Guest guest Posted December 27, 2005 Report Share Posted December 27, 2005 Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu Defense Secretary, ex-chairman of flu treatment rights holder, sees portfolio value growing. October 31, 2005: 10:55 AM EST By D. Schwartz, Fortune senior writer ____________________________________ 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 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_ (http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?shownav=true & symb=GILD) (_Research_ (http://cnnfn.investor.reuters.com/Reports.aspx?ticker=GILD) )'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 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 . " I don't know of any biotech company that's so politically well-connected, " says analyst Mc 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. 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. -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 LiveSimply <quackadillian@...> wrote: From what I have heard, there is no 'flu shot' for bird flu I felt a couple of misconceptions posted here needed to be clarified. there is no bird flu " shot " but there is something named Tamiflu being manufactured to use in case of the bird flu. Some are stocking up on Tamiflu now creating a shortage. However, no studies have ever shown that Tamiflu will work on bird flu. I had never heard of Tamiflu until the bird flu scare was started. I think about half of the few asians who have caught the bird flu, have died. One recently was a 13 yr old girl. As always, people with weaken or not fully developed immune systems would more likely die from any flu. am I the only one who has noticed in the scrawl space on CNN and Fox News that less than 100 total people in all of Asia has caught the bird flu since 2002??? The whole scare scenario is based upon the virus mutating to where it can readily be passed from birds to humans and then from human to human. I once read a booked based upon HIV mutating to where it could be passed from one human to another just by sneezing, shaking hands and such. I think that it is possible for any virus which is mutating to stop from being killed, whether it be the bird flu or HIV. I would rather take my chances with the bird flu though than getting HIV. I am very negative when it comes to politics. Bush did not start playing up the bird fly until he was under heat from congress and many people to pull the troops out. I do not know this to be his reason but many a politician has come up with something to divert the publics attention away from them and toward a pending disaster. I know that Karl Rove, his political advisor, has been great at spinning stories to make him man look good while making his opponent look bad. Maybe this is for real but why the concern all of a sudden about a virus mutating? this has been the same with several viruses for years. Bob --------------------------------- DSL Something to write home about. Just $16.99/mo. or less Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 Flu viruses are made of a kind of virus that mutates all of the time. That is why they have a new flu shot every year. The threat of an avian flu pandemic within the next few years is very real. I am probably one of the most skeptical people you might ever meet on governmental fearmongering, but in this case, people do need to be concerned. Ask your doctor. They can explain this to you. In particular, we need to ensure that we take good care of our health, especially our lungs, because when people get bird flu, more than three quarters of them die. You should be very happy that less than 100 have gotten this, because once flu epidemics start, they spread faster than wild fire. What happens with the flu? Your lungs fill with fluid, and then, sometimes with blood, and to fight that successfully, you need to be VERY strong. Dieing in your own sputum is a very unpleasant way to die. Do a search on " 1918 flu epidemic " to read more. Whole towns lost so many people they were abandoned for years, sometimes whole families died.. Within days of one another.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/ and many other websites.. they explain it very well.. It was like the plague.. seriously.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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