Another Conflict Of Interest For Frist -- Forcing Windfall for Pharmaceutical Companies Through Senate...

Roll Call John Stanton December 15, 2005 at 04:45 PM
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AP/Tatan Syuflana

The plan by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to push through billions of dollars in new spending to prevent a possible avian influenza pandemic could result in a multibillion-dollar windfall for a handful of the nation's largest and most politically well-connected drug companies.
While there is wide agreement that the threat of avian flu is a serious medical concern that also has implications on the domestic and international economy, Congressional interest in the subject has been a boon for Washington, D.C., lobbyists and even for the financial portfolio of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld — as a stock holder and former CEO of Gilead Sciences Inc., the sole patent owner of Tamiflu, the antiviral drug now being stockpiled by the Defense Department and other agencies — stands to make millions of dollars if legislation is passed that allocates additional federal money to stockpile the anti-viral medications.

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