The Senate Appropriations Committee has created a $20 million fund
for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to invest in
biotech startups, shifting money to a program that some say resembles
the Department of Energy’s controversial loan guarantees.
The Strategic Investor initiative allocates $20 million to “allow the Federal Government to partner with small biotechnology companies in order to foster and accelerate the generation of novel medical countermeasures and technologies,” according to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“That money is coming at the direct expense of funding that would directly fund anti-terrorism preparedness measures,” said a source familiar with the biotech industry.
For example, the money could have been used instead for biodefense, the source said.
The Senate appropriation is far less than the amount Sebelius requested. She proposed the Strategic Investor initiative in a September 2010 HHS report that requested $200 million to “explore alternative capital market mechanisms.”
The $20 million allocation is not enough to diversify risk, industry insiders noted.
Sebelius initially described the Strategic Investor initiative as a private, not-for-profit corporation that would operate outside the federal government. Other such quasi-governmental entities include the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were nationalized through a federal “conservatorship” in August 2008.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/a-solyndra-for-sebelius/
The Strategic Investor initiative allocates $20 million to “allow the Federal Government to partner with small biotechnology companies in order to foster and accelerate the generation of novel medical countermeasures and technologies,” according to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“That money is coming at the direct expense of funding that would directly fund anti-terrorism preparedness measures,” said a source familiar with the biotech industry.
For example, the money could have been used instead for biodefense, the source said.
The Senate appropriation is far less than the amount Sebelius requested. She proposed the Strategic Investor initiative in a September 2010 HHS report that requested $200 million to “explore alternative capital market mechanisms.”
The $20 million allocation is not enough to diversify risk, industry insiders noted.
Sebelius initially described the Strategic Investor initiative as a private, not-for-profit corporation that would operate outside the federal government. Other such quasi-governmental entities include the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were nationalized through a federal “conservatorship” in August 2008.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/a-solyndra-for-sebelius/
No comments:
Post a Comment