A published reported says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made more than $5 million from Tamiflu, the drug being sought to treat bird flu.
More than 60 countries have ordered large stocks of the antiviral medication to treat a possible pandemic of the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease.
The London Independent said Rumsfeld made more than $5 million in capital gains in 2004 from selling shares in the Gilead Sciences, the California biotechnology company that developed the drug. Tamiflu is now made and sold by Roche, which pays Gilead a royalty on every tablet sold.
Rumsfeld was on the board of Gilead from 1988 to 2001, and was its chairman from 1997. He left to join the Bush administration, the newspaper said. A disclosure report showed that he still had up to $25 million worth of shares at the end of 2004.
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."
Insiders' view: Kerching! He didn't catch a cold, did he!
2 comments:
Hmmm... I'd be smiling too!
I'd be pretending to have the flu. then no one would suspect anything.
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