UPMC and University of Pittsburgh leaders today proposed an innovative solution to the country’s pressing need to improve its vaccine-producing abilities. As recent events have shown, the spread of infectious diseases poses an ever-increasing threat to the U.S., and nearly every western government recognizes the need to strengthen its response against a bioterrorist attack.

blank_pageIn testimony before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Field Hearing in Pittsburgh, arranged by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), UPMC CEO Jeffrey A. Romoff and others detailed UPMC’s proposal for a non-profit, public-private partnership that would build a new kind of facility to develop and manufacture vaccines and therapeutics .

Using disposable manufacturing technology, the proposed plant could provide the flexible capacity needed to protect the country from such devastating diseases as smallpox, SARS and Ebola. At the same time, it would spark a new industry for western Pennsylvania and create up to 1,000 direct and 6,000 indirect jobs.

UPMC and its public-private partnership, 21st Century Biodefense (21CB), would expect to compete for any federal funds that are allocated to this national priority.