Chimerix, Inc. (CMRX)

[H8ster]

Chimerix to Address Congressional Subcommittee in Support of Reauthorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA)

Address Congressional Subcommittee

DURHAM, N.C., June 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chimerix (CMRX), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel antivirals to address unmet medical needs, announced that President and Chief Executive Officer M. Michelle Berrey, MD, MPH will deliver remarks before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health at the hearing titled “Examining the Reauthorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act” at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, June 6 in Washington, D.C.

The purpose of the hearing is to reauthorize certain programs under the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which originally passed in 2006 and seeks to improve the United States’ public health and medical preparedness and response capabilities for emergencies, whether deliberate, accidental or natural. The draft reauthorization legislation would increase funding for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Project BioShield Special Reserve Fund, a secure funding source for the purchase and stockpile of critical medical countermeasures such as vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.

“Unfortunately, the threat of a biological event impacting the United States has never been more real,” said Dr. Berrey. “Our private-public partnerships over the last 15 years, particularly with BARDA, have been critical to the survival and progression of our smallpox program with brincidofovir. We commend the Committee for bipartisan collaboration on the PAHPA reauthorization. Companies like ours rely on the existence of a government market for medical countermeasures to sustain the long-term investment of researching and developing these therapies, which provide a critical bulwark against biological threats.”……………...