Obama awards donor $433m deal
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.
Siga’s anti-smallpox pill, called ST-246, would be used to treat anyone diagnosed with the disease too late for the vaccine to help. But the Times said it’s never been tested for effectiveness and the chances of it ever being needed appears remote.
“We’ve got a vaccine that I hope we never have to use — how much more do we need?” said Dr Donald A Henderson, an epidemiologist who led the World Health Organisation’s smallpox eradication efforts and helped organise US biodefence efforts under president George W. Bush.
“The bottom line is, we’ve got a limited amount of money,” he said.
