Donald Rumsfeld's Stock In SoCalled Avian Flu Vaccine : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

Rumsfeld Wants to Profit from 'Avian Flu' 'Vaccine'
By Nelson D. Schwartz
Fortune

Monday 31 October 2005

Defense Secretary, ex-chairman of flu treatment rights holder, sees portfolio value growing.
New York - 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.

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 US 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.

Rumsfeld recused himself from any decisions involving Gilead when he left Gilead and became Secretary of Defense in early 2001. And late last month, notes a senior Pentagon official, Rumsfeld went even further and had the Pentagon's general counsel issue additional instructions outlining what he could and could not be involved in if there were an avian flu pandemic and the Pentagon had to respond.

As the flu issue heated up early this year, according to the Pentagon official, Rumsfeld considered unloading his entire Gilead stake and sought the advice of the Department of Justice, the SEC and the federal Office of Government Ethics.

Those agencies didn't offer an opinion so Rumsfeld consulted a private securities lawyer, who advised him that it was safer to hold on to the stock and be quite public about his recusal rather than sell and run the risk of being accused of trading on insider information, something Rumsfeld doesn't believe he possesses. So he's keeping his shares for the time being.

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God prevent Bush or anyone else from being involved
in the Chertoff-FEMA-Likud concentration camp plan

Amazing! half of the deaths in the US occur from animal
fat heart attacks and animal protein cancer...
.... untold millions...
and Bush and FEMA are promoting pharmaceutical
warfare

BIRD in the BUSH

to all :::::::::::::::::::

this is really a very serious topic; but it has the looks of a surrealistic comedy.

Bush Wants Right to Use Military if Bird Flu Hits
By Charles Aldinger
Reuters

Tuesday 04 October 2005

Washington - President George W. Bush asked Congress on Tuesday to consider giving him powers to use the military to enforce quarantines in case of an avian influenza epidemic.

He said the military, and perhaps the National Guard, might be needed to take such a role if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough to cause widespread human infection.

"If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a quarantine?" Bush asked at a news conference.

"It's one thing to shut down airplanes. It's another thing to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the avian flu. And who best to be able to effect a quarantine?" Bush added.

"One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move. So that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate for Congress to have."

Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in four Asian nations since late 2003 and has been found in birds in Russia and Europe.

Experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus, which appears to be highly fatal when it infects people, will develop the ability to pass easily from person to person and would cause a pandemic that would kill millions.

"And I think the president ought to have all ... assets on the table to be able to deal with something this significant," Bush said.

He noted that some governors may object to the federal government commandeering the National Guard, which is under state command in most circumstances.

Police Duties Banned

"But Congress needs to take a look at circumstances that may need to vest the capacity of the president to move beyond that debate. And one such catastrophe or one such challenge could be an avian flu outbreak," Bush said.

The active duty military is currently forbidden from undertaking law enforcement duties by the federal Posse Comitatus Act.

That law, passed in 1878 after the US Civil War, does not prohibit National Guard troops under state control from doing police work. But, unless the law is changed, it would keep them from doing so if they were activated by Washington under federal control.

While the law allows the president to order the military to take control and do police work in an extreme emergency, the White House has been traditionally reluctant to usurp state powers.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters he was not aware of any current planning by the military to help respond to a flu pandemic.

But he noted that after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf region, Bush had asked Congress to consider giving the military control over initial response in dealing with major natural or other domestic disasters.

"Obviously the (Defense) Department has a tremendous amount of capability in a lot of areas. And we are a large force," Whitman said, noting also that the military had deployed field hospitals to Louisiana after the hurricanes.

Health experts are working to develop vaccines that would protect against the H5N1 strain of flu, because current influenza vaccines will not.

And countries are also developing stockpiles of drugs that can reduce the risk of serious disease or even sometimes prevent infection - but supplies and manufacturing capacity are both limited.

Bush said he was involved in planning for an influenza pandemic, which experts say will definitely come, although they cannot predict when, or whether it will be H5N1 or some other virus. Posted by sb11 on 08-30-2005 04:35 PM:
Pfizer Deaths

1 Pfizer's Celebrex is a Cox 2 inhibitor like Merck's Vioxx....where is all the
coverage of Celebrex lawsuits? Why are only Merck Cox 2
inhibitors being withdrawn... Pfizer's product also causes
strokes and heart attacks.

Viagra US: Viagra side effects - up to date list of minor Viagra problems: blindness, heart attack, stroke, headache, flushing, indigestion, nasal congestion, urinary tract infections, abnormal vision, diarrhea, dizziness, dry mouth. Worries about lawsuits in Insurance Industry underwriting Viagra risk. National Underwriter Property and Casualty: 16 Nov 1998

Pfizer: one of top 10 internet spammers... with vulgar
lead ins

Pfizer: abusing the airwaves with commercials pushing
drugs with lethal side effects

Pfizer: incinerating at least 1 truckload a day of captive
research animals at its New London Connecticut research
facility

Pfizer: through its mammon pawns Scalia, Thomas, and others on the Supreme Court
... shoved an unconstitutional eminent domain for
businesses ruling through

About 16 million men worldwide have taken Viagra. As of September 2001, 640 deaths were reported worldwide -Many go
unreported because of Pfizer's clout. Pfizer sales of Viagra are $1.5bn a year.

2,000 Viagra headlines in 3 months - 69 Viagra deaths caused possible by treatment for impotence / erectile dysfunction

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Viagra may cause a rare form of blindness - risk small with very few cases among 23 million users - first reports in 2005. Possible risk of blindness from non-arteritic ischaemic optic neuropathy. This is a rare condition in which blood supply is reduced to the optic nerve causing permanent nerve damage, and research workers at the University of Minnesota believe they have detected a cluster of cases of blindness from this cause in men who have taken Viagra. The US Food and Drug Administration has also identified 50 men with blindness who have taken Viagra, but who also had diabetes and heart disease. However these problems with blindness need to be seen in the context of 23 million users, most of which have experienced significant benefit to their sex lives, and the fact that blindness is a known risk in those with both diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Cialis may rival Viagra as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. The launch of Viagra, the world's first treatment for impotency was an instant success. Now, Lilly ICOS has tapped into the demand for Viagra with Cialis, Viagra's first direct competitor, and there is more to come. Cialis has key advantages over Viagra and could develop blockbuster status. Cialis is a joint venture between Eli Lilly and ICOS. Cialis is available on prescription in the UK, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Australia. Cialis has yet to be approved in the US. Viagra works for roughly four hours with an hour's delay. Cialis starts working faster than Viagra, sometimes in 16 minutes, and lasts 24 hours. In France, it has been dubbed 'Le Weekend' pill. Unlike Viagra, Cialis does not interact with with food or alcohol - Viagra is best taken on an empty stomach. Side effects of Cialis seem similar to Viagra eg headaches and indigestion. GlaxoSmithKline/Bayer's Levitra is expected to launch in 2003. Pfizer is trying to block US launches of Cialis and Levitra, but similar legal action in Europe failed. Various sources February 2003.
Viagra may be causing a small number of deaths in men with heart disease by causing platelets in the blood to stick together - clumping of platelets is important in causing heart attack and stroke. Viagra increases a compound in cells called cyclic guanosine monophosphate, or cGMP. Majority of deaths associated with the 50 mg Viagra dose. Viagra deaths seem to be due to cardiovascular causes, 66% within 4-5 hours of taking Viagra in men less than 65 years of age, and who had no reported cardiac risk factors - Viagra study by Dr. Xiaoping Du of the University of Illinois at Chicago - Cell Journal January 2003
Viagra does not damage sight - except rarely in those with damaged optic blood vessels. Viagra can change vision in some people - who see a blue tinge which wears off several hours after Viagra use. Viagra study by Dr Tim McCulley, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Irvine - Opthalmogica Journal January 2003
Two new drugs, Cialis and Levitra, may soon challenge Viagra. Cialis is approved in Europe, and lasts up to three times longer than Viagra, up to 36 hours. And Levitra works about twice as fast as Viagra, in 20 minutes. Both new drugs have fewer side effects than Viagra. January 2003

Cleveland Indy Media Center