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Rockville to be home to center for preventing future global pandemics

On Wednesday, Montgomery County was announced as the site for the Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — As the world continues to fight back against the deadly coronavirus, the center for preventing another worldwide pandemic will be located in Rockville.

On Wednesday, the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation reported that the area was chosen to be the site of the new Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center.

The project remains in early stages but the center will begin operations at the US Pharmacopeia offices in Rockville before a long-term building is opened.

Connected DMV helped spearhead the effort and said the headquarters will play a crucial role in keeping areas safe from deadly sicknesses.

"The objective of the center is to prevent future outbreaks," said Chief Strategy and Economic Officer Matt Erskine. "We hope to learn the lessons from how we’ve been dealing with COVID to apply to future threats and make sure that we're doing all we can to prevent future outbreaks from becoming pandemics.”

Erskine told WUSA9 that the project was first discussed around 18 months ago in response to the spread of COVID-19.

Once the center is up and running, he said the facility will help bring together a network of scientists, policymakers, and academic experts from around the world.

In particular, the team will focus on developing monoclonal antibodies derived from various viruses and by "integrating antibody distribution and delivery across the global health and pandemic prevention ecosystem."

 Erskine said that the work could help populations stay ahead of emerging diseases.

Organizers said the location and makeup of Montgomery County made it an ideal spot to put the new center.

“Montgomery County is uniquely positioned to be the host location for the Center, which aims to harness the rich talent and critical health research, biotech, defense, and government assets required to deliver a full-scale response,” said County Executive Marc Elrich in a statement. “This Center is not only critical to the health, safety, and security of our nation and world but also this is an important economic development and job-creating concept that we want to see come to fruition.”

Erskine added that the center will focus on helping "underrepresented and underserved populations" both in the US and around the world.

Moving forward, he said the initiative to bring teams together to fight future outbreaks would make the Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center a crucial tool in keeping the world safe.

"Diseases and pathogens don’t observe borders. This becomes an issue of global importance," he said. "We believe that if we’re truly going to address preventing pandemics in the future, we have to break down the silos and have that multi-sector approach.”

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