Dr. Harvey Rubin at the Partnership for Global Security Conference in Lake Como, Italy
The conference, entitled "Strengthening a Global Biosecurity/Biosafety Framework and Coping with the Biotechnology Revolution" seeked new ideas and implementation paths for a variety of ways to deal with the staggering advances in biotechnology that have taken place in recent years. Dr. Rubin, who has spoken often on the need for an International Compact for Infectious Diseases, participated in a roundtable discussion on implementing and operationalizing new initiatives.
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The International Compact for Infectious Diseases Included in Noordwijk Medicines Agenda
The OECD High Level Forum on Medicines for Neglected and Emerging Infectious Diseases has adopted the wording of the International Compact for Infectious Diseases in its report, the Noordwijk Medicines Agenda. The High Level Forum was attended by ministers of OECD countries, the Queen of the Netherlands, and representatives from the private sector, academia and philanthropic organizations. With the inclusion of the Compact into the NMA, we look forward to even broader participation in our November 2007 Compact Drafting Conference, to be held in Philadelphia. For more information about the Compact, please visit our Compact website.
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The International Compact for Infectious Diseases Presented to OECD
The Compact, ISTAR's groundbreaking effort to drive pharmaceutical innovation for infectious diseases while eliminating the market and coordination failures that currently hinder such discoveries, was presented at the Preparatory Workshops for the High Level Forum on Medicines for Neglected and Emerging Infectious Diseases. An OECD initiative to explore policy options ahead of the Noordwijk-an-Zee meeting in the Netherlands, the Preparatory Workshops were attended by government officials, academics and representatives from the philanthropic community. For more information about the Compact, please visit our Compact website.
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Roundtable on Risk: Liabilities and New Directions
The Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response, in collaboration with Wharton's Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, recently hosted a roundtable on enhancing global supply chain effectiveness. After a keynote speech from James Lee Witt, former director of FEMA, scholars and managers from across the country took part in panel discussions designed to explore new directions for risk management research and policymaking. The Council on Foreign Relations, Lockheed Martin, and the Rand Corporation were all represented.
 From left: Erwann Michel-Kerjan, James Lee Witt, Howard Kunreuther and Harvey Rubin.
The fall 2006 edition of the Risk Management Review has an in-depth feature on the roundtable and can be found here.
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Striving for Progress in Preparedness - Highlighting the City of Philadelphia's Emergency Preparedness Progress Report
We are pleased to highlight the City of Philadelphia's 90-day Emergency Preparedness Progress Report, which was completed and presented to Mayor Street on October 11th 2006. The report was just recently made public online at the City of Philadelphia's website www.phila.gov. In it, the City's continual efforts in initiating and implementing the recommendations of the Emergency Preparedness Review Committee (EPRC) are documented and appraised. We congratulate the City for the continual progress in this important aspect of public service.
We
also congratulate Ms. MaryAnn E. Marrocolo who was recently appointed as Deputy Managing Director for Emergency Management and Preparedness. Ms. Marrocolo will oversee the reform implementation process, and she comes with vast experience in emergency management, including overseeing New York's Emergency Operations Center for Y2K, the responses to the World Trade Center attacks and the Anthrax attack in 2001, just to name a few.
 Presentation of the Report to Mayor Street, Oct 11th 2006.
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State and Local OUTLOOK on Homeland Security October 2006 Edition
The October 2006 Edition of this Governing Magazine issue covers important points of the City of Philadelphia's recently concluded Emergency Preparedness Review Committee (EPRC) report. James Lee Witt, former FEMA director under President Clinton and EPRC consultant, delves into various aspects of preparedness for the city and gives his opinion how best to proceed.
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Project BioShield founders amid public relations battles
Originally designed to stimulate research and commercial investment in biomedical endeavors critical to homeland security, Project BioShield is now faltering in part because of a massive public relations battle being waged by two potential suppliers of an anthrax vaccine. Due to the small size of the market and low profit margins of the desired products, Project Bioshield has failed to attract attention from large pharmaceutical companies and has relied on smaller startup companies to provide the countermeasures it requires. According to the New York Times, the lobbying efforts of VaxGen and Emergent BioSolutions have diverted attention away from the vaccine and focused it on the protracted battle being fought on issues peripheral to its development and testing. The full article can be found here.
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President Bush updates the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism
This update to the NSCT, first released in February 2003, comes at the beginning of a political season framed by issues of national security. The document is the White House's response to evolving terrorist methods and is designed to keep America safe even as terrorists adapt to existing counter-terrorism strategies. The full updated document can be found here. President Bush's remarks about the strategy and the progress of the War on Terror can be found here.
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