22 U.S.C. § 7624 — Facilitating vaccine development

(a) Technical assistance for developing countries. USAID's Administrator, using public-private partnerships where useful and coordinating with other international development agencies, is authorized to help developing-country governments (1) gather evidence to make good decisions about rolling out new vaccines — including possible HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria vaccines, once those vaccines are proven safe and effective; (2) review clinical trial and impact-study protocols and run better clinical trials; and (3) build reliable supply chains and delivery systems for vaccines. (b) Advance market commitments. (1) Purpose: this subsection aims to improve global health by requiring the US to help negotiate "advance market commitments" — advance promises to buy future vaccines, including possible vaccines for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. (2) Negotiation requirement: the Treasury Secretary must negotiate with the World Bank, the GAVI Alliance, their member countries, and other interested parties to set up these commitments to purchase vaccines against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and related infectious diseases. (3) Requirements to consider: in these negotiations, the Treasury Secretary must weigh whether the commitment programs include (A) legally binding contracts to buy a set number of treatments at a fair price, to create a real market incentive; (B) clear, transparent rules for which developers and suppliers can take part; (C) clear requirements that eligible vaccines are safe, effective, and deliverable in developing countries; (D) ways to settle disputes; and (E) enough flexibility to adjust contracts as market conditions change, while still honoring the purchase commitment at a fair price. (4) Report: within one year of July 30, 2008, (A) the Treasury Secretary must report to Congress on the status of these negotiations, and (B) the President must produce a comprehensive report — written by a study group of qualified people from relevant federal agencies, nongovernmental groups, and industry — laying out a coordinated strategy to speed up vaccine development for infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. That strategy must include (i) ways to create economic incentives for researching, developing, and manufacturing such vaccines; (ii) expanding public-private partnerships and pooling resources from other countries and the private sector; and (iii) efforts to maximize US ability to support vaccine clinical trials in developing countries and speed up access once vaccines exist.