[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4581 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4581

 To require the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary 
 of Health and Human Services, the Administrator of the United States 
     Agency for International Development, and such other heads of 
     departments and agencies as the Secretary of State considers 
  appropriate, to formulate a strategy for the Federal Government to 
secure support from foreign countries, multilateral organizations, and 
     other appropriate entities to facilitate the development and 
 commercialization of qualified pandemic or epidemic products, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 18, 2024

 Mr. Kelly (for himself and Mr. Cornyn) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary 
 of Health and Human Services, the Administrator of the United States 
     Agency for International Development, and such other heads of 
     departments and agencies as the Secretary of State considers 
  appropriate, to formulate a strategy for the Federal Government to 
secure support from foreign countries, multilateral organizations, and 
     other appropriate entities to facilitate the development and 
 commercialization of qualified pandemic or epidemic products, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Saving Us from Pandemic Era 
Resistance by Building a Unified Global Strategy Act of 2024'' or the 
``SUPER BUGS Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF 
              QUALIFIED PANDEMIC OR EPIDEMIC PRODUCTS.

    (a) Strategy.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 540 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in 
        coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
        the Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
        Development, and such other heads of departments and agencies 
        as the Secretary of State considers appropriate, shall--
                    (A) formulate a strategy for the Federal Government 
                to secure support from foreign countries, multilateral 
                organizations, and other appropriate entities to 
                facilitate the development and commercialization of 
                qualified pandemic or epidemic products, including such 
                products to address antimicrobial resistant pathogens--
                            (i) with pandemic potential; or
                            (ii) that are priority pathogens; and
                    (B) submit such strategy to the appropriate 
                committees of Congress.
            (2) Contents.--The strategy required by paragraph (1) 
        shall--
                    (A) provide for processes the Federal Government is 
                using and would use to enter into arrangements with 
                foreign countries, multilateral organizations, and 
                other appropriate entities in certain circumstances to 
                implement the strategy;
                    (B) strive to ensure that the arrangements 
                described in subparagraph (A) promote equitable 
                contributions based on the budgets and technical 
                expertise of participating countries, organizations, 
                and other entities, as appropriate;
                    (C) focus the arrangements described in 
                subparagraph (A) on global priorities while enabling 
                participating countries, organizations, and other 
                entities to emphasize national or regional issues of 
                importance;
                    (D) seek to ensure new and existing arrangements 
                described in subparagraph (A) are harmonized with each 
                other and with other relevant existing or planned 
                efforts to amplify impact, address gaps, prevent 
                duplication of effort, and efficiently distribute 
                funds;
                    (E) provide for collaboration so that the 
                arrangements described in subparagraph (A)--
                            (i) allocate joint or individual 
                        responsibility across participating countries, 
                        organizations, and other entities for the 
                        development and commercialization of particular 
                        qualified pandemic or epidemic products; and
                            (ii) describe such collaboration;
                    (F) encourage the stewardship of qualified pandemic 
                or epidemic products developed pursuant to the 
                strategy;
                    (G) ensure that priority actions are identified in 
                the arrangements described in subparagraph (A) so that 
                scarce domestic and international funds are allocated 
                to develop and commercialize qualified pandemic or 
                epidemic products that can achieve the greatest 
                positive impact on human health, including 
                unprecedented approaches to preventing, treating, and 
                diagnosing infectious diseases;
                    (H) consider approaches including--
                            (i) securing development, production, and 
                        distribution contracts with the private sector;
                            (ii) entering into public-private 
                        partnerships;
                            (iii) implementing alternative payment 
                        models;
                            (iv) creating coverage and reimbursement 
                        pathways; and
                            (v) streamlining regulatory approval 
                        processes; and
                    (I) align with pandemic preparedness and response 
                priorities of the United States, such as those 
                articulated in--
                            (i) the National Strategy for Combating 
                        Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (dated September 
                        2014); and
                            (ii) the National Biodefense Strategy and 
                        Implementation Plan (dated October 2022) and 
                        the associated Action Plan (dated October 
                        2022).
    (b) Arrangements.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Administrator of the United 
States Agency for International Development, and such other heads of 
departments and agencies as the Secretary of State considers 
appropriate, shall seek to enter into arrangements with foreign 
countries, multilateral organizations, and other appropriate entities 
to implement the strategy required by subsection (a).
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term 
        ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 
                the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (2) Priority pathogens.--The term ``priority pathogens'' 
        means pathogens identified in--
                    (A) the latest ``Antibiotic Resistance Threats 
                Report'' of the Centers for Disease Control and 
                Prevention (or any successor report); or
                    (B) the latest global priority pathogens list or 
                fungal priority pathogens list of the World Health 
                Organization (or any successor list).
            (3) Qualified pandemic or epidemic product.--The term 
        ``qualified pandemic or epidemic product'' has the meaning 
        given that term in section 319F-3(i) of the Public Health 
        Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d-6d(i)).
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