Monrovia, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/06/2011 -- Richard Hatchett, Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director of BARDA and Joseph Larsen, Chief of the Broad Spectrum Antimicrobials (BSA) Program at BARDA will present on “Partnering and Working with BARDA” at the 8th Anti-infectives Partnering and Deal-making Conference to be held in Boston, MA on November 7-8, 2011 by GTC.
The Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA) is responsible for developing and acquiring medical countermeasures directed against microbes of biodefense interest.
BARDA is a component of the Department of Health and Human Services, under the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). BARDA initiated its program for the development of novel antibacterial and antiviral drugs in January 2010. The goals of BARDA’s Broad Spectrum Antimicrobials program are to enable the U.S. Government to acquire medical countermeasures to protect the American public against bioterrorist threats and to develop additional antimicrobial treatment options needed to counter the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance in common bacterial pathogens.
Given these goals, BARDA funds antimicrobial development programs that concurrently focus on bacterial biodefense threats while supporting the commercialization and regulatory approval of drug candidates directed toward more common microbes. This strategy includes supporting pre-clinical and clinical studies, manufacturing activities, etc, that would expedite antibiotic development for clinically relevant/prevalent infectious diseases. It is BARDA’s intent to increase the robustness of the antimicrobial developmental pipeline for both biodefense pathogens and clinically relevant infectious diseases. To this end, we are seeking to develop public private partnerships for the development of antimicrobials for bacterial threat agents.
Dr. Hatchett is Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Strategic Sciences and Management at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His primary responsibilities include oversight of programs relating to strategic science and innovation, strategic affairs and reporting, the development of science and preparedness policy, human resources, communications, and organizational marketing. Previously, he served as Director for Medical Preparedness Policy on the White House National Security Staff where he worked on a wide array of issues related to medical countermeasures development, the 2009-H1N1 pandemic, and pandemic preparedness more broadly. In 2005-6, he served as Director for Biodefense Policy on the White House Homeland Security Council and was a principal author of the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Implementation Plan. In this capacity, he helped set policy and devise strategies to mitigate the consequences of a pandemic and promote pandemic preparedness. From 2005 – 2011, he served as Associate Director for Radiation Countermeasures Research and Emergency Preparedness at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Joe Larsen is the Chief of the Broad Spectrum Antimicrobials program at the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA). The goals of BARDA’s Broad Spectrum Antimicrobials program are to enable the U.S. Government to acquire medical countermeasures to protect the American public against bioterrorist threats and to develop additional antimicrobial treatment options needed to counter the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance in common bacterial pathogens. Previously, Dr. Larsen served as a Senior Science and Technology Manager at the Joint Science and Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JSTO-CBDP) within the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). There, he managed a ~$50M applied research program aimed at the development of medical therapeutics against viral, bacterial, and toxin threat agents. From 2005-2006, Dr. Larsen was an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellow at the Department of Homeland Security. There, he managed University based research programs aimed at the development enhanced food safety detection systems and medical countermeasures for agricultural threat agents. Joe was a Winter 2005 National Academy of Science Christine Mirzayan fellow with the Board of Life Sciences.
The 8th Anti-infectives Partnering and Deal-making Conference gives global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in the infectious diseases industry an opportunity to network with high-level executives from top pharma and various biotech/pharmaceutical companies, as well as explore potential collaborations, and learn about relevant infectious disease issues and partnerships that will affect the industry.
The conference is part of the Infectious Diseases World Summit, which consists of 2 tracks including the 9th Vaccines Discovery and Development: All Things Considered Conference.