BiodefenseBudget cuts could hurt biodefense efforts
With lawmakers struggling to reduce spending and cut the deficit, funding for government programs aimed at thwarting biological threats could face severe budget cuts; while the budget for overall civilian biodefense increased by 17 percent, that number is deceiving as federal agencies consolidated and combined several key programs under larger budget line item headings
Biodefense efforts may be curtailed // Source: cubrc.org
With lawmakers struggling to reduce spending and cut the deficit, funding for government programs aimed at thwarting biological threats could face severe budget cuts.
A report by the Center for Biosecurity found that while the budget for overall civilian biodefense increased by 17 percent, that number is deceiving as federal agencies consolidated and combined several key programs under larger budget line item headings.
This year three programs suffered major cuts in particular – the National Institutes of Health saw a $300 million decrease in its funding for biodefense infectious disease research, $85 million was cut from grant programs for state and local public health preparedness programs, and the Hospital Preparedness Program saw a reduction of $60 million.
Analysts warn that in next year’s DHS budget, biodefense spending will likely see even deeper cuts as Congress passed a department budget $3 billion less than what the president had proposed and more than $1 billion below the fiscal year 2011 spending levels.
Furthermore, lawmakers are proposing to cut DHS’ science and technology budget, which includes biodefense programs, in half.
“If that’s any indication, it doesn’t look like biodefense will be getting additional money in FY 2012,” said Crystal Franco, the report’s co-author and an associate at the Center for Biosecurity.
With the decrease in funding, Chris Garabedian, the president and CEO of AVI BioPharma, a research firm that specializes in developing treatments for rare and infectious diseases, said Washington is likely to reduce the number of companies that it works with and gives grants to for biodefense projects. Garabedian added that with the predicted spending reductions, the government will most likely favor companies with more experience dealing with biodefense contracts.
Garabedian also noted that he believes contracts will be structured differently.
“So we see a pattern here where it starts with the rapid response exercise, then there’s funding to do the preclinical animal feasibility, then there’s funding to get us to an open IND, and then a big contract award comes for full NDA filing,” Garabedian explained.
