Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Rumsfeld has stake in Bird Flu treatment
Weak. Incredibly weak. Thanks to Dave for pointing this one out.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 Nelson 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 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.
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That is a great f***in' find.
Gonna steal it, but I'll link back to you.
By the way, if you get a chance, I'm trying to broaden my reading list a little. If you've got any good sites to recommend to my daily reading list, you're already on it right now, drop them in the comments over at my blog on this post.
http://bornatthecrestoftheempire.blogspot.com/2005/11/just-wondering-about-other-sites-and.html
Thanks, Mike
Hey, no problem, I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I'll let you know if I have any sites when I get the chance.
oh Buddha, first Halliburton and now this. I guess when Bush was talking about building and protecting the industry...this is what he meant.