Bavarian-Nordic, which has Connections to Fauci and NIH Grants, lands Smallpox Biodefense Contracts. Comprehensive Monkeypox Case Outbreak Data Provides Clarity to Disease Epicenters.
Fauci, BioTerrrorism, the NIH, and Bavarian Nordic
Anthony Fauci has managed to become the “invisible hand” of government-funded vaccine and biodefense research for decades. Anthrax attacks shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 increased the focus on the field of biodefense.
Bavarian-Nordic was one of the major beneficiaries of the new focus by the United States on biological threats. The company was founded in 1994. Landing smallpox contracts in 2003 led to significant growth for Bavarian-Nordic, with Fauci’s NIH giving more grants to Baravian-Nordic than any other company under the BioShield program between 2001 and 2005.
Bavarian-Nordic entered a $20 million contract for its smallpox vaccine from the HHS in 2003. The HHS stated the contract was awarded to protect against a smallpox terrorist attack:
As funding for biodefense and medical research to combat terrorism and disease increased, Fauci’s role at the NIH became that of a gatekeeper who had the power to pick winners and losers:
“The most fundamental question is whether the government and Dr. Fauci should be trying to influence what drugs and vaccines the marketplace produces. “If you had to pick one person, he’s a pretty good guy to pick,” says J. Leighton Read, a partner at Alloy Ventures, a Palo Alto, Calif., venture-capital firm. “But I’m not sure Tony should be investing. His experience in products and manufacturing is very limited. Maybe they ought to pay more attention to the invisible hand.
The workings of the invisible hand, though, have been all but invisible. Publicly traded drug companies have tended to stay away from vaccines, antibiotics, and related drugs. These products have low-profit margins and are especially prone to liability suits. The government is often the main customer for them.
Dr. Fauci acknowledges that bankrolling product development in the private sector “is not our spécialité de la maison.” Still, he argues that some entity has to be the investor of last resort if the marketplace isn’t producing crucial medicine. “The industry wasn’t going to make the investment when they had a choice between developing a new Viagra, a new Lipitor, versus the very risky procedure of doing advanced development in a product where there wasn’t going to be a guaranteed payback for them,” Dr. Fauci says.
Dr. Fauci is pumping about $500 million to $600 million in taxpayer money a year, or about a third of his biodefense budget, into product development. Much of that goes to companies. By comparison, biotechnology venture investments in the U.S. totaled $4.06 billion in 2004, according to surveys by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Dr. Fauci’s goal is to get companies ready to bid on contracts under the BioShield program run by the NIH’s parent, the Department of Health and Human Services. The department was authorized by Congress last year to spend $5.6 billion over 10 years on biodefense drugs under BioShield.
After Sept. 11 and the anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001, Dr. Fauci and his agency, whose formal name is the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, divided pathogens into three categories. They gave highest priority to Category A pathogens such as anthrax, smallpox and plague. Dr. Fauci argued that his agency was well-suited to receive new funds for biodefense.”
Bavarian-Nordic received more money than any other pharmaceutical company from Fauci’s NIH as of 2005:
Fauci convinced then-Vice President Dick Cheney that nature was the greatest threat of terrorism facing humanity:
“Wedged above a shelf piled with biographies and thrillers is a photograph of Fauci with Dick Cheney, the then US vice-president. “It’s after the anthrax attack when he put me in charge of preparing for biological threats,” he says, “I convinced him that the greatest terrorist was nature itself.” The NIH Ebola vaccine, he says, was in development for a decade but it took the current crisis for the global public health community to convince drug companies to ramp up production.”
Bavarian-Nordic has secured over $500 million in grants and contracts HHS. The value of the contracts may ultimately exceed $840 million:
Bavarian-Nordin Receives European Bank Loans
Bavarian-Nordic received tens of millions of Euros worth of loans from the Europan Investment Bank:
Bavarian-Nordic Lands Lucrative Smallpox Contracts
Bavarian-Nordic, a pharmaceutical company with offices in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, and the USA, landed contracts from multiple countries for smallpox vaccines this week as monkeypox cases continue to rise across the globe.
“Bavarian Nordic A/S (OMX: BAVA) announced today that the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has exercised the first options under the contract to supply a freeze-dried version of JYNNEOS® smallpox vaccine, thus allowing for the first doses of this version to be manufactured and invoiced in 2023 and 2024.”
The company secured a contract for its smallpox vaccine with an undisclosed European country on May 19th, 2022, 12 days after the first confirmed case of monkeypox was indentified in Europe.
On June 7, 2022, Bavarian Nordic secured a five-year contract for its smallpox vaccine worth over $50 dollars:
Vanguard and BlackRock are among the major shareholders of Bavarian-Nordic stock:
Monkeypox Outbreak Data
Background on the Operation Dark Winter smallpox terrorism “tabletop exercise” from 2001 is covered in a previous article.
Monkeypox cases begin to spread across Europe in early May 2022, with many cases linked to men who have sex with other men. Initial cases were traced to locations such as an adult sauna and pride parade in Spain:
Below is a PDF with hyperlinked sources tracking monkeypox cases (text visible when you zoom-in):
