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November 03, 2005
Rummy's Bird Flu Bonanza
In case you missed it elsewhere, you may want to know that Donald Rumsfeld stands to make millions of dollars thanks to Bush administration policy regarding the latest scare -- the prospect of an avian flu pandemic.
"The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe," writes Nelson D. Schwartz of Fortune magazine 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 was on Gilead's board of directors from 1988 until he became secretary of defense in 2001, serving as chairman for the last four of those years. He still holds between $5 million and $25 million in company stocks and bonds, according to federal financial disclosures.
"In my years with Gilead, I have witnessed the evolution of one of the industry's premier biotechnology companies," Mr. Rumsfeld said in 1997 when he was named chairman.
Gilead does not currently manufacture Tamiflu, but has licensed the same out to Swiss pharma giant Roche, in exchange for about 10 percent of all sales.
Mufucka Gettin' Paid
The increasing buzz and worldwide fear of a bird-flue pandemic has led to unprecedented orders for Tamiflu in the past six months, increasing Gilead's stock value from $35 to $47 per share. That, Fortune magazine reckons, has rocketed Rumsfeld's already astronomical wealth by at least $1 million already. Last July, the Pentagon itself (Oh snap!) ordered $58 million worth of Tamiflu, according to the article.
On Tuesday, Bush requested $7.1 billion from Congress to address a potentially catastrophic (at least, so they say, who knows?) flu outbreak in the United States, at least $1.2 billion of those funds would go directly to toward Tamiflu production.
"Our goals in seeking this funding are to be able to produce a course of pandemic influenza vaccine for every American within six months of an outbreak," Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt (search) told the Senate Appropriations Committee.
First Halliburton, Now This
"It's all about guns and drugs and oil," said Air America radio's Marc Maron Wednesday, "but drugs is the one we talk the least about, but there are some heavy hitters -- people within [Bush's] Cabinet right now, making a fortune over the potential of millions of people getting sick...That's no surprise obviously."
"Who else has the Tamiflu action? Former Secretary of State [under the elder Bush] George Shultz. He's on the board [of Roche]. Coincidence? How ya feelin'? I'm feeling a little 'floolish.' A little bit. Maybe I need some Tamiflu. Who gets the pay? Rumsfeld Why is it that all these guys are in these businesses?...Doesn't it give you the creeps?...My God, I'm telling you this entire government... is just a money laundering operation, folks. That's all it is. It's a money laundering operation making these guys richer."
Indeed. See last month's post on Dick Cheney's Halliburton wealth.
Posted by MJuhre at November 3, 2005 11:45 AM