Vaccines: Is The Boom Sustainable in the Obama Era?

   In case anyone pops in from HuffPo - here's a reminder of what vaccines mean.  It reads?

"How far will the government go to assure the public that safety fears are unfounded?"

Ah, yes, saving the little children! Protecting the elderly! Your child with autism stands in the way of commerce, friends.  Read more about this $300 teleconference HERE.

The vaccine industry has flourished during the Bush Administrations: Government support has flowed to the industry for new facilities, new technologies and new markets. Important new vaccines have been approved for pediatric, adolescent, and adult diseases.

Biodefense initiatives and proactive programs on natural disease disasters (like pandemic influenza) dominated the Bush Administration's vaccine agenda. The stimulus to research and commercial capacity was immense: a dramatic change for a previously overlooked sector of the biopharma field.

Will the government remain an active, supportive partner for vaccines in the new administration, or will the renaissance wane? New forms of government support are possible from the Obama Administration:

Incentives for first-dollar coverage for vaccines
Incentives to providers for increased vaccination rates

New programs for vaccines for the adult and young adult populations
Increased support for international efforts to increase uptake and administration of vaccines for diseases in the developing world
Our webinar team of experienced Washington policy experts will provide a look ahead to the next four years for this important part of the biopharmaceutical industry and the public health protection. There are clear opportunities and challenges for the vaccine industry in the next four years.

The emerging Obama health team has experience in the field; they bring preconceived approaches and tendencies to the field. Many trained in public health roles during the initiation of the Vaccines for Children Program. Now is the time to understand the background and to analyze how they will approach the changes that have occurred in the vaccine industry in the past eight years.

Take away key perspectives and guidance in the following areas:

How do vaccines fit into the developing overall health care reform effort that promises to be a key part of the Obama economic revitalization?
What is the future for “push” incentives for vaccines: funding for research; funding for new production capacity; support for regulatory approvals?
Is the government ready to continue and support “pull” programs: efforts to expand vaccination populations for flu vaccines, for vaccines for adolescents, for vaccines for the elderly?
How far will the government go to assure the public that safety fears are unfounded?
Who will be the key voices for vaccines in the new administration?
...and much more!

Join us for Vaccines: Is the Boom Sustainable during the Obama Era? on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009 at 12 p.m. EST (9 a.m. Pacific). Listen as our experts help you understand the future before it's begun. Grab your team, a phone and a computer with Web access (that last one's optional). No travel required!

 

Comments

[anonymous]

Not my field, but this is startling business news,

January 26, 2009,
WSJ frontpage box:
Pfizer, Wyeth and the $68 Billion Deal
-Pfizer is expected to pay $68 billion for Wyeth. Pfizer CEO would have control of the new entity. Pfizer will use one third debt, one third equity and one third cash in the deal. B1

http://www.pharmaceutical-business-review.com/article_feature.asp?guid=787A6CC1-8CD7-464E-8E75-A9C6D2A02ECF
Pfizer: new ambitions in vaccines
12th October 2006
By Hedi Kresse
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/01/26/live-blogging-the-pfizer-wyeth-analyst-call/
January 26, 2009, 8:33 am
Live Blogging the Pfizer-Wyeth Analyst Call
Posted by Sarah Rubenstein
EXCERPT
"Is it possible you haven’t heard that that Pfizer is going ahead with a $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth? Probably not.

Pfizer is looking to find a fix for that big sucking sound that is Lipitor going generic in 2011. The combined company would be an even bigger behemoth that sells everything from pills, biotech drugs and vaccines to medicines for animals. Then there are our personal favorites ChapStick and Advil.

The two companies’ executives are getting on the phone with analysts now to talk about the deal. Here’s what they’re saying.

8:32: Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler asks Wyeth CEO Bernard Poussot to talk first. Poussot points out that Wyeth has been establishing a foothold in biotechnology and vaccines “when others were just recognizing recently the highly desirable strategic objective.”

8:36: Poussot is listing a lot of Wyeth’s key businesses and products, ranging from consumer health to the vaccine Prevnar and the biotech drug Enbrel.

8:37: Poussot says Wyeth has been “fostering a culture of science first. We’ve actually encouraged our scientists to go for the stars and look for diseases” that are hard to fight. He mentions Wyeth’s efforts to develop a drug for Alzheimer’s.

8:38: Kindler says the acquisition comes after “months of careful consideration.” The company reviewed “literally hundreds of strategic options.”

8:39: The acquisition advances a bunch of different Pfizer strategies, Kindler says. The company will be a leader in human and animal health, consumer health, primary care, specialty care, biotech, vaccines and will have “unrivaled geographic reach,” he says..." (MORE AT LINK)

[Jack]

I'd like to know who attends almost more than I'd like to know what he says. Sounds just like a way to drum up business for his lobbying firm, which you can read about on www.opensecrets.org. You can also find assorted ways to contact him directly there.

Maybe Mr. Dalrymple is hoping to make more than the $227,000 he made lobbying last year. I guess having only three clients only gets you so far.

[Cherri]

FYI: this is a for profit "webinar" being sold to pharmaceutical marketers by a publishing company: Elsevier the same folks who brought you the Lancet ( and subsequently retracted their support for Andy Wakefield)and hundreds of other medical journals> the primary funding source for medical journals: you go it-Pharmaceuticals. The government has nothing to do with this event and in fact this is all about lobbying the government. I, for one, was pleased to hear Obama announce his moratorium on lobbying within his administration. We shall see how far and wide he is able to enforce that and if "events" such as this webinar will become less effective with a new sheriff in town.

[just another mom]

So the gov't is responsible for "pull programs" used to push flu vaccine? And "voices for vaccines" are needed in the new administration?

Frightening doesn't begin to describe...

[Sonja]

I will donate as well to send someone on behalf of A of A...maybe Kim? or Dan? or any of our loyal readers!

[Twyla]

Hey, not only does registration get you phone access and online slides, but also:

"An interactive Q&A round with speakers: Type your questions on the website during the presentation, for the speakers to address afterward."

That would be fun. But probably our questions wouldn't get answered.

[Angie]

This makes me SICK!
Even thought our only vehicle is now dead and off to the junk yard, and money is super tight, I would be willing to donate $5-$10 for someone to get into this seminar, mainly to see who and what we are going to be battling in the upcoming 4-8 years..who OUR targets will be...
Is anyone going to be able to do this?
Angie Mom to Ethan, Alex, and Megan

[Julie Swenson]

Sakura, I'd totally donate...GREAT idea...$10 a head? I pledge $20 right here and now. I am dying to see what this is all about. Can AofA set up a Paypal account for this particular event?

Seriously, let's do this thing.

[anonymous]

For Kathy,

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=B031k790ZWU&feature=PlayList&p=D21193620AD4F4E3&index=5
Listen to Chomsky and generalize. He speaks of 'pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will' and describes why certain important issues are never raised 'by elites', even as change is occurring by ordinary people power.

Keep fighting. Everyday pick up another ally (or three).

http://eyeofhorus.biz/myth-quotes/the-choice.htm
November 7, 2007
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there is a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours.”
~ Noam Chomsky

[Sakura]

Can we pool our resources so that someone can take this webinar? I certainly can't afford the full fee but would be willing to donate some money towards having someone representing us concerned parents listen in. I despise the thought of this organization profiting off of us, but the idea of what these people have up their sleeve is even more distasteful to me.

[Kathy Blanco]

People, disengage from our government, and never think they have our best interest at heart. I use to be proud of our country, now all I see is money grubbing corporations who are buying out our politicians, people sickened purposely by toxins and vaccines which makes us violent, aggressive, sick chronically, and even passive, and agendas numerous, on how to control YOU, the population...to make sure YOU stand in line and roll up your sleeve for some conceived common good.

The only good that rules is truth, and the truth won't come to bare in any environment, when the government entities themselves still trust these corporations. No one in these organizations are genuine or for real anymore, no one has integrety or personal goodly values, and most of their science is manipulated for profit. I am sure the corporate presidents/ceo's and higher uppers are swimming in blood money. Until we become advanced as a society, I don't perceive a change, until every family has a child who is damaged. And as far as I am concerned, that's just about where we are at...

Just today, I saw a group of naer do wells in our grocery store, hanging pants down to the floor types...they all looked damaged...autism/adhd is alive and well, schizophrenia, bi polar, personality disorders, drug abuse etc. God must look down on us and be shaking his head with disgust...how far we have faltered from the truth of why we are here???

[rileysmom]

This is unbelievable. It just goes to show you that vaccines are NOT about public health but who's pocket gets lined with blood money. Digusting. Twyla said she wishes she had an extra $399 laying around to sign up, so so I!!! As much as I would hate to give these wanks money, I'd love to see who their "voices" are in the new admin. Maybe it will be Singer.
If by any chance ANYONE came come up with the money to do it, I'd be extremely interested in the article. Sorry, I'd do it but last month our pipes froze, got that fixed, now the roof's leaking. I have no $$$$ to do this.

[Deborah (www.debstake.wordpress.com)]

"At the top? It's the money as much as the medicine"

IMHO it's the money more, much MORE than the medicine.

[Kub Marshman]

Stagmom is on it. Remember during the campaign season when Obama promised to implement a windfall profit tax on oil companies and use that revenue for a middle and low-income tax rebate? Guess what? It's not going to happen. The excuse? Oil fell below $80 a barrel. The excuse couldn't be that individuals from oil companies contributed money to his campaign, could it? The amount of money contributed is not chump change, guys. While it's technically illegal to accept money from oil companies, it's not illegal to accept money from individuals from oil companies or their spouses. If Obama can abandon what most people would consider a major campaign promise, what prevents him from doing next to nothing about the current vaccine program? Talk is cheap, actions require investment.

[Randy]

"How far will the government go to assure the public that safety fears are unfounded?"
That's a very good question - if the "assurances" are just an exercise in Public Relations and excuses, and it's just more of the same, then clearly they'll go to any lengths.
"Who will be the key voices for vaccines in the new administration?"
More importantly, who will be the key voices for [vulnerable] children in the new administration? Does anyone give a rat's ass about harming a few kids, if nobody is even asking the question? Does ANYONE really believe that any medical intervention is PERFECT?
"...will the renaissance wane?"
Good God, can't let that happen - imagine the horror - Merck execs, patent holders might not be able to gas up the Mangusta's

This is business, pure and simple. Business itself is not evil - the evil lies in the way the guardians of the public trust allow themselves to be "played" like this. Incredible.

[Twyla]

Someone from our side should register for this "Live webinar plus complete audio recording: $399 (regular $499)". It would be good to know a few things such as "Who will be the key voices for vaccines in the new administration?"

I wish I had $399 and a vacation day to spare.

[Libby]

There are two words on the flyer that sum it up beautifully: "Vaccine Industry"

I'm sick to my stomach.

[Stagmom]

Tanner's Dad, more's the point that vaccines are the new profit center for drug companies. That's as much behind the push to force vaccinations on every citizen as any goal of "public health." Money corrupts. And vaccines are now a political tool. I think there's precious little thought as to efficacy or safety beyond the initial researchers - whom I believe are genuinely interested in the science. At the top? It's the money as much as the medicine, in my opinion.

[Tanners Dad]

Hurry sign up now!!! Learn how to make billions of dollars and poison our kids!

I was Ill when I first found and read this flyer. A more blatant slap in the face could not be done unless they were actually forcing children to take ineffective vaccines to go to school or seeking approval to not be liable for side effects when they inject pregnant women.... Oh I forgot they are doing both of those as well...Sad Sad day for families dealing with vaccine injury and Autism.