Rumsfeld & Gilead,
Cheney & Halliburton
Bush & OIL

Facts: Since 2003, bird (avian) flu has killed birds in more than 20 
countries and infected at least 166 people, killing 88 of them, mostly in 
Asia and Turkey.
A different type of virus causes the seasonal or common flu. About 30 
million Americans get the common flu every year. It kills 36,000 victims a 
year.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?
set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=vn20060312085858943C933400

Rumsfeld makes bird flu killing 
By Geaffrey Lean and Jonatghan Owen

Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US defence 
secretary has made more than $5-million 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.

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 its 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.

Drug now made and sold by the giant chemical company Roche 
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.

Rumsfeld was on the board of Gilead from 1988 to 2001, and was its chairman 
from 1997. He then left to join the Bush government, but retained a huge 
shareholding .

The firm made a loss in 2003, the year before concern about bird flu 
started. Then revenues from Tamiflu almost quadrupled, to $44,6-million, 
helping put the company well into the black. Sales almost quadrupled again, 
to $161,6-million last year. During this time the share price trebled.

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 $5-million. 

The report showed that he still had up to $25-million-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 Rumsfeld 
makes his next disclosure in May.

The 2005 report showed that, in all, he owned shares worth up to $95,9-
million, from which he got an income of up to $13-million, owned land worth 
up to $17-million, and made $1-million from renting it out.

Late last week no one at Gilead Sciences was available to comment on 
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." - The Independent
 

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