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âGates has created a huge blood-buying operation that only cares about money, not about people.â
--AIDS organisation manager, December 2009 (New York Times)
Report condemns swine flu experts' ties to big pharma
,----[ Quote ]
| Scientists who drew up the key World
| Health Organisation guidelines advising
| governments to stockpile drugs in the
| event of a flu pandemic had previously
| been paid by drug companies which stood to
| profit, according to a report out today.
|
| An investigation by the British Medical
| Journal and the Bureau of Investigative
| Journalism, the not-for-profit reporting
| unit, shows that WHO guidance issued in
| 2004 was authored by three scientists who
| had previously received payment for other
| work from Roche, which makes Tamiflu, and
| GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), manufacturer of
| Relenza.
|
| City analysts say that pharmaceutical
| companies banked more than $7bn (Â4.8bn)
| as governments stockpiled drugs. The issue
| of transparency has risen to the forefront
| of public health debate after dramatic
| predictions last year about a swine flu
| pandemic did not come true.
`----
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/04/swine-flu-experts-big-pharmaceutical
Bill Gates Nudges Drugmakers to Share Research
,----[ Quote ]
| The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was a
| driving force behind GlaxoSmithKline Plc's
| decision to share propietary drug research
| for fighting malaria, the Puget Sound
| Business Journal reports.
`----
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/heavy-doses/2010/05/30/bill-gates-nudges-drug-makers-to-share-research
The Gates Foundation and "all the people who are smart about the disease"
,----[ Quote ]
| Read this carefully: "so that all the
| people who are smart about the disease are
| to some degree on the same side, working
| together.â Here is a fatal flaw. Gates
| thinks that you can define "all the people
| who are smart about the disease" and
| invite them to work together. He and his
| staff wouldn't know how to begin to find
| "all the people". They are elite
| technocrats. How many people LIVING with
| the disease are working together on his
| elite panels?
`----
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2010/6/1/4541898.html
The philanthropic bias
,----[ Quote ]
| Gates really, really likes the idea of
| using vertical funds to tackle (and
| eliminated) diseases one by one, rather
| than taking a more gradual, measured
| approach. Why do the big philanthropists
| (Gates, and by proxy, Buffet) prefer to
| take such a direct approach, circumventing
| governments?
|
| The easiest explanation is through
| personality or experience: Gates is an
| entrepreneur, used to getting smart people
| in a room together to solve problems;
| private solutions for important problems.
| Governments have, if anything, been a
| source of irritation for him, lobbing the
| occasional anti-trust action at Microsoft.
|
| [...]
|
| I think itâs probably unrealistic to
| expect the Gates Foundation to start up a
| health SWAp anytime soon â the same
| factors that led to its creation will
| always drive it to tackle problems the way
| it does. What we should hope (and push)
| for is a commitment to âdo no harm.â This
| means reverting to practices that do not
| distort health objectives on the ground
| (i.e. internal brain drain of qualified
| health staff, shifting the debate away
| from enforcing health systems to tackling
| single diseases). Working on vaccines,
| either through direct funding or advance
| market commitments, is a an example of
| high risk but less distortionary practice.
| The huge sums of money the Foundation
| juggles could also be used to create
| incentives for more general research into
| fighting tropical maladies, and then
| subsequently subsidise the price for needy
| countries.
`----
http://aidthoughts.org/?p=1226
Recent:
Pfizer Hit With $141 Million RICO Penalty Over Neurontin Promotion
,----[ Quote ]
| Pfizer Inc. has been socked with an eye-
| popping $141 million penalty for
| unlawfully promoting its epilepsy drug
| Neurontin for unapproved uses for which,
| the plaintiffs said, it didn't even work.
|
| A federal jury in Boston on Thursday
| concluded that the pharmaceutical giant
| had violated federal racketeering laws in
| promoting the drug for so-called off-label
| uses that were ineffective. The jury's
| verdict was actually $47 million, but the
| penalty was automatically tripled under
| the federal Racketeer Influenced and
| Corrupt Organizations Act.
`----
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202446920424&Pfizer_Hit_With__Million_RICO_Penalty_Over_Neurontin_Promotion
Pfizer Pays Out Millions to Doctors
,----[ Quote ]
| Pfizer, the world's biggest drug company,
| says it paid 4,500 doctors and other
| medical professionals about $20 million
| total in professional fees for services
| like consulting and speaking on behalf of
| the company, in just the last six months
| of 2009. During the same period, Pfizer
| also paid $15.3 million to 250 academic
| medical centers and other research groups
| for clinical trials. The payments to
| medical professionals were required by an
| agreement the company signed last August
| to settle a federal investigation into the
| illegal promotion of drugs for off-label
| use.
`----
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8989
Merck exec to be Gates Foundation CFO
,----[ Quote ]
| A former Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) executive
| is to be the new chief financial officer
| of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
| one of the world's largest philanthropic
| organizations.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3120892820100331
Merck executive is new Gates Foundation CFO
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14794193
Merck executive is new Gates Foundation CFO
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EPRKNO0.htm
Gates Foundation names Henriques new CFO
http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2010/03/29/daily25.html
Merck executive is new Gates Foundation CFO
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ivf7W93qreEFlnsJ7WynQaubEkmgD9EPRJLG0
Gates Foundation names Merck veteran as new CFO
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thebusinessofgiving/2011493528_gates_foundation_names_new_chi.html
Pharmaceutical Chief Will Take Over Gates Foundation's Finances
http://philanthropy.com/blogPost/Pharmaceutical-Chief-Will-Take/22199/
Merck executive Richard Henriques will be new Gates Foundation CFO
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-gates-foundation-cfo,0,1744598.story
AIDS âNext Big Thingâ: Gilead Pill to Prevent Spread
,----[ Quote ]
| If the tests are successful, PrEP
| distribution programs could begin in
| developing countries in 2012, said Bill
| Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp. and
| the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, both
| of Seattle. He spoke to the U.S. Senate
| Foreign Relations Committee about global
| health priorities on March 10. The Gates
| Foundation is sponsoring three PrEP
| trials.
`----
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-01/aids-next-big-thing-gilead-pill-to-prevent-spread-update1-.html
HIV drugs tested for ability to prevent infection
,----[ Quote ]
| If the tests are successful, PrEP
| distribution programs could begin in
| developing countries in 2012, said Bill
| Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the
| Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates
| Foundation is sponsoring three PrEP
| trials.
`----
http://www.northjersey.com/news/health/89860237_HIV_drugs_tested_for_ability_to_prevent_infection.html
AP INVESTIGATION: Monsanto seed biz role revealed
,----[ Quote ]
| Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto
| Co.'s business practices reveal how the
| world's biggest seed developer is
| squeezing competitors, controlling smaller
| seed companies and protecting its
| dominance over the multibillion-dollar
| market for genetically altered crops, an
| Associated Press investigation has found.
`----
http://www.ajc.com/business/ap-investigation-monsanto-seed-240072.html
KEI Statement on UNITAID Decision to Approve Creation of a Patent Pool for AIDS medicines
,----[ Quote ]
| A number of NGOs have recently raised
| important criticisms about the patent pool
| and the process, and as the pool moves
| forward it is important to expand the
| transparency of the patent pool
| initiative, and to ensure that all patient
| and public health groups, generic drug
| producers, academic experts, governments
| and other concerned about, interested in
| and impacted by the pool will have the
| effective opportunity to review, comment
| and influence outcomes, including the many
| policy decisions will be made in the next
| 12 months.
`----
http://keionline.org/dec14unitaid
One in a billion takes action against the Gates Foundation in China
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/12/16/4405781.html
Monsoft or Microsanto?
,----[ Quote ]
| Amazingly, David Boies, the lawyer that
| led the attack on Microsoft during that
| investigation, is also invovled: he is
| representing Du Pont, one of Monsanto's
| rivals concerned about the latter's
| monopoly power.
|
| Let's just hope that Monsanto becomes the
| subject of a full anti-trust action, and
| that the result is more effective than
| that applied to Microsoft. After all,
| we're not talking about software here, but
| the world's food supply, and monopolies -
| both intellectual and otherwise - are
| simply morally indefensible when billions
| of lives are stake.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/12/monsoft-or-microsanto.html
AP INVESTIGATION: Monsanto seed biz role revealed
,----[ Quote ]
| Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto
| Co.'s business practices reveal how the
| world's biggest seed developer is
| squeezing competitors, controlling smaller
| seed companies and protecting its
| dominance over the multibillion-dollar
| market for genetically altered crops, an
| Associated Press investigation has found.
`----
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-INVESTIGATION-Monsanto-apf-1335374142.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=
AP INVESTIGATION: Monsanto seed biz role revealed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8855598
How Monsanto owns and manipulates the world's food supply
,----[ Quote ]
| Steve Silberman sends us "A major AP
| expose of how Monsanto uses secret
| licensing agreements for its genetically
| manipulated crops to squeeze smaller seed
| companies, lock out competition, and keep
| food prices high.".
`----
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/13/how-monsanto-owns-an.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29
The Gates Foundationâs agriculture program: experimenting or floundering?
,----[ Quote ]
| Hereâs what we know about the Gates
| Foundationâs agriculture program:
|
| * Gates believes itâs suggestive that
| âApart from a few states and small, oil-
| rich countries, no country has managed a
| rapid rise from poverty without
| increasing agricultural productivity. In
| the poorest countries, agriculture
| employs a majority of the people.â
| * This isnât a new argument or an
| undisputed one. See Peter Timmer on
| Green Revolution âoptimistsâ vs.
| âpessimistsâ.
| * Gatesâs approach is âcomprehensive,â
| targets âno single, simple solutionâ,
| and includes farmer training/support,
| irrigation initiatives, market access
| initiatives, and funding of agricultural
| research with a focus on gender
| empowerment.
| * This isnât a new approach or a
| historically successful one. The World
| Bank has focused on essentially the same
| set of interventions recently, with
| unclear results, and the previous
| âholisticâ approach of âIntegrated Rural
| Developmentâ is widely considered to
| have failed. Details at our overview of
| agriculture aid.
|
| In other words, the Gates Foundation
| approach â as described â appears to be
| neither a continuation of things that have
| worked before nor a fundamentally new
| approach to the problem. So what might be
| different this time around?
`----
http://blog.givewell.net/?p=437
Kenya: Gates Foundation and Monsanto to Develop Genetically
Modified Seeds for Small Farmers
,----[ Quote ]
| Many of the emotionally charged headlines
| that drive Africaâs food security debate
| are intricately connected to the critical
| and complex Kenyan seed industry: Kenya is
| the second largest seed consumer in sub-
| Saharan Africa, and a key driver of
| agricultural research on the continent. For
| decades, donors and private interests have
| been funneling millions of dollars into the
| Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
| (KARI), in an effort to develop new plant
| varieties that can repel pests, withstand
| disease and produce higher yields.
|
| KARI is now one of the main partners in a
| new programme funded by the Gates
| Foundation that will attempt to develop
| genetically modified (GM) maize that can
| withstand drought. The plan is to
| distribute the seeds to small farmers in
| Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania
| and Uganda. The technology is coming from
| Monsanto, the American corporate seed giant
| that does a lot of work for the Gates
| Foundation in Africa. Normally Monsantoâs
| patented seeds come at a high price, which
| has inspired an endless stream of vitriol
| from activists who accuse the company of
| exploiting poor farmers for obscene
| profits. This time, farmers will receive
| the seeds royalty free â indefinitely â as
| part of Gatesâ push for a âgreen
| revolutionâ in Africa.
`----
http://www.ratio-magazine.com/200911261425/Kenya/Kenya-Gates-Foundation-and-Monsanto-to-Develop-Genetically-Modified-Seeds-for-Small-Farmers.html
Kenya: Gates Foundation and Monsanto to develop GM seeds for small farmers
http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=54698
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