Allocation of Ebola vaccines and cures may be THE big issue for months in 2015.
http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-u-requests-production-plans-ebola-drug-zmapp-183307513--finance.html
"U.S. requests production plans for Ebola drug ZMappby Sharon Begley
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. officials have asked three advanced biology laboratories to submit plans for producing the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp, which ran out after it was given to a handful of medical workers who contracted the disease in West Africa, government and lab officials said on Friday.
The "task order" issued on Thursday by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) asks that detailed plans, including budgets and timetables, be submitted by Nov. 10.
... The U.S. government "is working with partners around the world as quickly as possible to advance the development of multiple vaccine and therapeutic candidates for clinical evaluation and future use in preventing or treating Ebola," BARDA Director Robin Robinson said in a statement.
The three advanced labs, called Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing, were established by the U.S. government in 2012 with $440 million in seed money. They are required to develop flexible manufacturing capabilities to allow them to produce countermeasures against chemical, biological, and other threats.
One of the three, run by Texas A&M Health Science Center in partnership with Britain's GlaxoSmithKline Plc, "is swiftly responding" to the government request, Dr. Brett Giroir, chief executive officer of the health science center, said in a statement, and will submit detailed proposals for scaling up production of ZMapp.
The other two centers are a facility led by Emergent Biosolutions in Baltimore and another in Holly Springs, North Carolina, led by Swiss drug company Novartis AG."