November 12, 2011
$433 million no bid contract for experimental drug goes to longtime Democratic donor
Reporting from Washington — Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work.
Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world's richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.
When Siga complained that contracting specialists at the Department of Health and Human Services were resisting the company's financial demands, senior officials replaced the government's lead negotiator for the deal, interviews and documents show.
When Siga was in danger of losing its grip on the contract a year ago, the officials blocked other firms from competing. [...]
[...] The price of approximately $255 per dose is well above what the government's specialists had earlier said was reasonable, according to internal documents and interviews. [...]
Posted by Will Profit at 9:27 PM
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