II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 482 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and other Federal 

officials to compile into a searchable database information relating to 

Federal support for biomedical research and development related to 

COVID–19, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2021 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and 

other Federal officials to compile into a searchable database information relating to Federal support for biomedical research and development related to COVID– 

19, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Taxpayer Research 

5 and Coronavirus Knowledge Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DATABASE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

3 Human Services, in coordination with the Director of the 

4 National Institutes of Health, the Assistant Secretary for 

5 Preparedness and Response, the Director of the Bio6 medical Advanced Research and Development Authority, 

7 the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Veterans Af8 fairs, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and 

9 Infectious Diseases, and such other Federal officials as the 

10 Secretary of Health and Human Services determines to 

11 be appropriate, shall— 

12 (1) compile into a searchable database informa13 tion relating to Federal support (before or after the 

14 date of enactment of this Act) for biomedical re15 search and development related to COVID–19 (in16 cluding biomedical research and development relat17 ing to a product or therapy that was later modified 

18 or repurposed to be used for COVID–19); and 

19 (2) make such database available on the public 

20 website of the Department of Health and Human 

21 Services. 

22 (b) COVERED INFORMATION.—The information relat23 ing to Federal support described in subsection (a)(1) shall 

24 include all contracts, funding agreements, licensing ar25 rangements, other transactions, and other arrangements 

26 entered into by, or on behalf of, the Federal Government 


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1 and tax benefits provided with respect to research and de2 velopment, and manufacturing, of a drug (including a bio3 logical product), cell or gene therapy, or medical device 

4 intended to be manufactured, used, designed, developed, 

5 modified, repurposed, licensed, or procured to diagnose, 

6 mitigate, prevent, treat, or cure COVID–19, including the 

7 following: 

8 (1) Licensing agreements pursuant to section 

9 207 or 209 of title 35, United States Code. 

10 (2) Cooperative research and development 

11 agreements and licensing agreements pursuant to 

12 section 3710a of title 15, United States Code. 

13 (3) Funding agreements, as defined under sec14 tion 201 of title 35, United States Code. 

15 (4) Transactions, contracts, grants, cooperative 

16 agreements, other agreements, and other arrange17 ments entered into pursuant to the following stat18 utes: 

19 (A) The Public Health Service Act (42 

20 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), including sections 301, 

21 319L, 421, and 480 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

22 241, 247d–7e, 285b–3, 287a). 

23 (B) Section 105 of the National Institutes 

24 of Health Reform Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 

25 284n). 


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1 (C) Chapter 139 of title 10, United States 

2 Code, including sections 2358, 2371, 2371a, 

3 2371b, and 2373. 

4 (5) Grants, contracts, and other transactions 

5 pursuant to section 2371, 2371a, or 2371b of title 

6 10, United States Code. 

7 (6) Procurement contracts and other agree8 ments pursuant to section 2373 of title 10, United 

9 States Code. 

10 (c) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—Notwithstanding any 

11 other provision of law, the Federal officials described in 

12 subsection (a) shall include in the database under sub13 section (a), with regard to each contract, funding agree14 ment, licensing agreement, other transaction, other ar15 rangement, or tax benefit described in subsection (b), at 

16 least the following information: 

17 (1) The agency, program, institute, or other 

18 Federal Government entity providing the Federal 

19 grant, cooperative agreement, or other support. 

20 (2) The amount and period of Federal financial 

21 support with an itemized breakdown. 

22 (3) Other Federal nonfinancial support, includ23 ing the use of Federal personnel, Federal facilities, 

24 and Federal equipment. 

25 (4) The grant number, if applicable. 


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1 (5) Associated clinical trial data, upon trial 

2 completion. 

3 (6) Associated patents and patent applications, 

4 specifying— 

5 (A) any Federal ownership in such patents 

6 and patent applications; 

7 (B) the expiration date of such patents 

8 and filing dates of such patent applications; and 

9 (C) the numbers of such patents and pat10 ent applications. 

11 (7) Associated periods of marketing exclusivity 

12 under Federal law and the durations of such peri13 ods. 

14 (8) The corporation, nonprofit organization, 

15 academic institution, person, or other entity receiv16 ing the Federal support. 

17 (9) Any products (including repurposed prod18 ucts) approved, authorized, or cleared for marketing, 

19 or for which marketing approval, authorization, or 

20 clearance is being sought, the development of which 

21 was aided by Federal support, including— 

22 (A) the names of such products; 

23 (B) the prices of such products; and 

24 (C) the current and anticipated manufac25 turing capacity to produce such products. 


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1 (10) The full terms of the contract, funding 

2 agreement, licensing agreement, other transaction, 

3 or other arrangement described in subsection (b). 

4 (d) FORMAT OF INFORMATION.—The database under 

5 subsection (a) shall be— 

6 (1) searchable and filterable according to the 

7 categories of information described in subsection (c); 

8 and 

9 (2) presented in a user-friendly format. 

10 (e) TIMING.—The database under subsection (a) 

11 shall be— 

12 (1) made publicly available not later than 1 

13 month of the date of enactment of this Act; and 

14 (2) updated not less than every 2 weeks. 

15 (f) DISCLOSURE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

17 provision of law, to the extent necessary for an offi18 cial described in subsection (a) to carry out this sec19 tion, such official may require entities receiving Fed20 eral support described in subsection (a)(1) to dis21 close to the official any information relating to such 

22 Federal support and required to be included in the 

23 database under subsection (a). 

24 (2) INTERMEDIARY COOPERATION.—Any ar25 rangement entered into by the Federal Government 


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1 with an entity providing for such entity to enter into 

2 contracts, licensing agreements, grants, other trans3 actions, or other arrangements with third parties on 

4 behalf of the Federal Government shall require such 

5 entity to disclose in a timely manner any informa6 tion necessary for the Federal Government to fulfill 

7 its duties under this Act. With respect to any such 

8 arrangement in place as of the date of enactment of 

9 this Act, an official described in subsection (a) may 

10 require the entity to disclose to the official any infor11 mation required to be included in the database 

12 under subsection (a). 

13 (3) PENALTY FOR NONDISCLOSURE.—If an en14 tity that is required to disclose information pursuant 

15 to paragraph (1) or (2) fails to disclose such infor16 mation by the date that is 2 weeks after the date on 

17 which the official requests such information, or by 

18 such reasonable deadline as the official may specify, 

19 whichever is sooner, then such entity shall be liable 

20 to the United States for a civil penalty in an amount 

21 not to exceed $10,000 for each day on which such 

22 failure continues. 

Æ 


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