KENNEDY DISCUSSES PREPARING FOR FLU OUTBREAK AT OPENING OF UMASS/MASSACHUSETTS BIOLOGIC LABORATORIES FACILITY IN MATTAPAN MASSACHUSETTS LEADS IN CUTTING-EDGE HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS- Senator Edward M. Kennedy outlined his plan to prepare for a pandemic flu outbreak at the opening of the new UMASS Medical School/Massachusettls Biologic Laboratories Facility in Mattapan. Senator Kennedy has introduced a bill in the United States Senate that calls for a national flu plan and sets forth a set of guidelines to combat a pandemic flu outbreak. The new facility will play a critical role in responding to new global health challenges, such as the worldwide threat of avian flu. Today, Kennedy was joined by Congressman Michael E. Capuano, University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson, University of Massachusetts Medical School Chancellor and Dean, Dr. Aaron Lazare, Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories Director Dr. Donna Ambrosino and officials from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health. Senator Kennedy said, “We’ll always have potential public health threats, and we have a new one on our hands with the avian flu. To respond, we’ll need to develop and manufacture millions of doses of flu medication and make sure that we have the all the resources necessary to respond. With the devastation of Hurricane Katrina fresh in our minds, we cannot afford to be caught without a plan again.” Kennedy’s bill, the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Act of 2005, addresses many of the weaknesses we suffer in preparedness. It requires the Secretary of HHS to take immediate action to finalize the national preparedness plan, to stockpile enough antiviral medications for 50% of the population, and to expand capacity for vaccine production. A summary of the bill is below. Experts estimate that if the current strain of avian flu mutates to a form that can more easily spread from human to human, millions of people will be sick and millions more will die. Currently there is no formal response plan, weak public health infrastructure, limited hospital capacity and low supplies of vaccine and antiviral drugs. The Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories (MBL) have provided public health services to the people of Massachusetts and around the world for over 100 years, most recently responding to the health needs of victims of Hurricane Katrina. MBL remains the only publicly owned, non- profit FDA-licensed manufacturer of vaccines and medications in the United States. The new facility will ensure that Massachusetts will continue to lead in the development ofcutting-edge technology. It will serve as a new biologics manufacturing and vaccine filling facility that will create over 320 high-tech and research jobs for Massachusetts. It represents a resurgence of public health care and economic revitalization on the site of the old Boston State Hospital in Mattapan. This new facility will enable MBL, with the support of UMass Medical School, to respond to new global health challenges.