The US Senate plans to offer new incentives to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries to develop more vaccines, drugs, and countermeasures against a range of pathogens. Prominent among the biodefense measures before Congress is the Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act (S. 1873). The bill, authored by Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), would establish a new government agency – the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency – to fund and coordinate government R&D efforts into countermeasures for bioterrorism and natural outbreaks. The bill would offer liability protection for vaccine manufacturers and a 10-year marketing exclusivity for companies producing countermeasures, during which time competitors could not produce generic substitutes.