Obama awards donor $433m deal

CRITICS are questioning efforts by US President Barack Obama’s administration to secure a $433 million (€315M) experimental smallpox drug with uncertain efficacy.

The Los Angeles Times reported senior administration officials acted to make sure the federal contract went to Siga Technologies, a New York pharmaceutical firm whose controlling shareholder is top Democratic Party backer Ronald Perelman. Under the contract approved in May, Siga is to deliver 1.7 million doses of the drug for the national biodefence stockpile, the Times said. The price is about $255 (€185) per dose.

Smallpox was wiped out worldwide back in 1978, with the only known remnants of the virus kept by the US government and Russian scientists. The US government already has about $1 billion (€727m) worth of smallpox vaccine it could use to vaccinate all Americans, at a cost of about $3 (€2.18) per dose.