Bush Co: Cashing In On Bird Flu Fears

Guess who owns stock in Gilead Sciences Inc, the company that patented the antiviral agent Tamiflu? Why, it's Donald Rumsfeld!

UPDATE: And guess who has $8 billion to spend on avian bird flu at his descretion? George W. Bush!

Already the government is buying $162.5 million worth of vaccine against that bird flu strain, called H5N1, from two companies -- Sanofi-Aventis and Chiron Corp. -- in case that happens. It also is ordering millions of doses of Tamiflu and Relenza, two antiflu drugs believed to offer some protection against the bird flu, stockpiles that the pandemic plan is expected to order be augmented.

Lawmakers angry at months of delay have already given Bush money to begin those preparations: $8 billion in emergency funding that the Senate, pushed by Democrats, passed on Thursday -- and an amount considered close to what federal health officials will need.

The money is to be spent at the president's discretion...

Now, these are the same people with stock in Halliburton (etc etc) who profiteered from an unecessary and illegal war that they themselves engineered!

And talking about "Buying Government"...

Thirty Ohioans who raised a combined $4.1 million for President Bush's re-election campaign have received more than $1.2 billion in public funds for their companies and clients, a newspaper reported.

Since Bush took office in 2001, the federal government has given those companies more than $447 million in subsidies, contracts and other payments, according to records analyzed by The Blade.

UPDATE 2: Tamiflu stocks in demand around the world, suppliers cannot keep up with demand.

No one knows how effective the drug will be against a pandemic strain but it is considered the best option until a vaccine can be developed.

UPDATE 3: Bush stocks up the Federal Reserve... with Tamiflu! But wait, there is even more cash to be squeezed out of this flightened cow...

States were told to buy 31 million treatment courses, but Bush is funding only a quarter of the states' anticipated bill.

Mike Moore has even more:

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.

Another board member is the wife of former California Gov. Pete Wilson.

"I don't know of any biotech company that's so politically well-connected," says analyst Andrew McDonald of Think Equity Partners in San Francisco.

What's more, the federal government is emerging as one of the world's biggest customers for Tamiflu. In July, the Pentagon ordered $58 million worth of the treatment for U.S. troops around the world, and Congress is considering a multi-billion dollar purchase. Roche expects 2005 sales for Tamiflu to be about $1 billion, compared with $258 million in 2004.

UPDATE WHATEVER: This story really highlights (for me) all the worst things about globalisation and nationalism, as well as the worst aspects of the Bush administration.

The US has long been with-holding AIDS drugs from African countries too poor to afford them, now they unveil a plan to combat global pandemics at a purely national level. Are US lives worth more than others? And if vaccines are only available for one-third of the US, which third do YOU think will get them? Hunh?

Obviously, the best idea would be to have a GLOBAL response to any such outbreak, should it ever happen. To stop it right at the point of origin, and thereby save potentially millions of lives before the outbreak increases exponentially as it spreads.

So let's imagine if the money being poured into the US initiative were instead made available to an internationally-monitored UN body, which could immediately target any outbreak in any country...

Know what I'm saying?