Building a Fast Response Capability for Emerging Infectious Diseases Within the Biomedical Advanced Research and...

From influenza to COVID-19, emerging infectious diseases have taken a heavy toll on lives and resources. Emerging infectious diseases represent one of the largest threats to national security. The primary mission of the Center for Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), within the US Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, is to support the advanced development of medical countermeasures (MCMs) for public health security threats, including select infectious diseases. Given the number of potential emerging infectious diseases, it is not feasible to develop a suite of MCMs necessary for a full response, including vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. In this article, the authors describe BARDA's 3-step strategy to address emerging infectious diseases: (1) prioritize the development of MCMs for BARDA's priority pathogens with an increased focus on "platform technologies" with rapid development capabilities; (2) develop response capabilities including specific licensed medical countermeasures and flexible, rapid MCM development infrastructure; and (3) improve those response capabilities, so they are finely tuned and ready when needed.