The U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Chris Coons (D-DE) that makes anthrax vaccines available to first responders.

The First Responder Anthrax Preparedness Act has been endorsed by the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Emergency Medical Services Chiefs and the Alliance for Biosecurity.

The legislation directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to set up a pilot program that provides eligible anthrax vaccines from the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile to first responders who would be at the highest-risk of exposure to anthrax during a potential attack. The vaccines from the stockpile that would be given to law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services would be nearing the end of the vaccines’ labeled dates of use.

Read Full Story Here: The First Responder Preparedness Act makes the anthrax vaccine available to first responders in the event of an attack.

Fairfax, Va. – The International Association of Fire Chiefs Foundation (IAFCF) today announced that 10 first responders and safety officers have been selected to receive 2016 hazmat conference scholarship awards.

These scholarships are made possible through a grant from Emergent BioSolutions and provide each recipient with full conference registration and a stipend to attend the International Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference, June 16-19 in Baltimore.

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Imagine you’re back in high school and you’re sent on a field trip to a local pharmaceutical company. You spend the day talking to scientists, touring the labs and … making ice cream?

That’s what your day would look like if you showed up at Emergent BioSolutions Inc. as part of MdBio Foundation’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education opportunities….

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Maryland’s biotechnology industry got another major boost this week with news that TCM member and Gaithersburg-based Emergent BioSolutions won an almost $20 million contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop and manufacture a new drug to treat Ebola.

Emergent is an active TCM member, so we decided to turn our blog over today to the company’s president and CEO, Dan Abdun-Nabi, to tell us exactly what this means for Maryland’s tech community.  Enjoy our Q&A discussion…

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