Grand jury investigating Chiron's flu vaccine failure

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/10/12/financial1531EDT0204.DTL&type=printable

A federal grand jury is investigating Chiron Corp.'s failure to supply the nation with half the needed flu vaccine this year, the company said Tuesday in a regulatory filing.

The Emeryville-based company said it received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney in New York, the same office that recently prosecuted Martha Stewart and former star investment banker Frank Quattrone in unrelated financial scandals.

The subpoena demanded documents and other information related to British regulators prohibiting Chiron from shipping about 48 million Fluvirin vaccine shots from its Liverpool plant because of contamination concerns, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Officials with Chiron and the U.S. Attorney's office declined comment.

In its filing, the company said it would cooperate with the investigation.

[Owlet]

1. They ought to consider criminal charges..

..like manslaughter. The flu kills 36,000 Americans a year in those years when there is an adequate supply of vaccine. With less than half the required amount of doses it's pretty apparent that more will die.

[3113]

2. Conspiracy theory

What better way to ease the drain on social security and medicare than to eliminate thousands of the non-productive who draw from them. God, I'm so senical.

[oneighty]

4. Not to mention

aging retired military. Such as me.

180

[Algomas]

3. Is the CEO of Chiron connected to Bu$h?

[Eloriel]

7. That's the FIRST thing I thought of when I first heard this news

i.e.: where's the Bush connection, and why did this go wrong?

OR, if Chiron is clean, what Bush-connected pharmaceutical stands to gain from this?

I want to know more about exactly what the "contamination" was.

[napi21]

5. I doubt there's a conspiracy here.

I used to work for a "pill Co". Lots of things can cantaminate the batch. It's never intentional, but it happens. Most of the time, ot's a loss to the Co because you have to throw out the whole batch, that's it, it's over and done. In this case, the repercussions were far more severe, but I really don't think there's a smoking gun to find here.

[3113]

8. You're probably right, but...

You are probably right, but any conspiracy required deniability, and your legitimate argument falls right in line. Hmmm

[lovuian]

6. wasn't Cheron the ferryman for the River Styx

hoq appropriate!!!