Year: 2022

BIODEFENSE R&D UPSIDE. Clearly, the military interest in counter bioterrorism research will pour cash into advancing vaccine and synthetic biology research, and unexpected results are inevitable. In a research funding climate of scarcity, this represents life blood to some labs. Ironically, and consistently, DARPA is leading the innovation curve on projects with a less than 10% chance if success. http://lnkd.in/dvUdaty View in LinkedIn

FDA AGREES TO ANIMAL RULE FOR SOME VACCINES. "One challenge ... bioweapon threats is the absence of some of these disease agents in the natural world. Vaccine efficacy is more difficult to establish when natural exposure to a pathogen is impossible ... and when human challenge studies are not feasible. The FDA accepts animal testing for proof of efficacy in these cases." http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/biological-weapons-bioterrorism-and-vaccines View in LinkedIn

BW PREPAREDNESS 2010: GRADE F. "The administration’s failure to “enhance the nation’s capabilities for rapid response to prevent biological attacks from inflicting mass casualties” merited a grade of “F”. Almost as bad was the “D+” given for continuing inadequate oversight of high-containment laboratories." http://lnkd.in/dFZkZK8 View in LinkedIn

TRICKLE DOWN. (2012). "only 10% of the proposed $6.4 billion is dedicated exclusively to civilian biodefense. The other 90% is for projects with both biodefense and non-biodefense implications... of the $60 billion spent on biodefense in the past decade, only about $12 billion went for programs solely concerned with biodefense." http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/bioterrorism-still-a-threat-to-the-united-states View in LinkedIn

$60 BILLION AND A DECADE: VACCINE RESULTS? "Between 2001 and the end of this year, the federal government will have spent $60 billion on such biodefence efforts... But few researchers or policy-makers seem happy with an arsenal of six drugs that address only three of the potential threats — even if they are among the most serious." http://lnkd.in/d7EQ7xE View in LinkedIn

NIAID BIODEFENCE ROLE."A pillar of the biodefence enterprise is the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland, which got a $1.5-billion budget boost in 2003 and has so far received $14 billion for biodefence. It is there, say critics, that some early and crucial mistakes were made." http://lnkd.in/d7EQ7xE View in LinkedIn

ERA OF LIFE SCIENCES. "Some people refer to World War I as “the chemists’ war,” and World War II became the “first war of physics” as a result of the formal development of nuclear weapons ... some suggest we are now in war of life sciences ... The idea of threats evolving from the misuse of life sciences by individuals is a new concept." http://lnkd.in/dYnCrCG View in LinkedIn

BIODEFENSE R&D DOWNSIDE: "The number of institutions and individuals working with dangerous biological weapons agents, many without previous experience, is increasing the risk of dangerous pathogens being released accidentally ... It is also giving thousands of individuals access to materials, technologies, knowledge, and skills that could be used for biological weapons attacks." http://lnkd.in/dvUdaty View in LinkedIn

BIODEFENSE VACCINE RACE. "Scientists ... are racing to develop vaccines ... before they can be used in a large-scale act of bioterrorism. “One of the scariest threats we face is the potential of engineered or synthetic diseases. We are rapidly approaching the time where the creation of novel diseases that have never existed will become a reality.” http://lnkd.in/dCJ4KTD View in LinkedIn

BIOTERRORISM will rely on an enhanced or modified pathogenic virus or bacteria, possibly even one never seen on this planet before, but created synthetically. While it is extremely unlikely that a genome-specific weapon can be developed so the aggressors will need to be already vaccinated against the agent. View in LinkedIn