Excerpts: CDC, Pharmaceutical Companies Counter Bioterror Threat

12 April 2002

Excerpts: CDC, Pharmaceutical Companies Counter Bioterror Threat

Joint plan announced to educate heath care providers about anthrax

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers are joining forces to better educate health care providers about how to recognize and respond to a bioterror attack.

In an April 11 news conference in Washington, representatives of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson explained that as many as 80,000 drug company representatives across the country could become involved in the distribution of CDC information about bioterrorism.

"When pharmaceutical firms distribute CDC material to health care providers and when America's leading pharmaceutical firms go to work preparing for infectious disease outbreaks with new vaccines and drugs, we're seeing the kind of public-private partnership the American people need now more than ever," said Thompson at the press conference. "It's a smart partnership, one that will provide another outlet for doctors to learn all they can about public health issues."

The first guide to be distributed describes the symptoms and treatment for anthrax. Spores of this sometimes-fatal disease were sent through the U.S. mails in a bioterror attack late last year which was primarily centered in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Florida. Five people died, and hundreds who were potentially exposed to the disease took antibiotics as a precautionary measure.

As director of the D.C. Department of Health, Dr. Ivan Walks was on the front lines of that episode. At the April 11 press conference he emphasized the value of the new CDC-PhRMA effort. "These informational guides provided by America's pharmaceutical companies will serve as a powerful reference tool and will help us to address our patients' fears in a timely manner," he said.

Further information is available at http://www.homelandhealth.com/

Following are excerpts from the HHS and PhRMA announcements:

(begin excerpt)

TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Press Conference
The Launch of the PhRMA Literature Distribution Initiative

Washington, D.C.
April 11, 2002

"Bioterrism Partnership"

Good morning, and thank you so very much, everyone, for coming. We have an exciting announcement to make today, and I appreciate all of you being here.

Right after the attacks of September 11th, PhRMA leaders came to my office to volunteer whatever drugs, researchers and physicians they could to help us address the public health needs we were facing. This was an extraordinary gesture, and I will never forget it. And then I spoke to PhRMA leaders about what we were doing to prepare.

We have made great strides in preparing America for any future bioterror event as we have partnered together. Our relationship is a wonderful example of the kind of public-private partnership that is so important to the health and well-being of every American.

Today, PhRMA is taking another major step toward helping America prepare even more fully for a bioterrorist attack. Four of America's leading pharmaceutical companies - Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Pharmacia - are beginning a pilot program in which their sales reps will distribute thousands of reference guides on how to detect and treat anthrax in patients to doctors and other caregivers in 13 cities.

The literature, which has been developed by PhRMA using information from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, contains full-color photographs of types of anthrax in its various stages and also contains clear explanations of what to look for and how to treat victims.

This program provides a model that can be easily replicated and expanded to include information on other diseases and public health emergencies.

PhRMA's efforts will supplement what we already do at the Department of Health and Human Services and can only help our nation become more fully prepared to combat bioterrorist attacks.

For example, the CDC

- Publishes breaking reports on bioterror and public health-related news in its "Morbidity Mortality Weekly Reports;"

--Produces fact sheets, guidelines, news briefs and announcements on its Web site, which has received more than six million visits and 14 million requests for information since September 11th;

--And video and satellite broadcasts about bioterrorism are available on-line via the CDC Web site.

In addition, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, an agency within H-H-S, initiated a new Web site to teach hospital-based physicians and nurses how to diagnose and treat rare infections and exposures to bioterrorist agents such as anthrax and smallpox. . . .

The site offers online courses emergency department clinicians, including physicians, nurses, radiologists, pathologists and infection control practitioners. You can check it out at www.bioterrorism.uab.edu.

I should also note that PhRMA announced just a few days ago that more than 100 firms are at work developing 256 medicines and vaccines for infectious diseases. Some of these firms are working with the Department of Defense as they consider what kinds of bio-agents our troops might confront abroad.

When pharmaceutical firms distribute CDC material to health care providers and when America's leading pharmaceutical firms go to work preparing for infectious disease outbreaks with new vaccines and drugs we're seeing the kind of public-private partnership the American people need now more than ever. It's a smart partnership, one that will provide another outlet for doctors to learn all they can about public health issues.

We in the Bush Administration are doing everything we can to help our country prepare for what might happen should our adversaries strike again. Earlier this year, we released $1.1 billion to the states to help them strengthen their capacity to respond to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies resulting from terrorism.

To prepare further, President Bush and I are requesting an additional $4.3 billion - an increase of 45 percent over the current fiscal year - to support a wide variety of critical activities to prevent, identify and respond to incidents of bioterrorism.

Both of these are the largest one-time investments in America's public health system, ever. President Bush and I are committed to ensuring that doctors, hospitals, communities and states are as prepared as possible to meet any emergency that should arise.

Thank you very much.

(end excerpt)

(begin excerpt)

PHARMECUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA

America's Pharmaceutical Companies Partner With Federal Government to Launch Education Program on Bioterrorist Threats

Washington, D.C. -- At a press conference today at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, representatives of America's pharmaceutical companies and other health care officials announced the launch of a national educational program for health care providers to help them better identify and treat bioterrorism threats such as anthrax.

The new program, which begins today as a pilot project in 13 cities, brings together the most authoritative health information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the distribution resources of pharmaceutical companies.

Company sales representatives, who routinely visit health care providers, will deliver the new education guides -- the first on the topic of anthrax diagnosis and treatment -- to doctors' offices, hospitals, health care clinics and pharmacies.

"With more than 80,000 sales representatives across the country, the pharmaceutical industry has the ability to share important health information with doctors and other health care providers in all 50 states very quickly," said Alan F. Holmer, President of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). "We look forward to building on this program and want the federal government to call on us as a resource as often as necessary in the on-going effort to protect the public health. . . ."

Four pharmaceutical companies -- Bayer Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Company, and Pharmacia Corporation -- will begin the initial roll-out by distributing 20,000 reference guides in 13 cities (Albany, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, District of Columbia, Hartford, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tampa). The initial guide outlines the three types of anthrax infections: cutaneous (skin), gastrointestinal and inhalation and discusses the symptoms and treatments for each.

The education guides being produced by PhRMA in conjunction with the CDC are designed to help health care providers answer questions posed by their patients and by others in the health care field. The guides are not intended to replace other forms of diagnosis or treatment but rather to provide health care providers with a baseline of clear, concise information that can assist them in their jobs.

"In order to fight bioterrorism, health care providers must be armed with the most accurate and current information available," said Dr. Michael Friedman, PhRMA's Chief Medical Officer for Biomedical Preparedness and a Senior Vice President at Pharmacia Corporation. "Knowledge is our best weapon against this invisible enemy."

Dr. Ivan Walks, director of the D.C. Department of Health, also participated in today's press conference. Dr. Walks spoke of the District government's first-hand experience with a biological attack and the effects on the public's confidence.

"Since the first biological terror attacks, fears concerning bioterrorism pathogens have increased," said Dr. Walks. "As a doctor and the chief public health official in our nation's capital, I want to ease patients' concerns, but we can only assuage their fears by providing the health care community and the lay community with up to date, reliable and accurate information. These informational guides provided by America's pharmaceutical companies will serve as a powerful reference tool and will help us to address our patients' fears in a timely manner."

A copy of the guide as well as additional information about the pharmaceutical industry's contributions to the fight against bioterrorism can be found on HomelandHealth.com, a comprehensive web site offering current, reliable information on bioterrorism preparedness in America. HomelandHealth.com, sponsored by America's pharmaceutical companies, offers hundreds of pages of accurate, up-to-date information and news for consumers, healthcare professionals, media members and government officials.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. The industry invested more than $30 billion in 2001 in discovering and developing new medicines. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures.

(end excerpt)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)