Drug firms feel sick over Moore attention

[Tinoire]

Drug firms feel sick over Moore attention
By Elaine Dutka

Los Angeles Times

America's pharmaceutical industry is putting out an advisory about the latest potential threat to its health: Michael Moore.

Moore, the filmmaker whose targets have included General Motors ("Roger & Me"), the gun lobby (the Oscar-winning "Bowling for Columbine") and President Bush ("Fahrenheit 9/11"), has now set his sights on the health-care industry, including insurance companies, HMOs, the Food and Drug Administration -- and drug companies.

At least six of the nation's largest companies have issued notices to their work forces, preparing them for potential ambushes.

"We ran a story in our online newspaper saying Moore is embarking on a documentary -- and if you see a scruffy guy in a baseball cap, you'll know who it is," said Stephen Lederer, a spokesman for Pfizer Global Research and Development.

(snip)

Moore's project is only the latest bit of bad news for the industry. Popular -- and lucrative -- drugs such as Vioxx, Celebrex and Aleve have been linked to cardiovascular problems, and the possibility of lawsuits is looming. Canada is undercutting U.S. drug prices, and health budgets are being slashed. There's also increased scrutiny by the FDA, whose oversight of the drug industry and its relationship to it is raising many questions.

(snip)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002128281_moore23.html

[Arkana]

1. And God said, "Let there be light!"

And He created Michael Moore to bring the truth to the people.

[number6]

2. go-Mike

:smoke:

[stepnw1f]

3. I Love It!

Thanks bro.

[Goldeneye]

4. When Moore came to my campus on his slackers uprising tour.

He was talking about the new documentary and he told us about a warning that pharmaceutical companies were giving their employees. Something along the lines of, "Micheal Moore is making a documentry about us. If you see him run away first. Then find a phone and call this number." MM had the "alert" number and the audience requested that he give it to them. Everyone with a cell phone was calling the hotline, and if I remember correctly, someone got through and told them "Michael Moore is in the building." It was amazing...

[Tinoire]

8. LMAO!!!! Rumsfeld's favorite pharmaceutical company

Rumsfeld's Co. Gilead Sciences has nearly quadrupled its profits since Rummy entered the Bush Administration. How? By selling false hope to AIDS patients in poor countries, selling bogus smallpox treatments to the US government, and taking millions from Bill Gates to test HIV drugs on poor people in Cambodia, Africa, and India. And that is probably just the tip of the dirty iceberg.

This article also includes info on DynPort and BioPort. DynPort has scooped up huge anti-bioterror contracts from Bush - even though they have been proven incompetent, even though they are part of Dyncorps, which, in Bosnia, was exposed as running a white slave trade ring. Sound too awful to be true. I wish!!

http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/5766/index.php

Want to guess how many shares of GILD Rummy holds?

===

GILEAD SCIENCES, INC.: Rumsfeld's Old Company Reaps Benefits of Friends in High Places

From 1997 to 2001, Donald Rumsfeld was chairman of Gilead Sciences Inc., a biopharmaceutical firm in Foster City, Calif. He has also served as a director for Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and has millions of dollars worth of stock in both Amylin and Gilead, including some 68,200 vested shares in Gilead worth from $1 million to $5 million. Gilead certainly appears to have benefited from having a good friend in a very high place. Since 2001, Gilead sciences revenues have nearly quadrupled (they more than tripled in 2002 alone). How did they do it?


Although we may never find out what and how many strings were pulled, a few strings are dangling out in the open. For one thing, Gilead has scooped up a great big fat chunk of pork through Project Bioshield (see section on smallpox vaccine below). For example,
Bill Gates, who owes the Bush administration big time for getting him out of this anti-trust case with barely a slap on the wrist (relative to what should have been the penalty) has given over $6 million to Gilead Sciences to fund trials of an experimental use of the antiviral HIV drug Viread. These trials are being conducted on poor people in Cambodia, India, and several African nations.

(snip)
In any case, rhere is no doubt that Gilead Sciences has ties to the US government, to the Pentagon in particular. Rumsfeld was replaced at Gilead by Cordell W. Hull, who is now also chairman of the company's Audit Committee. Hull also serves as a director of Bechtel Group, Inc., Bechtel Enterprises and the Fremont Group.

http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/86537/index.php

Schultz also sits at the direction of Gilead Science, the giant of the pharmacy whose Donald Rusmfeld was the chairman until his return to the government. This firm has just obtained important public markets within the framework of the prevention of the chemical and biological attacks. Indeed, Rumsfeld succeeded in convincing its public opinion that the mode of Saddam Hussein would still hold some weapons of massive destruction that it to him had sold itself during the Iran-Iraq war and that Baghdad would plan to use them against the people states-unien. During last years, Gilead Science drew most of its benefit from antiviral which it produces to treat the AIDS. The high price of these treatments not allowing their diffusion in the Third World, several States tried to manufacture some except licence. They were condemned by OMC. In 1998, the antiviral identical ones
were manufactured except licence by a usin E pirate with Al-Shifa (Sudan). At the request of Rumsfeld and Schultz, Bill Clinton showed the Al-Shifa center to be a cover for the manufacture of weapons of massive destruction by Al Qaïda and made it bombard. Various international investigations showed later on that these charges were without bases.

http://usgohome.free.fr/actualite/guerre_english.htm

=======
CHIMERIX ANNOUNCES LICENSING DEAL WITH GILEAD SCIENCES

- Chimerix Obtains Rights to Cidofovir for Development of an Oral Drug to Treat Smallpox Infections -

San Diego, CA - September 12, 2003 - Chimerix Inc., an emerging biotechnology company developing orally available, targeted medicines from bioactive molecules, today announced that it has licensed rights from Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) to develop oral derivatives of Gilead's proprietary antiviral compound cidofovir, intended for the prevention or treatment of smallpox infections. Chimerix's initial focus will be to continue the development of its oral smallpox drug, CMX001, which is a chemically modified derivative of cidofovir, derived by incorporating Chimerix proprietary chemistry to enhance intracellular uptake and oral delivery.

The license permits Chimerix to sell CMX001 to governments anywhere in the world. The license also includes the rights to develop and sell oral derivatives of cidofovir for treatment of infections caused by related viruses such as vaccinia virus (the virus used for smallpox vaccinations) and monkeypox virus (a smallpox-related virus found in animals, which can be passed on to humans). Chimerix will pay Gilead royalties based on a percentage of net sales to governments. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Cidofovir is an antiviral medication currently approved for the treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in AIDS patients. Marketed under the brand name Vistide®, Gilead's drug was cleared for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1996 and by European regulators in 1997. Cidofovir is administered by intravenous infusion. Using proprietary technology, Chimerix is able to modify cidofovir (the parent compound), to yield a potent, orally available drug that has the potential to treat smallpox infections, or complications of smallpox vaccination. Chimerix was recently awarded a $36.1M grant from U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, to support development for its drug, CMX001, as a treatment for smallpox. The Bioterrorism Act of 2002 authorizes government spending for the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile.

(snip)
http://www.chimerix-inc.com/news_091203.htm

====

Riordan ceded his position as company president to Martin in 1996, and eventually left the board of directors, which had a stunning lineup of his recruits, including Donald Rumsfeld, who later left Gilead to become President Bush's secretary of Defense. Through Rumsfeld and his connections in the Republican elite, the Gilead board also landed former Secretary of State George Schultz. Also serving on the board are Nobel Prize winner and Stanford Professor Paul Berg and Intel co-founder and chairman emeritus Gordon Moore.

(snip)

Gilead's products and pipeline

Marketed products: ----- Therapeutic area: ----- 2002 revenues:

Viread --------------------- HIV/AIDS -------------- $226 million

AmBisome --------------- Fungal infection ------ $202 million

Hepsera ---------------- Chronic hepatitis B ---- $6 million

Tamiflu ------------------- Influenza A & B -------- $4 million

Vistide ---------------- CMV retinitis/AIDS ------ $4 million

DaunoXome -------------- Kaposi's sarcoma -------- $3 million


Experimental drugs: ---- Therapeutic area: ---- Clinical trials phase:

Emtricitabine ------------- HIV/AIDS ------------- Submitted for approval

Chronic hepatitis B ------- Phase III

Amdoxovir -------------- HIV/AIDS ------------- Phase I/II

Tenofovir topical gel -- HIV/AIDS ------------- Phase I/II

Clevudine -------------- Chronic hepatitis B -- Phase I/II

GS 7340 ---------------- HIV/AIDS ------------- Phase I/II

http://www.aegis.com/news/sc/2003/SC030405.html

[jdots]

10. outstanding info thank you

If anyone knows this,it's you.......A malaria drug i believe called
malarium is being given to our troops in Iraq,do you know about it's side effects and who makes it ?

[Tinoire]

14. Lariam is what I think you're thinking of

Lariam® (mefloquine hydrochloride) / Roche Pharmaceuticals

www.lariam.com

Here you go:

06/02/04 - Concerns Grow About Lariam's Side Effects
AP - ERICA WERNER

In the past six weeks, Dr. Michael Hoffer has treated nine service members who returned from Iraq or Afghanistan unable to walk a straight line without staggering. Some said objects appeared to spin around them for more than an hour at a time.

(snip)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., released letters Wednesday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi urging that the Pentagon implement a program to allow soldiers to report side effects from Lariam and be evaluated, diagnosed and treated without fear of reprisal.

(snip)

The drug's FDA label says Lariam can cause some rare but potentially serious psychiatric side effects, ranging from anxiety to hallucinations, depression and psychotic behavior. People with active or recent depression, a history of other psychiatric disorders or epilepsy are warned not to take the drug.

(snip)

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/27-06022004-310428.html

==

Health-care professionals warned of Lariam suicide risk

Roche will be sending out notices to doctors and health-care professionals with information that a small number of people have committed suicide after taking its anti-malaria drug, Lariam.

In July, Roche changed the drug's product information to acknowledge that "rare cases of suicidal ideation and suicide have been reported." Now the company is sending out thousands of written notices to health-care providers in the United States.

Recent questions have been raised about Lariam after army investigators announced that they would examine whether there was a link between the drug and a series of murder/suicides this summer at Fort Bragg, an army base in North Carolina. Although no link has yet to be uncovered, the company, after discussions with the FDA, decided to update the drug label to reflect a slight risk of suicide.

(snip)

http://www.pharmacist.com/articles/h_ts_0097.cfm


===

Suicides Have Been Documented

Between 1997 and 2001, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) documented 11 suicides and 12 suicide attempts associated with Lariam. In one year, the FDA received approximately 600 reports of adverse events in persons taking Lariam, half of them including psychiatric side effects.

Some Victims' Stories

America tourist Jane Daehler spent a month in a psychiatric hospital, in and out of psychosis, with terrifying Lariam-induced hallucinations: "They were just horrific. I thought that people were trying to kill me all the time. I thought that my family was going to be killed," she says.
http://www.classactionamerica.com/Current-Cases/lariam-suicide.asp

==

(CBS) Last summer, four soldiers from Ft. Bragg were accused of killing their wives. Two of the men committed suicide, and the other two await trial. So many brutal crimes, so similar, so close in time – raised questions, and the army sent a team to investigate.

One possible suspect was mefloquine - brand name Lariam, an anti-malarial drug. It was invented by the U.S. Army and is routinely given to soldiers deployed overseas. In scientific terms, Lariam can cause neuropsychiatric adverse events. In plain language, it can make lose your mind. No one questions Lariam’s effectiveness in preventing the deadly disease of malaria. Millions of tourists and other world travelers have taken it with no problem.

But a significant number of people have seen and felt first hand its devastating side effects. Vicki Mabrey reports.

It was supposed to be a dream vacation, a safari to Kenya a year and a half ago for Dr. Robert Daehler and his wife Jane, seen here on home video. What you won’t you see is how, deep in the African bush, she suddenly transformed before his eyes.

“She just became completely psychotic in the van,” says Bob. “(She) started taking her clothes off and she had called people back from the dead. And they had a doctor at this lodge that came into the van. And she looked at Jane and she said, ‘Did she take Lariam?’ She said she had seen this in many Americans.”

So had three other doctors in Africa, who confirmed the diagnosis. Jane Daehler was flown home, strapped to her seat with a bedsheet. At home, she spent a month in a psychiatric hospital, in and out of psychosis, with terrifying hallucinations. At the U.S. hospital, she was diagnosed with Lariam-induced psychosis.

"They were just horrific. I thought that people were trying to kill me all the time. I thought that my family was going to be killed,” says Jane.

According to its own internal documents, Roche pharmaceuticals, Lariam’s maker, has received over 3,000 reports of psychiatric problems associated with the drug, from nightmares, depression and hallucinations to paranoia, psychosis and aggression.

But could Lariam lead to something worse? That was the question raised last summer when Master Sgt. William Wright and three other Ft. Bragg soldiers were accused of killing their wives, all within a period of just under six weeks. Wright and another soldier were given Lariam, and Wright is considering using that as part of his defense. One of his fellow Green Berets thinks Lariam did play a role. John Lown, now an ordained minister, visits Wright in jail every week.

(snip)


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/27/60II/main538144.shtml

There are more stories gathered here: http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/6913/lariam.htm
& you can read/learn more about it here: http://www.lariaminfo.org/

[babylonsister]

13. Tell us more about your campus!

Was Michael rocking and rolling for Kerry prior to 11/2 (his Slackers Uprising tour) and did Michael aid in that in any way, was everyone stirred up? Dems vs. repugs? What was your take pre-11/2? I'm serious; was his slacker tour geared towards voting or MM's next endeavor? ?

[babylonsister]

5. Good target, MM.

I am not done with the election of 2004, but while I don't agree that our election is done/just, you are getting much attention for this new "drug interdiction". Whatever you do and have done, please know that I think you are a true patriot.
Ru

[gatorboy]

6. Considering they are on high Moore alert,

I think it's time he changed his appearance a bit for this one. Clean up, and hit'em while they're looking for the guy in the baseball hat.
If that's possible considering he's a pretty popular fellow these days...

[ashling]

9. He was on Leno recently

at least I think it was Leno ... I am becoming absent minded at an early age ... (also, I am becoming absent minded at an early age)

anyway, he had a haircut, was clean shaven, and was in a suit.

[gatorboy]

11. No shit?? I'd like to see that!

n/t

[lovuian]

7. Its ripping off sick people!!! A tale to be told!!!

:bounce:

[babylonsister]

12. Amen! Who cares what

he (Michael Moore) looks like or wears? For crying out loud, WHAT IS IMPORTANT???
Edit: His next film might expose the drug industry. That's the chat.

[Winamericaback]

15. Iams..

Nothing to do with your original post, just the Iams thing. I e-mailed them and I will call on Monday. I have 3 purebreed cats and I know many people who show in the CFA and my MIL knows some higher ups at Iams (She runs our local cat show) and well I'm going to be demandin answers. If they ignore me then they have the potential to loose hundreds of thousands of dollars. I come in contact with people that love their cats above all else every day and this would absolutly horrify them. The CFA is an organization of about 20,000 pet owners.. thats a LARGE loss...Thank you for the heads up.

Until I get answers I am switching to Science Diet... you wouldn't happen to know anything about them would you? *sigh*

[Tinoire]

16. Thank you Winamericaback!

Thank you re Iams but sadly... Science Diet was also testing on animals :( I just looked for you and apparently they 'had' declared a moratorium on it but that's very difficult to verify without getting inside. They refused to pledge that they wouldn't do it. Their parent company, Colgate-Palmolive does a lot of it too.
Peta has a list but for some reason I had a hard time getting to it through my normal site: http://www.penmarric.ns.ca/catcare/usefulinfo/animaltest.htm

I did find another here for you: http://pw2.netcom.com/~axleplus/stuff/hotstuff/company.html

You're the third person in four days who's made a direct comment about switching. THANK YOU! :hug: to you and your kitties!

I've been feeding my cats Dick Van Patten's brand Natural Balance for the last year and they love it! Check out the ingredients: http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/ They'll make you smile :)

On edit: Here's a site that's all about the Iams boycott if you need more info. http://www.uncaged.co.uk/iams.htm
Good luck to you and let me know if you need help!

On second edit: Iams is still listed as a brand to boycott on this site: http://www.uncaged.co.uk/petfood.htm which I've found very reliable and conscientious.

As mentioned above, the main culprits for cruel and unethical animal testing are the major international 'pet' food businesses.

IAMS / Eukanuba owned by Procter & Gamble
Hills Science Diet owned by Colgate Palmolive

Peace to you

[Moderator]

17. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1091606