President Signs Biotech Bill
Friday December 22, 2006
Do we really want to fund drug research in the same manner that we fund Pentagon purchases of military aircraft: behind closed doors that, when lit by the light of review, have shielded boondoogle after boondoogle?
Well, unless the new Congress in January reverses this lameduck one, we're stuck with such a program for at least two years. President Bush just signed the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a bill two-years in the making, authored by Sen. Richard Burn (R-NC).
This is $1.07 billion in research money that the feds will dole out to biotech firms. It is supposed to be used to bridge the gap between "research" and production of a "ready-to-buy" vaccine.
Initially, the bill would have exempted all proceedings from the Freedom of Information Act. This final version allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide what can and cannot be kept secret.