Obama awards $433 million no-bid contract for questionable small pox drug to...

[Locutus]

...a top donor.



A company controlled by a longtime political donor gets a no-bid contract to supply an experimental remedy for a threat that may not exist.



Reporting from Washington—
Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work.

Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world's richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.


more status quo politics here:

$443 million for a smallpox drug some experts say we don't need - latimes.com

 

[Just the Facts]

No surprise. That's why he was so adament about raising the debt ceiling....he's got payments to make.

 

[damngrumpy]

The fuss over no bid contracts comes up all the time and both sides use it when there
is no law against it. In fact in this case there is a company that has a new vaccine and
if that is the case bids would be useless because no one else has it. Believe me if there
were others they would have the word out that is how the medical drug system works.
Yes I think it is needed, small pox and other serious childhood illnesses are coming back
because we have a strange group of people in America who don't believe in protecting
their children because the are suspicious of government, religion, the environmentalists
and their opponents. There are those in America who believe everything is a giant and
sinister conspiracy. No one has been to the moon, JFK was killed by God knows who
and Elvis works at McDonald's.
All these conspiracies and griping over vaccines and looking after the welfare of our kids
by saying they don't need to be protected from childhood illness. If we leave this and let
the problem get out of control, wait till they pay for the damage caused by Polio and
small pox and a host of others.
Obama is doing the right thing here its better safe than sorry. There group trying to destroy
Obama would do so much damage to the world if they ever got power we can only pray
that cooler heads prevail. Imagine these special interests of big oil, big brokerage firms,
big banks, Trans National Corporations, and the Churches, running the nation for the good
of all. Well remember the Bush years? That is how we got to where we are and some want
to go back there with a group of crazy people. How Crazy you ask? Most of them are so
nuts the make Sarah Palin look sane and mainstream, and believe me that is scary.
The drug is needed, its new that means there won't be as much resistance when it comes
to small pox, the disease cells I am talking about. Face it the press release people keep
churning the stuff out that makes no sense or is not against the law but they print it anyway.

 

[Highball]

Its only money. Then can print more if they need it. Right? The give-a-way programs are already out of funds. Where doe the money come from?

 

[Tonington]

The drug is anti-viral, not just for small pox...for a range of pox viruses. That's useful to have. The uncertainty about what might happen in the future is why broad spectrum drugs are exactly what you want to have stock piled. Oops, this bioterrorism agent uses a different pathway....damnit!

Though maybe some defense hawks will now see the need to prune wasteful spending on Defense...does measures to prevent bio-terrorism count I wonder?

And as for the security of samples of this virus, let's not forget that Craig Venter published results showing that synthetic life can be produced. The genome information is available to make disease vectors based on pox viruses, including small pox.

 

[taxslave]

The drug is anti-viral, not just for small pox...for a range of pox viruses. That's useful to have. The uncertainty about what might happen in the future is why broad spectrum drugs are exactly what you want to have stock piled. Oops, this bioterrorism agent uses a different pathway....damnit!

Though maybe some defense hawks will now see the need to prune wasteful spending on Defense...does measures to prevent bio-terrorism count I wonder?

And as for the security of samples of this virus, let's not forget that Craig Venter published results showing that synthetic life can be produced. The genome information is available to make disease vectors based on pox viruses, including small pox.

Does that mean that Big Pharma has the capability to invent a disease so that they can sell us an antidote?

 

[Tonington]

Does that mean that Big Pharma has the capability to invent a disease so that they can sell us an antidote?

Yes. Though to be sure it's not easy. The movies make it look easy enough. But in reality, it's unlikely for many practical reasons to be a pharmaceutical corporation.

 

[taxslave]

Yes. Though to be sure it's not easy. The movies make it look easy enough. But in reality, it's unlikely for many practical reasons to be a pharmaceutical corporation.

I figured it would not be all that simple. Just wanted to make sure I understood what you were trying to say.

 

[Tonington]

I figured it would not be all that simple. Just wanted to make sure I understood what you were trying to say.

The movies make it look so easy! :lol: It would have happened by now if it was actually that simple.

 

[petros]

Who owns small pox? The company that got the contract? Shekels to bagels says they got the contract because they own the virus.