As Rx Response responds to national-scale disasters and public health threats, federal agencies are almost always heavily engaged alongside state agencies in responding to these events. Therefore, it is critical that Rx Response have strong relationships with any agencies responsible for protecting public health and responding to disaster, terrorist or pandemic situations.

Over the past few years, Rx Response has met with HHS, DHS, CDC, FDA, DOJ, and representatives of other federal departments and agencies to build connections and identify and address any barriers to biopharmaceutical supply system protection and response.

Rx Response’s relationships with these agencies have strengthened recently due to a federal effort to identify and protect Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR). Because biopharmaceutical medicines are essential to saving lives, the organizations within Rx Response play a crucial role in the healthcare system critical infrastructure. In addition, federal agencies have worked closely with Rx Response to respond to the current 2009 H1N1 pandemic, further forging these relationships and bolstering joint response efforts.

As part of the information-sharing and collaborative effort, Rx Response encourages all federal agency representatives concerned with the protection of the biopharmaceutical supply system to register for InfoCenter, Rx Response’s online forum that supports information-sharing and problem-solving during potential or realized public health events. During such events, all relevant registered agency representatives receive situation reports compiled by Rx Response that captures the event’s impact on the biopharmaceutical supply system.