Are We Ready for Avian Flu? McKenna Long & Aldridge Biodefense Experts Assess Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza National Strategy

Are We Ready for Avian Flu? McKenna Long & Aldridge Biodefense Experts Assess Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza National Strategy

As ABC movie 'Fatal Contact' raises public anxiety about possible bird flu pandemic, McKenna Long government affairs and biodefense authorities survey U.S. preparedness landscape. John Clerici and Douglas Farry discuss policy, legal, and corporate preparedness issues for public health protection and civil defense.

WASHINGTON, May 9 /PRNewswire/ -- With the airing of ABC's movie "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America," the ominous buzz surrounding avian flu has moved to center stage in the public consciousness. Arriving in the wake of last week's release of a pandemic flu plan by President Bush, the movie raises anxious questions about the readiness of the nation's health care system to respond to the disease, which many scientists believe will inevitably migrate to the U.S.

In the aftermath of the movie's broadcast, the law and government relations firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP is uniquely positioned to help sort out fact from fiction in the real-life drama of pandemic preparedness. Over the last several years, MLA has assumed a leading role in the development of a market for vaccines, detection devices, diagnostics, and other countermeasures for infectious diseases and against bio-terror attacks.

Last year, MLA played a major part in the drafting and passage of the PREP Act, landmark legislation that protects vaccine manufacturers from mass tort liability that would otherwise prevent the supply of critical countermeasures to prepare for a public health emergency.

Over the last five years, working with pharmaceutical, diagnostic, detection, and biotech companies, as well as congressional leaders and administration officials, MLA has developed the largest practice in the nation focusing on public health preparedness. Attorneys and advisors in the firm's government affairs group can comment on the readiness of hospitals and primary care providers, as well as businesses and federal agencies to respond to a pandemic.

A Story with Wings

The speculative character of the movie's treatment is underscored by the raging debate within the scientific community about the imminence and probable scope of a bird flu pandemic. But even if current fears about avian flu portrayed by the ABC drama prove overblown, the nation cannot afford to discount the very real threat posed by continually emerging influenza strains, whether naturally occurring or genetically engineered by bioterror agents.

"Whether an avian flu pandemic ever materializes, the nightmare scenario of an uncontrollable outbreak of an emerging infectious disease is all too realistic," warns John M. Clerici, a partner in MLA's government affairs and government contracts practices, and co-chair of the Biodefense Practice group.

"There is a general consensus among scientists and public health experts that the U.S. remains unacceptably exposed to such threats." He notes a recent study estimating that only 7% of U.S. companies have established budgets for pandemic preparedness, compared with 12% for European companies and 25% for Asian businesses.

Four Prime Pandemic Challenges

Mr. Clerici and Douglas Farry, a member of the firm's government affairs practice, point to four critical areas overriding the nation's pandemic preparedness:

* The challenges that a influenza pandemic or other major health threat
pose to the already overburdened public health infrastructure;

* The gap between the private sector's growing concern about the impact
of a pandemic and corporate America's actual pandemic planning;

* The pressing need for technological improvements in the delivery of
health care services, from hospital logistics and triage methods in
treatment to the digitization of medical records;

* The need to improve and expand public-private partnerships with a focus
on public health protection preparedness.

"What happens when 275 million people show up for treatment?"

But restoring the ability of U.S. companies to market vaccines and other countermeasures is just one piece of a much larger strategy of biodefense preparedness. The larger challenges involve shoring up the nation's public and private infrastructure against the debilitating medical, economic, and social consequences of a potential pandemic.

"The public health system is the sector most at risk of being overwhelmed by a major influenza outbreak," says Mr. Farry. "It is already straining to meet the everyday needs of underserved populations. What happens to hospitals, managed care providers, storefront clinics, physicians and insurers, if 275 million people suddenly show up for treatment?"

The entire public and private infrastructure needs to be upgraded to handle the technological and logistical challenges of an influenza epidemic or bioterrorist attack. "The private sector is woefully unprepared, having so far undertaken little of the contingency planning that will ensure that businesses keep operating when up to 40 percent of their workforce doesn't show up," says Mr. Clerici. "Such planning is vital, especially given the fact that society relies on private companies to provide 85 percent of vital systems such as telecommunication, food production, medicine and financial services."

Where the defense industry was in 1946

MLA also believes that the challenges of pandemic preparedness create unprecedented market opportunities for the biotech industry as a whole. "Given the global dimensions of infectious disease and bioterror threats, the demand for medical countermeasures and rapid-response technologies will open up worldwide markets for U.S. biodefense companies," Mr. Clerici predicts.

Furthermore, the process of shoring up the nation's biodefense will pay significant dividends beyond the immediate goal of countering a pandemic or bioterror threat. "I would liken the potential commercial benefits to those of military technology transfer," says Mr. Clerici.

"At the moment, we're at the stage where the defense industry was in 1946," he adds. "The initiatives undertaken in aid of pandemic preparedness could well be as tectonic as the innovations spurred by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in response to the Cold War."

Mr. Clerici notes the Cold War sparked an innovation boom for the United States triggered by investment. "The greatest example ever of a technology originally developed for the Defense Department that later transitioned to the private sector is the Internet," he says. "With pandemic planning and investment, the U.S. has the opportunity to spur badly needed innovation for the public health sector akin in the Internet boom of the 1990s."

Credentials Note

Doug Farry is a Managing Director in MLA's government affairs practice. Previously Senior Policy Advisor to former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), he provides strategic and tactical support for clients before the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate and White House. Mr. Farry primarily concentrates his work on biodefense, healthcare, RFID technology and telecommunications policy.

John Clerici is a partner in MLA's government contracts practice and government affairs group. He also co-chairs the firm's Biodefense Practice group. Mr. Clerici's practice focuses chiefly on homeland security and public health protection challenges, in particular, the policy and legislative aspects of public procurement and private-public partnerships. He works with new entrants to the government marketplace and existing traditional government contractors to develop government affairs strategies for selling goods and services to federal, state and local governments, as well as EU member countries. Mr. Clerici has testified before Congress on multiple occasions as an expert on public health preparedness and the need for liability relief in the area of biodefense and homeland security. His work led directly to the passage of the PREP Act in 2005 and the SAFETY Act in 2002.

Let us know if you would like to speak with any of MLA'a government affairs attorneys and advisors on the subject of pandemic readiness/public health protection in the private and public sectors.

About McKenna Long & Aldridge:

McKenna Long & Aldridge is a full-service law and government relations firm of 400 lawyers and public policy advisors with offices in Atlanta, Brussels , Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, DC. The firm provides business solutions in the areas of corporate law, government contracts, intellectual property and technology, complex litigation, public policy and regulatory affairs, international law, real estate, environmental, energy and finance. To learn more about the firm and its services, log on to http://www.mckennalong.com/.

CONTACT:
John Garger, 212-262-7484, jgargernyc@aol.com
Jennifer Ahner, 404-527-8403, jahner@mckennalong.com

Source: McKenna Long & Aldridge

CONTACT: John Garger, +1-212-262-7484, jgargernyc@aol.com, or Jennifer
Ahner, +1-404-527-8403, jahner@mckennalong.com, both for McKenna Long &
Aldridge

Web site: http://www.mckennalong.com/

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