U.S. Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential (PEPP)
Effective May 6th, 2025: The United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential policy and an accompanying implementation guidance document.
This updated policy requires funding agencies and institutional oversight of DURC and PEPP including policies, practices, and procedures to ensure this type of research is identified and risk mitigation measures are implemented, where applicable.
What are the changes?
In May 2024, “United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential (referred to as “the Policy” herein) was enacted as a unified federal oversight framework for conducting and managing certain types of federally funded life sciences research on biological agents and toxins and now groups this type of research into two separate categories (Category 1 and Category 2). This 2024 policy supersedes previous 2012 United States Government policies and guidance on DURC, 2014 USG policy for institutional Oversight of DURC that covered research using 15 specific agents, and the 2017 Recommended Policy Guidance for Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight (P3CO) that covered research on highly transmissible, virulent agents.
What does this mean for researchers?
This policy applies to all research, regardless of funding or source of sponsorship, that involve biological agents and toxins classified as “Category 1” or “Category 2” (See Section 6 of the Implementation guide) in accordance with the National Science and Technology Council’s United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential policy.
How to maintain compliance?
Starting May 6th, 2025, all research submitted to the IBC through the eIBC platform will undergo review taking into consideration the updates to the USG 2024 DURC Policy. Additional information will be provided on this page once final processes are implemented.
Any questions, please contact ibc@northwestern.edu.