http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5235616BioPort Corporation is the only company in the United States with a license to make the Anthrax Vaccine. In actuality, BioPort does not actually make the vaccine; it acquired the lab that does, in 1998, Michigan Biologic Products Institute, from the State of Michigan.
Along with the actual Anthrax Vaccine, BioPort acquired Michigan Biologic Products Institute's sole and exclusive customer for the vaccine, the U.S. Department of Defense.
Yet, the great paradox of the situation comes when one learns that since acquiring Michigan Biologics, BioPort has barely delivered a drop of the stuff!
Only 4% of the vaccine contracted for has been delivered. FDA audits have uncovered suspicious record keeping and contamination problems, causing the FDA to ban delivery of the product. Despite this ban, the U.S. Government has continued to front BioPort millions of dollars to keep the operation going.
It turned out to be a good investment. Market demand has pushed the price of the product high above the contracted for $3.50 an ounce.
The Bin Laden family trust invested in BioPort at the advice of the Carlyle Group as they have in a myriad of projects. The brothers did divest themselves of their ownership stakes after the Wall Street Journal briefly mentioned the close relationship between Carlyle and their family. George H.W. Bush and the others continue to profit from BioPort. Some estimates put the shortage created by the FDA bans as driving the price of the vaccine up to thousands of dollars per ounce. (The same amount of Anthrax treatment Cipro that sells for $20 in India now costs $690 in the U.S).