" Albright
Dr. Anthony Fauci
