| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Tuttles Almanac" |
| Date: |
12 Mar 2006 08:21:16 AM |
| Object: |
Rumsfeld Reaps Over $5 Million in Tamiflu Stock Sale |
Donald Rumsfeld Makes $5m Killing on Bird Flu Drug
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article350787.ece
Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu.
The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m)
in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology
firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being
bought in massive amounts by Governments to treat a
possible human pandemic of the disease.
The drug was developed by a Californian biotech company,
Gilead Sciences. It is now made and sold by the giant
chemical company Roche, which pays it a royalty on every
tablet sold, currently about a fifth of its price.
Mr Rumsfeld was on the board of Gilead from 1988 to 2001,
and was its chairman from 1997. He then left to join the
Bush administration, but retained a huge shareholding .
More than 60 countries have so far ordered large stocks of
the antiviral medication - the only oral medicine believed
to be effective against the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease -
to try to protect their people. The United Nations estimates
that a pandemic could kill 150 million people worldwide.
Britain is about halfway through receiving an order of
14.6 million courses of the drug, which the Government
hopes will avert some of the 700,000 deaths that might
be expected. Tamiflu does not cure the disease, but if
taken soon after symptoms appear it can reduce its severity.
The firm made a loss in 2003, the year before concern
about bird flu started. Then revenues from Tamiflu almost
quadrupled, to $44.6m, helping put the company well into
the black. Sales almost quadrupled again, to $161.6m last year.
During this time the share price trebled.
Mr Rumsfeld sold some of his Gilead shares in 2004 reaping -
according to the financial disclosure report he is required
to make each year - capital gains of more than $5m.
The report showed that he still had up to $25m-worth of
shares at the end of 2004, and at least one analyst
believes his stake has grown well beyond that figure,
as the share price has soared. Further details are not
likely to become known, however, until Mr Rumsfeld makes
his next disclosure in May.
The 2005 report showed that, in all, he owned shares
worth up to $95.9m, from which he got an income of
up to $13m, owned land worth up to $17m, and made
$1m from renting it out.
He also had illiquid investments worth up to $8.1m,
including in partnerships investing in biotechnology,
issuing reproductions of paintings, and operating art
galleries in New Mexico and Wyoming. He also has
life insurance with a surrender value of up to $5m,
and received up to $1m from the DHR Foundation,
in which he has assets worth up to $25m, and $773,743
from the Donald H Rumsfeld Trust, in which he has assets
of up to $50m.
Late last week no one at Gilead Sciences was available
to comment on Mr Rumsfeld's sale of its stock. In a
statement to The Independent on Sunday the Pentagon said:
"Secretary Rumsfeld has no relationship with Gilead Sciences,
Inc beyond his investments in the company. When he
became Secretary of Defence in January 2001, divestiture
of his investment in Gilead was not required by the
Senate Armed Services Committee, the Office of Government Ethics
or the Department of Defence Standards of Conduct Office.
"Upon taking office, he recused himself from participating
in any particular matter when the matter would directly
and predictably affect his financial interest in Gilead Sciences."
______________________________________________________________
FDA Investigating Tamiflu Deaths in Children
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4447434.stm
Tamiflu Could Make Avian Flu Pandemic Worse
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361216
WHO sends Tamiflu to Iraq after bird flu confirmed
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03158369.htm
Thailand claims success in producing own Tamiflu
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/88912.asp
U.S. joins others in preparing for the worst as flu fears loom
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/06/news/flu.php
President George W. Bush was greeted with blunt skepticism a
month ago, when he first mentioned the H5N1 strain of avian
flu at a White House news conference and suggested he might
need new authority over the military to enforce quarantines.
Cynics suggested that he was reaching for greater presidential
powers, or trying to distract attention from Iraq and Hurricane Katrina.
Interview with Alexander M. Schmidt Commissioner of
Food and Drugs (1973 - 1976)
http://www.fda.gov/oc/history/oralhistories/schmidt/part4.html
The president, Gerry Ford, and Dave Sensor and I and Ted Cooper,
and then all of the great gods of virology were in the room and the
president was seeking their advice. Albert Sabin was there and
Jonas Salk was there. I kept my mouth shut at that meeting on purpose.
Dave Sensor carried the ball and laid this out and spelled out the horrors.
President Ford went around the room and asked everybody
around the room to speak up and give their advice. To a man,
everyone in the room, including Albert Sabin, said, "Yes, Mr. President,
there's a possibility, and you should have a massive immunization."
Everybody said it; it was unanimous. Now, the fact of the matter was
that when we walked out of the room, he walked into a press conference
and read a press release that had been written before the meeting.
So, in a way, it was a set-up.
.
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| User: "smitty" |
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| Title: Re: Rumsfeld Reaps Over $5 Million in Tamiflu Stock Sale |
12 Mar 2006 11:00:32 AM |
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Of course he reaped millions, he placed orders of boat loads of the stuff to
be given to the military. He was in a win win win win win situation. Lemme
see...you are in the position where you own stock in a company and you are
also in the position where you can buy the product (milions of dollars
worth) using someone elses money (government tax payers money) so yeah he is
going to make a killing. Sounds crooked as hell to me.
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| User: "SHb" |
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| Title: Re: Rumsfeld Reaps Over $5 Million in Tamiflu Stock Sale |
12 Mar 2006 10:47:57 AM |
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""""He was in a win win win win win situation. Lemme
see...you are in the position where you own stock in a company and you are
also in the position where you can buy the product (milions of dollars
worth) using someone elses money (government tax payers money) so yeah he is
going to make a killing. Sounds crooked as hell to me. """"
So Rumsfeld did this all alone, in secret, Using the Illegal tactic of the
stock market and intentionaly to enrich himself.
I see!
Looooooney Tuuunes Rule.
"smitty" <smit@smitt.com> wrote in message
news:1218dsqbgse1dc3@corp.supernews.com...
Of course he reaped millions, he placed orders of boat loads of the stuff
to be given to the military. He was in a win win win win win situation.
Lemme see...you are in the position where you own stock in a company and
you are also in the position where you can buy the product (milions of
dollars worth) using someone elses money (government tax payers money) so
yeah he is going to make a killing. Sounds crooked as hell to me.
.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Rumsfeld Reaps Over $5 Million in Tamiflu Stock Sale |
12 Mar 2006 08:30:57 AM |
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SO somebody made money off a great invention. Wow. That sure is
exciting news. Willie Brown made millions in secret deals where he got
stock from tech startups by using the power of his office.
The opposite of Rumsfeld, who was not in office during Tamiflu's rise.
So I guess you'll go post about how evil Willie Brown is, now, since he
used his influence to take money.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Rumsfeld Reaps Over $5 Million in Tamiflu Stock Sale |
12 Mar 2006 10:55:32 AM |
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wrote:
SO somebody made money off a great invention. Wow. That sure is
exciting news. Willie Brown made millions in secret deals where he got
stock from tech startups by using the power of his office.
The opposite of Rumsfeld, who was not in office during Tamiflu's rise.
So I guess you'll go post about how evil Willie Brown is, now, since he
used his influence to take money.
???
You make little sense... I don't think Willie Brown has/had anything to
do with Tamiflu or its alleged insider profiteering. If you do have
something specific or germane to say about both - do let us know. Else
quit wasting bandwidth.
In the interim I suggest that we discuss the 'great invention'
testimonial given by you regarding Tamiflu.
I have heard that Tamiflu has never been proven to be an effective
counter-agent to the much dreaded chicken flu anyway.
Why do you think that buying a potentially ineffective remedy for a
hypothetical malady might benefit anyone other than its salesmen?
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