FOLLOW THE MONEY ~ Who's FUNDING the VACCINE COMPANIES

[DocRock]

Notable members Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers of the firm include partners John Doerr and Brook Byers, as well as high-profile individuals such as Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy (who joined as partner in January 2005), former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (who joined in July 2005 in the newly-created position of "strategic limited partner"), and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who joined as partner in November 2007 as part of a collaboration between KPCB and Gore's firm Generation Investment Management (GIM) to promote green technology, business and policy solutions. In 2008, John Gage of Sun Microsystems joined Gore as a Partner. [link to en.wikipedia.org]

Venture capital firm set to reap rewards on swine flu
[link to www.reuters.com]
By Alexander Haislip

LOS ANGELES, April 24 (Reuters) - The swine flu outbreak is likely to benefit one of the most prolific and successful venture capital firms in the United States: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Thomson Reuters Private Equity Week reported on Friday.

Shares of the two public companies in the firm's portfolio of eight Pandemic and Bio Defense companies -- BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX.O) and Novavax (NVAX.O) -- jumped Friday on news that the swine flu killed a reported 60 people in Mexico and has infected people in the United States.

The World Health Organization said the virus appears to be susceptible to Roche's (ROG.VX) flu drug Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir, but not to older flu drugs such as amantadine.

Shares of Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG closed up 3.48 percent after falling sharply earlier in the week on a cancer drug disappointment, while shares of U.S. biotechnology company Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O), which gets royalties from Roche on Tamiflu sales, slipped 10 cents to $45.80 on Friday.

But BioCryst, a maker of drugs that block key enzymes in viral diseases, jumped more than 26 percent on Friday to $2.21 per share. Viral vaccine maker Novavax rose more than 75 percent to $1.42 per share.

BioCryst CEO John Stonehouse said his company does not anticipate the use of its technology in treating this episode of swine flu.

"We're in clinical trials right now and not on the market," Stonehouse said.

Still, the companies will have to go even higher for Kleiner Perkins to make its investment back. Both BioCryst and Novavax experienced long drops from price peaks in 2006, when reports of avian flu dominated headlines.

BioCryst is down nearly 90 percent from its 2006 high of $20.75 per share and Novavax is down more than 85 percent from a high of $7.98 per share.

Kleiner Perkins invested $30 million in BioCryst in December 2005 alongside Fort Worth, Texas-based buyout firm TPG. The two firms invested again in August 2007, picking up $65 million worth of shares and warrants. The investors bought shares in BioCryst at $13.46 and then $7.80.

Kleiner Perkins put $20 million in Novavax in February 2006 alongside Palo Alto, Calif.-based Prospect Venture Partners. The two firms picked up the shares at $4.35.

Novavax can produce a vaccine from an emergent strain of flu virus in 12 weeks, according to CEO Rahul Singhvi. The company has contacted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to offer help and is trying to contact the Ministry of Health in Mexico, Singhvi said.

The company uses genetic information and "recombinant, virus-like particle technology" to rapidly engineer a vaccine. Its technology has been proven to work in humans during Phase II trials, Singhvi said, and it might be used in the case of an emergency.

"There is an emergency authorization avenue that is available that would allow us to use the vaccine in an emergency without further testing," said Singhvi.

Kleiner Perkins typically only invests in early stage start-up technologies. It is best known for its investments in Netscape, Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Google (GOOG.O) and Genentech (ROG.VX).

The Menlo Park, California-based VC firm launched a $200 million Pandemic Bio Defense fund in 2006 to invest in technology companies working on drugs, diagnostics and inoculations against flu-like diseases.

"We will invest to accelerate innovation, and we're in a hurry," Investor John Doerr said at the time. "We hope even a mild pandemic never recurs."

Investors at Kleiner Perkins were not immediately available for comment. More at posted link...

[BillyDa59]

I personally believe this swine flu thing is a bit overblown and I know who to blame for it being over-hyped. Really now, a bunch of people in a poor country die from a flu when they waited to get medical attention. No, I don't care how many have died from it. Illnesses happen and the media doesn't care about truth. The media cares about drama, because drama sells. Just like how Discovery channel started showing that 'reality' show, Deadliest Catch. A poor f**king excuse to have a drama series on an educational channel that used to show cool stuff. It's absurd. To get a bit more on-topic, I do believe that someone is lining Ted Turner's pockets to run this circus, and to make sure this shit becomes optimally terrorizing. Makes sense to me at least. I know what you guys are thinking about me right now. Well that's just fine. I would think the same thing if this was someone else taking. But what's worse is that I do not believe this is the bottom of it. I believe this is somehow related to the economic recession. I'm not saying governments are necessarily infecting people with a virus on purpose (I'm a conspiracy nut, not a guy standing on a street corner professing to passersby about the coming of Cthulhu). However, I do believe that the government is taking this opportunity to get money swirling around.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make a foil hat and bar all my windows. The Illuminati are coming to kill me.

Seriously though, I believe that's what's happening.

[dissonance]

mailto:sage

[Mr-Jigsaw]

No, the Deadliest Catch is a good show. And the Discovery Channel has some good shows.

[vcool]

Deadliest Catch is a ridiculous show about nothing. z0mg they fish somewhere in the Arctic! Oh noes, the man slipped and fell! Let's make the episode a dramatic struggle of man against a lump on his head.

It is really poor. Something like Survivor Man, albeit being hardly believable (my dad's been to Peru; had actually walked the jungles with a fucking machete and met aboriginals. some stuff that was shown on that show like the guy trying to run away from a jaguar in the middle of the night was absolutely ridiculous. The nights there are fucking dark, he'd sooner run in a tree than be able to run away from what he claimed to be a jaguar) is still pretty interesting since you get to watch some awesome scenery.

Discovery is slowly degrading into those petty reality channels that feature shows that try to make a whole drama storyline out of something stupid like stepping on a nail.

Anyways, this is personal opinion, obviously. It's a fact that this is a derail, however, so lets get back on topic.

[Mr. Happy]

But we've got the History Channel, Science, NatGeo, Smithsonian, and other special discovery channels to pick up the slack

[ghost12332]

I know 3 people who currently have Swine Flu, and it's nothing more then a rapid-onset version of the flu.

[rL^]

I know 3 people who currently have Swine Flu, and it's nothing more then a rapid-onset version of the flu.

That if I can recall, can kill you - and is not cureable.

[Dionysos]

BS. What kills you is a lung infection, something you can get a million ways. Its just a flu, and people are overdramatizing it and using it for their own political and economical ends.

Oh and I agree a thousandfold about Discovery Channel, its almost nothing but shit nowadays.

[zombie@computer]

BS. What kills you is a lung infection, something you can get a million ways. Its just a flu, and people are overdramatizing it and using it for their own political and economical ends.

Oh and I agree a thousandfold about Discovery Channel, its almost nothing but shit nowadays.

its method of killing is the same as AIDS. Technically it doesnt kill you, just weakens ya so other infections you normally can withstand mow you down. Still, id call AIDS pretty deadly, dont you?

I dont know how much we overrreact/dramatizing all of this. The problem with pandemics is that by the time they are killing in the thousands, you cant stop them in any way, and its hard to predict which virusses go pandemic on our asses and which dont. Its waay better to overreact than to wait too long. I dont know when we overreact and when not, let the WHO take care of that. They seem succesfull so far... Don't believe the media, dont believe your government, trust the WHO. Its the best of the options you have (even with the possiblity of them being corrupted). Is buying millions of flu shots a good decision? Lets all hope it was not... So far this virus is relatively harmless, lets hope it stays that way.

You need to predict these things early, we still need birds eggs to produce the medicine, meaning it isnt a process of one fluid + other fluid = flu shot, its a process that takes weeks, even more untill mass production is in effect.
Remember even YOUR government (pointing at aussies, usasies, brities, dutchies, frenchies, germies, etc) buys millions of doses of flu shots just to protect the elderly EVERY FUCKING YEAR. Its a booming industry, even without pandemics lurking around corners...

On a sidenote, I dont know why this flu is called the swine flu tho. All the avian flus were found in swines as well (it seem the interaction between swines and birds creates the deadliest virusses for humans). Then again, the swavian flu doesnt sound as cool.

[MayheM]

I know 3 people who currently have Swine Flu, and it's nothing more then a rapid-onset version of the flu.

That if I can recall, can kill you - and is not cureable.

It is totally treatable. Sure it can kill you but so can the regular flu... A papercut can kill you if it gets infected and is not treated. The fact is we are getting all crazy about something that is really hyped up. If you have a cough and or feel congested in your chest go to the doctor and get checked out. It is not ebola, it is not going to kill you in a matter of hours.

I for one, knock on wood, have never gotten the flu. I have never had a flu shot. I do not get sick very often and when I do I get over it very fast. All this anti bacterial crap, wash your hands every two minutes, dont let kids touch dirt, drives me nuts. People are not building up immunities on thier own.

Mexico has already seen a drop in the number of people who are getting sick. This is just one of those things that freaked people out and in a few months will be almost forgotten.

[Sacul15]

Lots of conspiracy nonsense

Is that you Mango?

[vcool]

DocRock has been here since my time, I doubt he's Mango.

Also, swine flu is treatable with antiviral drugs. As long as you get your medicine in time, you'll live to tell the tale.

[Dionysos]

You dont even necessarily need medicine. MayheM summed up my opinion pretty well.

[BillyDa59]

So do we all agree then? It's a simple flu that originated from animals and it's just been overblown by the media?

And no, AIDS isn't that deadly. It takes years to get a full grasp on your body and then a little while after that to kill you. AIDS is widespread, as opposed to this flu that's just "rapid-onset."

This flu isn't any more widespread than any other illness currently. So far, the estimated number of possible cases is ~2500 whereas in 2005, ~300,000 new cases of leprosy popped up. Leprosy, the disease that 95% the world is naturally immune to.