Cheney Blames Flu Crisis on Lawsuit Worries

[wicket]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=696&e=3&u=/ap/20041018/ap_on_el_pr/cheney

"Given John Edwards' background and John Kerry's voting record, there is not going to be serious medical liability reform as long as the two of them are in business," Cheney said at a campaign stop at a West Virginia restaurant.

During a discussion with local residents, Cheney was questioned by a physician about the limited supply of the flu vaccine. Nationwide, people have lined up at pharmacies and supermarkets for the vaccine since Chiron Corp., which usually provides half the nation's supply, announced it will not supply any this season because of problems at its plant in Britain.

"It's a combination of the economics of the business. They produced millions of doses, but if people don't take it, they have to throw it out," Cheney said. "The other problem is liability concerns."

The vice president also pointed out that manufacturing the flu vaccine has not been a money-maker for drug companies. "The problem we have run into, producing vaccine is not a very profitable business," he said.

------------------------------------------------------

More of the same :eyes:

[yardwork]

1. I've stopped being surprised or outraged by cheney's asshole comments

[saigon68]

28. Surprised he didn't blame Clinton

He is a filthy dirty little man who covets only power and money.

I believe he has sold his soul to the devil.

[yardwork]

54. The blamed Clinton yesterday - said it was the fault of "previous admins"

[CAcyclist]

62. Unprecedented Vaccine Shortages for last 4 years

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041017/news_1n17flu.html



In recent years, there have been many significant vaccine-supply
disruptions. Between November 2000 and May 2003, there were
shortages of eight of the 11 vaccines for childhood diseases in the United States, including those for tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles,mumps and chickenpox. There have been flu vaccine shortages or
miscues for four consecutive years.
<snip>

Who was President for the last 4 years?

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Here was I thinking it had something to do with a contamination

problem at the lab.

[wicket]

5. The lab technicians were worried about being sued...

....and that's what made them screw up and contaminate the vaccine. Yeah, that's the ticket ;)

[Xipe Totec]

10. Yes it was fear of liability that did it

The company got worried that if they sold contaminated flu vaccines and killed off only half the population the survivors would somehow find the strength to drag their rotting carcasses to John Edward's law office and sue.

[grytpype]

17. heh heh...

[CAcyclist]

49. More on this factory's history

The history on this factory goes way back This is the factory that Chiron acquired when they bought Powderject in 2003.http://www.iht.com/articles/542541.html
"It's an old facility that was sold by Glaxo to Medeva, who spent some money on it, though probably not in the right spot, then to Celltech, who didn't give a toss,"
said one British pharmaceutical executive.
.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,386177,00.html

Martin Bright and Antony Barnett
Sunday October 22, 2000
The Observer

The drug factory at the centre of the polio vaccine scandal has a history of contamination and production blunders, leading to fears that its vaccines against other diseases are unsafe.

<snip>
The lives of thousands of old people and children have been put at risk by drug shortages caused by a catalogue of problems that have plagued the Medeva vaccines plant on Merseyside. <snip>

Last year, investigators from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were horrified by the conditions they found at the plant in Speke, near Liverpool, which also makes vaccines against flu, tuberculosis, tetanus and Hepatitis B.
<snip>
. A week-long inspection by the FDA last summer into the production of the flu vaccine Fluvirin at the plant found Medeva had failed to:

• 'clean, maintain and sanitise equipment at appropriate intervals to
prevent malfunction or contamination';

• maintain systems to prevent unacceptable levels of toxins and
bacteria contaminating the production process;

• ensure batches of vaccines 'conformed with all established
standards, specifications and characteristics'; and

• prove that vaccines on doctors' shelves would be free from
'bacteria and fungi'.

<snip>

The FDA letter, seen by The Observer , contains the disclosure that
instead of dealing with the problems, managers at the plant wanted to
raise the level of contamination deemed to be acceptable.

<snip>
The troubled Speke plant has changed hands twice over the past year.
When the problems were first identified by the FDA, it was owned by
Medeva Pharma, which was bought by Celltech in January. Just last
month, the vaccine business was sold on to Oxford-based Powderject and
is now called Evans Vaccines.
<snip>
The FDA confirmed that it had not reinspected the plant since its October warning letter, but was satisfied that problems were now being dealt with. It has authorised the import of the flu vaccine this year.

A spokeswoman said: 'The FDA would not allow this vaccine to enter this country if it was not safe.'

******************************************************************



http://www.whale.to/v/bse7.html
Mad Cow Danger In Polio Vaccine

BY ANTHONY BEVINS
POLITICAL EDITOR (21 Oct 2000)
http://www.express.co.uk/00/10/21/news/n0100splash.shtml

A polIo vaccine given to seven million people was recalled on Friday because of a feared link with mad cow disease.

The Department of Health desperately played down the risk that patients - most of them children - could have been infected since 1990 with CJD, the
deadly human version of BSE.<snip>But it was alleged yesterday that the suspect vaccine had been sourced back to calf serum taken from a UK herd in 1986 - when BSE was first officially
confirmed. Between 1989 and 1991, the vaccine was made by GlaxoWellcome, the pharmaceuticals giant. It wrote to the Medicines Control Agency in
February 1989 saying it had switched to a non-UK source for bovine material.
<snip>
A Health Department spokesman said last night: "We clearly want to know why the company made inaccurate statements to the MCA."

The vaccine process was bought out by an unsuspecting purchaser, Medeva, in 1991. Until the start of this month Medeva was owned by a company
called Celltech. It was Celltech who tracked the suspect source of the vaccine by sifting through GlaxoWellcome archives.

A Glaxo spokesman said he did not know what assurances, if any, had been given to Medeva. The latest CJD death toll is 77 and another seven people
are believed to be dying from the disease.















Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

[auburngrad82]

25. Yeah but if they weren't afraid of being sued they could have released it

People probably would have died but thems the breaks, right?

[Hawkeye-X]

3. Well, how about this.

I'll blame YOU instead.

[MrMonk]

9. Is that a picture of Lou Costello?

[TaleWgnDg]

27. perhaps, you'd enjoy this Ann Telnaes editorial cartoon . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia refuses to recuse himself from the bench re Veep Cheney (shared duck hunting trip, airplane ride gratuity, sleeping, eating accommodations)

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. producing vaccine is not a very profitable business

I guess that about sums it up. Unless they make it profitable enough the guys that make the decisions aren't going to budge. I wonder if john q public will notice the implications of this.

[ldf]

47. yeah, they make billions and billions already

off all the other drugs that treat symptoms, not curing us (that wouldn't be prudent), gouging the american public for their outrageously high profit margin, yet they don't care enough about that same public to make sure we live through the flu season so we can buy more of their high priced drugs.

why? because the flu vaccine is "not profitable".

greedy whores!

[CAcyclist]

50. Not True:Vaccine Business Very Profitable

I thought this too until I started to do some research.

http://www.fda.gov/ola/2002/childhoodvaccines0612.html
Every year FDA scientists help to provide to manufacturers new strains for the yearly influenza vaccine as well as biological
standards for assessing the vaccine's potency. Ongoing FDA research on influenza is also designed to prepare for the possibility of
another global influenza pandemic. These efforts by FDA reduce the need for duplicative efforts by manufacturers and shorten the time
frames required for vaccine production every year.

http://www.iht.com/articles/542541.html

. The suspension has cost Chiron not only
three-quarters of the profit it expected this year, but some of its credibility with investors and customers.
.<snip>

Vaccines accounted for about $700 million of the company's $1.75 billion in revenue last year. Fluvirin, the flu vaccine, accounted for $219 million of the total.
With the big increase in production, analysts had expected more than $300 million in revenue from Fluvirin this year.

*************************************************************

And this statement by Paul Drayson, the CEO of Powderject before it got taken over by Chiron:

http://www.science-enterprise.ox.ac.uk/html/PaulDrayson.asp
Moreover, unlike firms in the first category, since the second group marketed their own pharmaceutical products they could make 50% to 80% mark-ups.”  

“Naturally, we decided to join the second group and focus both our business and the application of our technology on vaccines.
.

[RobertSeattle]

6. Yawn. It's been too long now to blame Clinton, blame Lawsuits

And this coming from an Administration that came to power as a result of a lawsuit.

[CAcyclist]

63. Instead of Look at the True Cause:Mergers

Consolidation in the pharmaceutical field has caused more "loss" of companies than any other cause. Look at Chiron - Chiron bought Powderject which bought Celltech's vaccine operations, which bought Medeva , which bought GlaxoWellcome's vaccine manufacturing operation.

All since 2000.

Reinstate anti-trust laws!

[aden_nak]

7. Yeah, Dick. . .

It'd be awful if that company had shipped contaminated vaccine, people had gotten sick from it, and they'd had a legal recourse to file suit against the company that knowningly gave them the contaminated medicine. Those Kerry/Edwards people are putting such a strain on poor, overburdened multinational medical conglomerates.

[genius]

8. Because of the Homeland Security Act, the lawsuits are dead.

[Karmadillo]

11. HHS website says Cheney's a liar

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=38297

<edit>

BUSH IN THE DEBATE: "We have a problem with litigation in the United States of America. Vaccine manufacturers are worried about getting sued, and so, therefore, they have backed off from providing this kind of vaccine. One of the reasons I'm such a strong believer in legal reform is so that people aren't afraid of producing a product that is necessary for the health of our citizens and then end up getting sued in a court of law. (Bush, Third 2004 Presidential Debate, 10/14/04)

HHS WEBSITE: A Report of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee said: "While current vaccine shortages do not appear to be liability related, the VICP should be maintained and strengthened as supported by scientific evidence, including continuing expansion of VICP to include additional vaccines as they are recommended for routine administration to children." (http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/bulletins/nvac-vsr.htm#liabilit... )

more...

[tom_paine]

12. Hitler claims Jew Problem a result of Lawsuit worries

Yawn. More Totalitarianism 101.

[w4rma]

13. Hahaha! Wow! They are getting even more blatant in their lies.

You have to be a totally brainwashed freak to believe this one. Of course, there are ALOT of brainwashed freaks following these whackos.

[Sydnie]

14. Well I guess they have found a way to make it profitable this year huh?

When bottles are being stolen and sold for $100's of dollars and doctors are paying more and more for what vaccine is still available.

I was listening to talk radio this morning on my way to work. There was a lady that called in to tell the listeners that her mother, who is in a nursing home, is on a waiting list for a shot. Now imagine, one nurse comes down with the flu and you could have an entire nursing home with problems. Multiply that by the number of nursing homes in the country and imagine just how many dead seniors we could have on our hands by the end of the flu season.

Yeah, Bush is protecting us alright!

[Timefortruth]

15. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

Why doesn't he call for flu shots to be added to the federal program which handles claims for childhood vaccines? Could it be that there would still be shortages?


http://www.hrsa.gov/osp/vicp/INDEX.HTM

[Ilsa]

18. See my next post...

The program also covers any vax recommended by the CDC, etc.

[Timefortruth]

37. Why hasn't the Kerry campaign raised that issue?

Don't they know?

[yardwork]

56. Kerry's been talking about this for weeks - the media ignores it

[Ilsa]

16. I really screwed up this editing thingy...

I edited the wrong post.

Soooo, nevermind.

[BiggJawn]

19. Flu Vaccine or Boner Pills?

Which would YOU want to be using your resources for, if you were a drug company?
Flu vaccines, while making you a hero to people who wouldn't even know you made the stuff, ain't gonna bump that bottom line up any.

On the other hand, you've spent MILLIONS convincing every male in America that they have a Phloppy Phallus, and they need to see their doctors for the new wonder pill, the one that gives you "the quality of response he expects".

Never mind that some rest and relaxation and a better atmosphere than "look at the Dayrunner...Hmmm....9 to 9:45, Sex...Oh, shit! it's 9 already and I'm not stiff!" would work better.

Everything for the Profit.
Fuckers remind me of Ferengis...

[Anakin Skywalker]

33. Too Funny

"Everything for the Profit.
Fuckers remind me of Ferengis..."

LOL. Right on, brother! :) Great post.

[CAcyclist]

58. No Its The Other Way Around

Its the vaccines that are profitable - in fact Chiron had been counting on the vaccine revenue to pay for research for other areas

http://insidebayarea.com/businessnews/ci_2424311
Article Last Updated: 10/07/2004 09:53:47 AM



Vaccine debacle cloudsthe future of Chiron
By Marni Leff Kottle, Bloomberg News

Chiron Corp. Chief Executive Howard Pien's strategy of using vaccine revenue to fund other research faltered when the company said it wouldn't sell any influenza vaccine to the U.S. for the 2004-2005 season, analysts said.

<snip>

Fluvirin brought in 17 percent of the company's product sales last year. Chiron built itself into the fourth biggest U.S. biotechnology company by selling vaccines, blood tests and drugs. The company depends on vaccine revenue to help pay for developing new drugs, said A.G. Edwards & Sons analyst Alexander Hittle.

"There's nothing Wall Street loves more than a good drug," said Hittle. "Investors were counting on Chiron's vaccine unit to replenish their investment in their biopharmaceutical business."

[BiggJawn]

60. Yes, but Chiron's an OFFSHORE supplier.

Where are the on-shore suppliers?
How about that Pfizer chemist who invented the wonder heart pill, too late for HIS dad, but just in time for YOURS?

Where's Eli Lilly's Flu vaccine?

And while Glaxo gears up to fight Lance's possible relapse,How about THEIR Flu research?

Not hearing much, are we?

No "Hang in there, America, Pfizer's gonna help your Granny!", but plenty of Ms. Smug, going on about how her man "enjoys his level of response" when it's time to do the spring plowin' down in the Valley....

Chiron may be hurting, but I'll bet Lilly's going "Hmm...Do we have time to get on this? $800 a vial, that's not vile..."

[BeHereNow]

20. Aw, Just SHUT UP Dick

Shut UP
Shut UP
Shut UP
Shut UP
Shut UP
Shut UP

We are so SICK of your SLIMEY SNARLING SNIPING SHIT.
Just SHUT UP.
WE HATE YOU- SO SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Ah, I feel much better....
BHN

[Jacobin]

21. They have fucking Statutory Immunity, for cryin' out loud

This SOB will say anything to get elected.

What a crock of steaming shit.

[triguy46]

22. this is why privatization is a stupid idea

You cannot expect the private sector to voluntarily act to advance public health. Public health requires that the government step forward to assure that those health and medical priorities that are critical not be interrupted by business decisions. This of course is the exact opposite of the * "no plan is the best plan" approach to health care. This situation, though terribly over-played by the media, is an example of how you cannot solve public health initiatives by waiting for the business sector. Another example of how there is such a f* lack of leadership right now.

[TaleWgnDg]

23. TORT REFORM !! TORT REFORM !!

********************************************
"Soon after becoming governor, (GW)Bush declared tort reform
an 'emergency issue' and appointed judges who made it all
but impossible for Texans to bring class action lawsuits
against polluters." - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., environmental
activist and environmental attorney, quoting RFKJr's book
entitled, "Crimes Against Nature."

"Liberal court decisions had resulted in an unfair
legal system, tilted in favor of personal injury trial
lawyers, unfortunately making Texas a great place
for people to sue one another. I wanted Texas to
be a great place to do business, an entrepreneurial
heaven, where dreamers and doers felt comfortable
risking capital and creating jobs, not a haven for
frivolous lawsuits. — GWBush defining “Texas Justice”
as it cuts off plaintiffs right to sue when injured.
********************************************

[ogradda]

24. making vaccines isn't profitable

we wouldn't want that would we?

[CAcyclist]

53. yes , vaccine manufacture IS Profitable

see my post higher up this thread.

[Bridget Burke]

26. But his own Health Secretary said there's no crisis....

www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/10/18/flu/index.html

There's a big thread here in LBN based on Tommy Thompson's statement.

[Lizzie Borden]

40. Tommy has always been full of shit

and alcohol.

[sr_pacifica]

29. Good god!

What a lying sack of shit!

[Career Prole]

30. So when beloved Grandma suffocates on her own phlegm this winter

because there was no vaccine for her, remember her death was not in vain.
She helped those poor, struggling, humanitarian drug giants stay solvent.

[durablend]

32. Granny was expendible!!!

Drug companies profits are MORE IMPORTANT!!

GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!!

[BiggJawn]

36. Granny's a "Useless Eater".

Doesn't make anything, indeed, she consumes without producing in order to justify her existence in this country...

Compassionate Conservatism in action.

[Career Prole]

39. Collateral damage in the jihad of the Followers of the Great Profit (sic)

As long as they can make more money on a pill to make Grandpa's willy stiff, keeping Grandpa alive will be strictly back-burner.
Everyone should note, by the way, that in all these articles we're reading nowhere does it say the drug companies LOSE money making vaccines...they just don't profit as much.
No one is actually expecting altruism from these bastards.

[gratuitous]

31. Yeah, the estates of the wrongfully dead are sooo vengeful

I mean, you go in for a simple flu shot and it kills you or leaves you a drooling vegetable, why should the doctor or pharmaceutical company that knew they were dispensing contaminated vaccine be held accountable? They're just poor multimillionaires, trying to scratch out a buck.

And how do you know that a person who died from contaminated vaccine wouldn't have gotten run over by a freight train the next day anyway? Gosh, people can be so touchy when their relatives are croaked by negligence.

[Anakin Skywalker]

34. Easy to be "poor" when you aren't a Dick (Cheney)

Hey, if the doctors and drug companies aren't as rich as Cheney, they are considered poor by him and deserving of his protection! LOL

[Disturbed]

35. CA company in UK.

Another re-located mfg. Bush Admin. liars failed to mention that.

This Bush Admin. is corupt to the core. If it weren't for a Rethug dominated Congress there would be a shit load of criminal indictements of this gang of greedy scum.

[CAcyclist]

52. Not Relocated, a Merger, the Other Corporate Evil

The British company, Powderject was acquired by Chiron. Guess they didn't kick the tires well enough.

http://stg.syndnet.thomsonfn.com/InvestorRelations/PubNewsStory.aspx?partner=5425&storyId=97611

Total third-quarter 2003 revenues for PowderJect Pharmaceuticals, which Chiron acquired during the third quarter
of 2003, were $116 million.

[Cocoa]

38. also Kerry's criticism of Bush is hurting morale

the vaccine makers are demoralized, and Kerry is giving comfort to the flu viruses.

[BlueStateGirl]

41. Oh, I thought Tommy Thompson said there was no crisis? RME

[LizW]

42. I knew this was the talking point of the day

I heard some woman from the CDC on CNN this morning saying that "we have to solve the liability problem and give manufacturers some relief" in order to insure we have and adequate supply of vaccines.

It's blackmail. Give us immunity from lawsuits if we kill or maim someone, and you can have the medicine.

You know what, though? They're right. If Chiron had been shielded from liability for injuring people as the Republicans want, we would have plenty of vaccine. They would have shipped the contaminated batches right on over.

[Princess Turandot]

43. What a desparate ploy..

I'm assuming that most people know that the reason that there is not enough vaccine is that a large portion of the production was contaminated. Distributing that vaccine would not have been a matter for malpractice lawsuits; it might have led to criminal prosecution.

Next he will associate his daughter's sexual orientation with the fact that Edwards was an attorney.

[0007]

44. Who in the world would take these jack offs seriously?

I guess Cheney has to strike back at Edwards after John beat him like a bad piece of meat in the last debate.

[Mister K]

45. I liked Kerry's response in Florida..

If Halliburton made the flu vaccine, there would be more here then oranges.

[legally blonde]

46. Hold on everyone!

Bush has a solution to the flu vaccine problem--just don't get one! Yeah! That's the ticket! Case closed!

[ramapo]

48. The Blame Game

Bush/Cheney have someone or something to blame for everything that has gone wrong the past four years. Here I though leadership was all about taking responsibility.

[Demeter]

51. The Bushistas Would Be Better Off Worrying About Their Own Lawsuits

Because they are so incredibly vulnerable in so many areas.

[goforit]

55. So Cheney......Been sitting on yur ass??? Whatcha gonna do???

[Carolab]

57. So.....

it would be much better if they just took tainted vaccine and got sick? WTF?

[wicket]

59. Apparently so...

[progressivebydesign]

61. Gee.. didn't I post JUST THIS THING a few hours ago? Blame EDWARDS?

When the head of the CDC parrotted exactly what the WHITE HOUSE said about the vaccine manufacturers, regrading LAWSUITS against them, I KNEW this was going to be how they'd attack Edwards! Fuck them. Yeah.. the itty-bitty widdle drug companies NEED to be protected from the BIG MEAN CONSUMERS who sue them because they've KILLED OR MAIMED with their contaminated drugs. Boo-fucking-Hoo!

The Bush cabal is the most evil American administration in history. I thought Nixon was bad. I thought Reagan was bad. I thought Poppy was bad. These people are a thousand times worse.

The deaths of seniors belongs on THEIR heads.. instead, the BLAME EVERYONE BUT US crowd, is blaming John Edwards. Fuck them.. :grr:

[NastyRiffraff]

64. Par for the course...remember the smallpox vaccine...

...that the Dick wanted to FORCE every American to take? Supposedly, because of the (non-existent) smallpox strains that Saddam had. When it was pointed out that approximately 1,000 Americans would die from it, the Dick basically shrugged. No worries about "liability" there, for some reason.

[despairing optimist]

65. Cheney: "Let the market decide to sell dirty vaccine!"

"Those damn lawyers mess it up for everyone. So what if a few thousand people die from a lab snafu? It wouldn't have happened if they could have raised their prices to as much as the market would bear. The market could have a two-tiered vaccine system: people with the means to buy pure vaccine would pay a premium, and everyone else would pay less and assume greater risk. It's the American thing to do."

The preceding was a peek into the mind of an artichoke.

[wicket]

66. kick!

:kick:

[truthisfreedom]

67. i'm sure someone at the company that manufactured the tainted vaccine

would be happy to provide bushco with a full set of freebie doses and complimentary needles.

[gatlingforme]

68. Per Cheney, since the big drug comp. can't make money - what

is th point of making the vaccine.... Cheney should be charged with human profiteering. Cheney is a scum bag.

[bigpathpaul]

69. BigPath Flyer: Please check these out, if the flu shortage is an issue 4 U

Downloads: http://bigpath.net/politics/Children_Families/ChildrenFamiliesStart.html

lu season arrives like clockwork each year. But an inattentive Bush administration has put millions of Americans at risk by failing to supply adequate amounts of vaccine, highlighting the hypocrisy of Bush’s claims that he represents average Americans, while demonstrating time and again how out of touch he really is. Ordinary citizens, thousands of whom may die without the flu vaccine, are ignored by an administration obsessed with boosting corporate bottom lines for wealthy donors.

In the Oct. 13 debate, the president blamed the British for the vaccine shortage. But, Chiron, the manufacturer, is an American company, subject to FDA regulation, with a plant in England. In June 2003, the FDA found the plant contaminated with bacteria yet announced “the problems were corrected to their satisfaction,” allowing production to continue. President Bush claimed that “We took the right action and didn’t allow contaminated medicine into our country.” But that was also false. The plant’s license was revoked by the British on October 5 after they inspected it.

While research and deployment of bioterror countermeasures move at a snail’s pace, drug companies recycle massive profits into commercials for pills to improve sexual performance and combat hay fever. Drug companies enjoy some of the highest profit margins of any American industry, paying 40% less in taxes than other companies. Yet, the cost of drugs to Americans has risen at three times the rate of inflation.

When lobbyists for giant pharmaceutical companies pressured Washington to allow them to extend their patents, the Republican Congress — recipients of millions of dollars in donations from the drug companies — readily cooperated. The result was fewer low-cost generic drugs for working men and women and record profits for the pharmaceutical companies. With the campaign in high gear, phony tax breaks and promises abound, but come November 3rd, if the Republicans retain power, the needs of working men and women and their families will tumble right back down to the bottom of the barrel.

http://www.bigpath.net

[NNN0LHI]

70. kick

[rocktivity]

71. The vaccine became contaminated by its worries about lawsuits?

Time to buy new bullshit detector...

:nuke:
rocknation

[Supersedeas]

72. without fear of lawsuits, there might be plenty of contaminated vaccine to

go around....Cheney smiles....Rove nods.