President Bush is still trying damage control from last weeks hit of
indictments. Today he outlined his $7.1 billion strategy for dealing with a
possible bird flu pandemic.
In his plan, he wants to stock pile enough vaccine for 20 million people and
offer liability protection from the manufacturers. Currently the only
manufacturer of a vaccine, Tamiflu, is Gilead Sciences.
Now to look deeper into why President Bush might be so interested in
protecting them from any civil liabilities that could come from their product.
This is from
CNN Money:
NEW YORK (Fortune) – The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking
people around the globe, but it’s proving to be very good news for Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in
Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to
Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that’s now the most-sought after drug in the
world.Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)’s chairman from 1997 until he joined
the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at
between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial
disclosures filed by Rumsfeld.The forms don’t reveal the exact number of shares Rumsfeld owns, but in
the past six months fears of a pandemic and the ensuing scramble for Tamiflu
have sent Gilead’s stock from $35 to $47. That’s made the Pentagon chief,
already one of the wealthiest members of the Bush cabinet, at least $1
million richer.Rumsfeld isn’t the only political heavyweight benefiting from demand for
Tamiflu, which is manufactured and marketed by Swiss pharma giant Roche.
(Gilead receives a royalty from Roche equaling about 10% of sales.) Former
Secretary of State George Shultz, who is on Gilead’s board, has sold more
than $7 million worth of Gilead since the beginning of 2005.
Article continues
here.
This should come as no surprise. Much like Cheney’s former company,
Halliburton, who makes most of its money rebuilding Iraq, now Rumsfeld’s old
company will make most of its money off of producing a vaccination for a
potential pandemic level flu strain.
One thing that is still interesting is the fact that there is not enough of
this vaccine to go around. It has been on backorder for months and Gilead holds
the patent. Something as important as this should merit the suspension of
patents so more manufacturers can produce it. Should lives be lost in the name
of profits? No they should not. It doesn’t seem as though the Republicans that
run our country think that way though. They could pass an emergency bill opening
the patent on this very needed drug but instead they must protect the financial
interests of their friends. That is greed in the deadliest sense.
As far as Bush’s damage control, well this is not going to work. There are
still numerous people out there demanding answers on his and Cheney’s knowledge
and involvement into the Valerie Plame leak and they will not be muted by his
grandstanding. As matter of fact, his latest strategy is just further proof into
his main obligation – corporate cronies.