Preparedness

Reuters is reporting that the US Strategic National Stockpile will begin acquisition of a new smallpox vaccine.  The new product, Imvamune, promises reduced side-effects and potentially improved protection for patients who are treated after exposure to the virus.  These traits could make the vaccine much more effective as a countermeasure against a biological attack using smallpox.

Though the story of Imvamune ultimately demonstrates that improved countermeasures to biological threats can be developed, the story also illustrates some of the challenges involved in the process.

Our complete coverage of the Biotechnology Industry Organization(BIO)’s 2010 Biosecurity Conference, which occurred in Chicago on May 5-6th, can be found in the FAS Biosecurity Blog archives at: http://fas.org/blog/bio/tag/bio2010

Several recurring themes emerged in the presentations by the world’s experts in fields like public health, national security, food defense, biological weapons, and new advances in research.  Here is our analysis of some of the trends observed at the conference.

Representatives from industry, NGO’s and the government gathered to discuss ways to manage biological threats at the second day of the 2010 Biosecurity convention.  The session focused on the coordination that would be required to respond to biological incidents. 

The final biosecurity panel of the day was an extended Q&A session with a panel of seven participants from the US government and industry.  The panel discussed countermeasures to biological threats, and offered an interesting contrast between where the two sides agreed and differed on the issues.

The third session of the BIO biosecurity conference focused on agricultural biosecurity. If it sometimes seems difficult to defend major population centers against attack, that challenge is only magnified when considering the geographic scale, and economic importance, of the food supply.