National Preparedness Month: FDA and Access to Medical Countermeasures During Public Health Emergencies

Posted on September 30, 2015 by FDA Voice

By: Brooke Courtney, J.D., M.P.H.

Just weeks after witnessing the fall of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, I was a student volunteer in a New York City hospital emergency department when several people arrived saying they had been exposed to anthrax.

One had even brought a small plastic bag holding white powder. Around this time, the media was reporting on letters mailed that were laced with white powder confirmed to be Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax.

At the hospital, we wondered whether we might become exposed to anthrax and how it could be prevented or treated. We quickly escorted the patients who had been exposed to white powder safely away from others to be examined by physicians.

Fortunately, our patients hadn’t been exposed to anthrax. But the letters contaminated with the agent tragically led to five deaths, and 17 more people became ill. Many others were treated with antibiotics as a precaution.

That year, 2001, was a turning point in our nation’s readiness for public health emergencies, including those that result from deliberate attacks or from natural causes like a disease outbreak. In particular, the U.S. government has invested substantially in medical products required for diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a wide range of threats, including anthrax. FDA is part of that national preparedness.

At FDA, we work to help ensure the availability of safe and effective medical countermeasures (MCMs). These are the medical products, including drugs, vaccines, and in vitro diagnostics (IVDs), to counter chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, including emerging infectious diseases like Ebola.

In 2010, FDA launched an agency-wide effort, the Medical Countermeasures Initiative (MCMi), to advance and coordinate the challenging, ongoing MCM development and emergency use work that was occurring in FDA’s product centers and other offices and with other federal partners. Our most recent program update details many of FDA’s MCM achievements since that time, including important, exciting product approvals and regulatory science advances.

At the foundation of FDA’s MCM efforts is a legal and regulatory framework strengthened by Congress after 2001 with the enactment of several MCM-related laws. For example, FDA now has the authority:

When the Secretary of HHS declares that the circumstances justify such an authorization, to authorize the use of unapproved MCMs and unapproved uses of approved MCMs under Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) during or in preparation for an emergency, and,

For approved MCMs, to authorize emergency dispensing by stakeholders, waive certain manufacturing requirements, and extend the useful life of product held in state and local stockpiles.

As an example of our legal authorities in action, we’ve issued multiple EUAs to facilitate access to uncleared IVDs to support disease detection and diagnosis during the H1N1 influenza pandemic and for H7N9 influenza, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and Ebola virus that emerged in West Africa in 2014.

Today, our nation is far more prepared than at the time of the anthrax attacks with flexible emergency legal authorities, critical MCMs stockpiled or under development, and enhanced knowledge about how to prevent or treat threats. But, as the recent Ebola epidemic and MERS outbreak show, threats both known and unknown continue to evolve or emerge and require our constant attention and vigilance.

September is National Preparedness Month. And while FDA and other agencies work hard every day to help prepare the nation for potential threats, everyone can be involved in disaster readiness. As we approach the end of Preparedness Month, here are a few things you can do now:

Become familiar with disasters that might occur where you live; plans for your community, workplace or school; and what HHS is doing. You can also download a variety of free disaster apps.