VaxGen, founded in 1995. There’s a “missing link” in the history somewhere, but VaxGen is one of over 800 biotech companies founded in San Francisco’s Silicon Valley –the place that “gave birth to biotechnology”.
AidsVax, invented by Dr. Phillip Berman, became the basis of a scheme by VaxGen Inc. of California and officials of the CDC. http://briandeer.com/vaxgen-aidsvax.htm promoted as the world’s first AIDS vaccine “which flopped in two controversial clinical trials in 2003” in Bangkok Thailand and Indiannapolis, Indiana. AidsVax, in spite of its uselessness as an AIDS vaccine and its potential for “misdirecting and exhausting” the immune system which would then cause AIDS, was hovered over by a flock of official shepherds from the US govt to the WHO.
“Dr. William Heyward, head of HIV vaccine research at the CDC, had a secret deal to join the company….Heyward lobbied policymakers and was approved $8 million in grants for VaxGen…and in Jan,2000 he joined ex-CDC staffer Dr. Donald Francis, VaxGen president, who also hired former CDC deputy director Dr. Walter Dowdle”…
[left side bar quote] “Dr. Donald Francis [VaxGen president at the time] grossed nearly 4.5 million PoundsSterling from VaxGen in its first three years”..(about $7 million USD). –according to Brian Deer of the (UK) Sunday Times.
Besides providing vast personal wealth to the officers and directors of the company, VaxGen became the beneficiary of an $877 million dollar contract from the Dept. of Health and Human Services as Project BioShield funds were disseminated to develop national stockpiles against biological terror-threats. Those funds were subsequently withdrawn by HHS, which had an initial funding package of $5 billion to spend when Project BioShield was initiated.
Five of the first 10 grantees were California biotech companies; two of them in La Jolla near San Diego. http://cidrapbusiness.us/cidrap/content/bt/bioprep/news/may1005bioshield.html
By 2007, VaxGen was “struggling” and negotiated a merger with Raven Biotechnologies whose CEO, George F. Schreiner, became the new leader of VaxGen. James P. Panek became VaxGen’s president instead of its CEO. The company has a confusing array of shifting officers and personnel which appears consistent since its founding. As of October, 2009, VaxGen has acquired OXiGene, issued new stock, and reconfigured its leadership and ownership once again.
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United States v William L. Heyward: With Deer’s papers, federal attorneys brought charges against Heyward, accusing him of violating anti-graft laws intended to check corruption in public service. Heyward, now a VaxGen vice-president, eventually admitted the conflict, paid a $32,500 fine and escaped a high-profile criminal trial that might have proved devastating to the AidsVax project
Mission accompliced: While Heyward was still in government employment, the company directed journalists to him – as these media pack pages show – giving themselves his apparently independent endorsement. CDC’s prestige also helped the stock price of VaxGen Inc to soar following an October 1999 press announcement about the agency’s involvement. Heyward had championed VaxGen’s position for years, as in a string of science papers
Investor lawsuits (2): [pdf file] A second, third and fourth legal complaint, also rejected by VaxGen Inc, were filed by law firm groups headed by Green & Jigarjian, Haldenstein Adler and Glancy & Binkow. Others followed
Of chimps and chumps: Company claims in its IPO prospectus [pdf] as to why they say they believed AidsVax would work rested on antibodies in volunteers during small-scale tests, and two unverifed experiments described by AidsVax inventor Dr Phillip Berman in chimpanzees. Preparing a Sunday Times report for March 16 2003, Brian Deer raised abandoned AidsVax as not worthy of further development
Berman’s big moment: On March 31 2003, AidsVax inventor Dr Phillip Berman made a rare appearance at one of Vaxgen’s many conference calls – this time from a symposium in Canada. During his 30-minute presentation of material from the US trial, the stock market responded, as this chart shows. In January 2004, Berman quit VaxGen, with founding president Dr Donald Francis
Longtime observer: Since reporting in 1981 the first recognized death in the UK from what would later be known as Aids, Brian Deer has followed both the epidemic caused by HIV and issues connected with other vaccines, such as the DTP-DPT. His investigations for The Sunday Times in the field of medicine won him a British Press Award in 1999, the UK version of a journalism Pulitzer PrizeVehement denials: In reply to the criticisms, VaxGen Inc argued that the failed trials of AidsVax would help battle Aids, regardless of their outcome. At this link the company denies any conflict of interest by Dr Heyward, and at this link it offers its own account of the fierce opposition AidsVax has encountered, suggesting that criticisms were themselves motivated by conflicts of interest
Stansberry spam: For all the incredulity among vaccine scientists, one man who stood above the herd with Drs Francis, Heyward and Berman was Porter Stansberry, an Agora “investment analyst” who hyped the stock and claimed to have “proof“ that AidsVax worked. Even as insiders and institutions dumped VaxGen, Stansberry’s mailshots promised miracles. He later challenged Brian Deer
Contact Brian at this link: Were you misled by CDC’s apparently disinterested endorsement of the “world’s first Aids vaccine”? Do you feel the company told you the full story? To contact Brian Deer about these, or anything else, please email him through this link