Public Health Preparedness: HHS Has Taken Some Steps to Implement New Authority to Speed Medical Countermeasure Innovation
Abstract
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as well as past infectious disease outbreaks such as the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak raise concerns about our nations vulnerability and capacity to prevent or mitigate potential health effects from exposure to such threats. Medical countermeasures are drugs, vaccines, and devices to diagnose, treat, prevent, or mitigate potential health effects of exposure to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents and emerging infectious diseases, such as influenza pandemics.1 Our prior work has noted that responding to the ever-changing nature and broad array of CBRN threats often entails developing new technologies and approaches, while the process of researching and developing medical countermeasures is lengthy, complex, and expensive.2 Further, several challenges, including low profitability, intellectual property rights, and the general lack of a commercial market for some medical countermeasures may reduce incentives for pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers to invest time and money to develop these products instead of others that may be more profitable.3
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 29, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1123117
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office