II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3489 

To establish or continue a multidisciplinary research program to advance 

the discovery and preclinical development of medical products for priority 

virus families and other viral pathogens with a significant potential 

to cause a pandemic, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 12 (legislative day, JANUARY 10), 2022 

Mr. BURR (for himself and Mr. HICKENLOOPER) introduced the following bill; 

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

A BILL 

To establish or continue a multidisciplinary research program 

to advance the discovery and preclinical development of 

medical products for priority virus families and other 

viral pathogens with a significant potential to cause a 

pandemic, 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. RESEARCH CENTERS FOR PATHOGENS OF PAN4 DEMIC CONCERN. 

5 Subpart 6 of part C of title IV of the Public Health 

6 Service Act is amended by inserting after section 447C 

7 (42 U.S.C. 285f–4) the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 447D. RESEARCH CENTERS FOR PATHOGENS OF PAN2 DEMIC CONCERN. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Institute, in 

4 collaboration, as appropriate, with the directors of applica5 ble institutes, centers, and divisions of the National Insti6 tutes of Health, and the Director of the Biomedical Ad7 vanced Research and Development Authority, shall estab8 lish or continue a multidisciplinary research program to 

9 advance the discovery and preclinical development of med10 ical products for priority virus families and other viral 

11 pathogens with a significant potential to cause a pan12 demic, through support for research centers. 

13 ‘‘(b) USES OF FUNDS.—The Director of the Institute 

14 shall award funding through grants, contracts, or coopera15 tive agreements to public or private entities, or consortia 

16 of such entities, to provide support for research centers 

17 described in subsection (a) for the purpose of— 

18 ‘‘(1) conducting basic research through pre19 clinical development of new medical products or 

20 technologies, including platform technologies, to ad21 dress pathogens of pandemic concern; 

22 ‘‘(2) identifying potential targets for thera23 peutic candidates, including antivirals, to treat such 

24 pathogens; 

25 ‘‘(3) identifying existing medical products with 

26 the potential to address such pathogens, including 


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1 candidates that could be used in outpatient settings; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(4) carrying out or supporting other research 

4 related to medical products to address such patho5 gens, as determined appropriate by the Director. 

6 ‘‘(c) COORDINATION.—The Director of the Institute 

7 shall, as appropriate, provide for the coordination of ac8 tivities among the centers described in subsection (a), in9 cluding through— 

10 ‘‘(1) facilitating the exchange of information 

11 and regular communication among the centers, as 

12 appropriate; and 

13 ‘‘(2) requiring the periodic preparation and sub14 mission to the Director of reports on the activities 

15 of each center. 

16 ‘‘(d) PRIORITY.—In awarding funding through 

17 grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements under sub18 section (a), the Director of the Institute shall, as appro19 priate, give priority to applicants with existing frameworks 

20 and partnerships, as applicable, to support the advance21 ment of such research. 

22 ‘‘(e) COLLABORATION.—The Director of the Institute 

23 shall— 

24 ‘‘(1) collaborate with the heads of other appro25 priate Federal departments, agencies, and offices 


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1 with respect to the identification of additional pri2 ority virus families and other viral pathogens with a 

3 significant potential to cause a pandemic; and 

4 ‘‘(2) collaborate with the Director of the Bio5 medical Advanced Research and Development Au6 thority with respect to the research conducted by 

7 centers described in subsection (a), including, as ap8 propriate, providing any updates on the research ad9 vancements made by such centers, identifying any 

10 advanced research and development needs for such 

11 countermeasures, consistent with section 

12 319L(a)(6), and taking into consideration existing 

13 manufacturing capacity and future capacity needs 

14 for such medical products or technologies, including 

15 platform technologies, supported by the centers de16 scribed in subsection (a). 

17 ‘‘(f) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Any support 

18 received by a center described in subsection (a) under this 

19 section shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, 

20 other public or private support for activities authorized to 

21 be supported.’’. 

22 SEC. 2. IMPROVING MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURE RE23 SEARCH COORDINATION. 

24 Section 402(b) in the Public Health Service Act (42 

25 U.S.C. 282(b)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (24), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

2 end; 

3 (2) in paragraph (25), by striking the period 

4 and inserting a semicolon; and 

5 (3) by inserting after paragraph (25) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(26) shall consult with the Assistant Secretary 

8 for Preparedness and Response, the Director of the 

9 Biomedical Advanced Research and Development 

10 Authority, the Director of the Centers for Disease 

11 Control and Prevention, and the heads of other Fed12 eral agencies and offices, as appropriate, regarding 

13 research needs to advance medical countermeasures 

14 to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or treat harm from 

15 any biological agent or toxin, including emerging in16 fectious diseases, chemical, radiological, or nuclear 

17 agent that may cause a public health emergency or 

18 other research needs related to emerging public 

19 health threats.’’. 

Æ 


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