IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1179 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that biotechnology 

firms meeting small business standards are critical to the United States, 

its people and its economy because they create new medicines, services, 

and jobs and meet unmet needs related to populations and patients 

with infectious and chronic diseases, including those of medically underserved populations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 12, 2010 

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois submitted the following resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

biotechnology firms meeting small business standards are 

critical to the United States, its people and its economy 

because they create new medicines, services, and jobs 

and meet unmet needs related to populations and patients with infectious and chronic diseases, including 

those of medically underserved populations. 

Whereas small biotechnology firms have developed intellectual 

property that is of value to the health and well-being of 

the people in the United States and the world; 


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•HRES 1179 IH 

Whereas small biotechnology firms deserve a comprehensive, 

prompt, direct, and effective review of their products and 

processes by all Federal agencies of jurisdiction; 

Whereas HIV/AIDS, the most virulent strains of tuberculosis, 

Hepatitis C, pandemic diseases, and other life threatening conditions, including cardiovascular conditions, 

stroke, cancer, sickle cell, neurological conditions, gastrointestinal, infectious, autoimmune, and mental illness diseases, are an increasing threat to the life, safety, and the 

fiscal balance of State and local health public health organizations, especially in areas with high proportions of 

underserved and under-resourced populations; 

Whereas over 1,100,000 persons in the United States are living with HIV/AIDS, including a large number of racial 

and ethnic minorities; 

Whereas there is a need to encourage therapies and new drug 

development to treat the unmet medical needs of patients 

with debilitating conditions and life-threatening diseases, 

including those in medically underserved communities; 

Whereas new antibiotic and biologic medicines for these infections and diseases will not only save lives, but provide 

cost savings vitally important to the improvement of the 

Nation’s health and the reduction of health care costs; 

and 

Whereas small business biotechnology firms need Federal assistance to commercialize products related to new and 

promising technologies, including therapeutics for drug 

resistant pathogens, new approaches to antibiotics based 

on defensin mimetics, adenosine-based synthetic blood 

substitutes, allogeneic cellular immune therapy, peptidebased and nanoparticle-based therapeutic HIV vaccines, 


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•HRES 1179 IH 

HIV vaccine adjuvants, immune-based therapies including irreversible pepsin fraction, cytokines, and hormones, 

innovative clinical interventions for adverse, debilitating 

drug related events such as peripheral neuropathy, HIV 

antiviral therapies, and processes including lentiviralbased gene therapy, antiviral hyperactivation limiting 

therapeutics, autologous dendritic cell therapy, 

Pyrimidinedione-based NNRTIs, dual tropic CCR5 antagonists, point-of-care rapid diagnostics, and therapeutic 

nutrition: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes that the public deserves the 

3 safest, most effective, and efficient processes in re4 gards to saving the lives of people living in the 

5 United States with infectious and chronic diseases; 

6 (2) supports the domestic development and 

7 commercialization of biotechnology research by firms 

8 meeting small business size standards and collabora9 tions with university-based biotechnology research 

10 facilities; 

11 (3) supports and seeks to encourage the ad12 vancement of United States-based commercialization 

13 of point of care therapeutics and diagnostics by 

14 emerging and small business biotechnology firms for 

15 domestic and global use; 

16 (4) recognizes the need to coordinate existing 

17 public funding to help small business biotechnology 

18 firms whose products may be lost due to domestic 


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1 economic conditions, and fund critical paths for 

2 small biotechnology drug development and for regu3 latory review and commercial approval; 

4 (5) encourages the development of a formalized, 

5 national strategic framework to facilitate techno6 logical advancements in improving the commer7 cialization processes for small business biotechnology 

8 firms; 

9 (6) wishes to promote and encourage the cre10 ation of incentives for small business biotechnology 

11 companies that perform basic and applied research 

12 through the development and commercialization of 

13 biotechnology products and processes and their dif14 fusion into national and local economies to improve 

15 the quality of life of people in the United States; 

16 (7) encourages the development of a com17 prehensive approach to describing disease popu18 lations and the production of comprehensive re19 search programs that are current with evolving bio20 technology and the unmet needs of diverse patient 

21 populations; and 

22 (8) encourages the Office of the Secretary of 

23 the Department of Health and Human Services to 

24 develop a Federal Biotechnology Coordinating Coun25 cil representative of small business biotechnology 


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1 companies, research facilities, and Federal agencies 

2 with a strategic initiative to facilitate development 

3 and preserve these small business biotechnology 

4 firms and coordinate resources and funding mecha5 nisms for this purpose. 

Æ 


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