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Expiring HHS anthrax vaccine wastes millions of dollars
By ELISE CASTELLI
October 26, 2007
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of anthrax vaccine will be wasted because the Health and Human Services Department mismanaged its stockpile, congressional auditors said.
After anthrax killed five people in 2001, HHS stockpiled millions of doses of the anthrax vaccine BioThrax as part of Project BioShield.
Starting in 2008, the stockpiled doses will expire at a rate of $100 million per year, an Oct. 24 Government Accountability Office audit said. And $12 million worth of vaccine has already gone bad.
The problem could have been avoided if HHS had made a deal with the Defense Department, which vaccinates troops against anthrax. Instead of purchasing its own supplies, Defense could have bought unexpired stock in the HHS cache, allowing HHS to replace aging doses with fresh vaccine, GAO said. HHS also blundered on a contract to develop an alternative anthrax vaccine that is easier to use than BioThrax, GAO said.
Last year, HHS canceled an $877 million contract with a small biotechnology firm called VaxGen.
The company was awarded the contract in 2004, while it was in the early stages of developing a new anthrax vaccine.
The HHS contract for 75 million doses of VaxGen?s still undeveloped cure was ?overly aggressive? and ?did not take the complexity of vaccine development into consideration,? GAO said. It set milestones that were unrealistic even for large firms, such as mandating delivery within two years of the award, GAO said. :tiphat: http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=3137031
By ELISE CASTELLI
October 26, 2007
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of anthrax vaccine will be wasted because the Health and Human Services Department mismanaged its stockpile, congressional auditors said.
After anthrax killed five people in 2001, HHS stockpiled millions of doses of the anthrax vaccine BioThrax as part of Project BioShield.
Starting in 2008, the stockpiled doses will expire at a rate of $100 million per year, an Oct. 24 Government Accountability Office audit said. And $12 million worth of vaccine has already gone bad.
The problem could have been avoided if HHS had made a deal with the Defense Department, which vaccinates troops against anthrax. Instead of purchasing its own supplies, Defense could have bought unexpired stock in the HHS cache, allowing HHS to replace aging doses with fresh vaccine, GAO said. HHS also blundered on a contract to develop an alternative anthrax vaccine that is easier to use than BioThrax, GAO said.
Last year, HHS canceled an $877 million contract with a small biotechnology firm called VaxGen.
The company was awarded the contract in 2004, while it was in the early stages of developing a new anthrax vaccine.
The HHS contract for 75 million doses of VaxGen?s still undeveloped cure was ?overly aggressive? and ?did not take the complexity of vaccine development into consideration,? GAO said. It set milestones that were unrealistic even for large firms, such as mandating delivery within two years of the award, GAO said. :tiphat: http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=3137031