The Power of K Street

Republicans are fond of pointing out that there have been no terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11 whenever people in the rest of the country begin to chafe at the erosion of our civil liberties in the name of terra!terra!terra! The only problem is that there was in fact another terrorist attack on American soil after 9/11. In October, 2001 five people were killed and a couple of dozen others were made sick by being exposed to anthrax which had been sent through the mail from the East Coast. The investigation into that attack still hasn't yielded much in the way of information and no one has been charged.

For months after that attack there was some serious scurrying about as the Department of Health and Human Services tried to find a way to counter any other such biological attack. Unfortunately, the only anthrax vaccine on the government shelves had a few problems with it: multiple doses over a long period of time were required. DHHS and the administration put out a request for a new vaccine which would be more useful because more timely. A company stepped forward with a promising product, and then all hell broke lose from the company that had the old contract. A superb investigative piece in today's Los Angeles Times describes just what happened.

...the old vaccine is still the only one available -- and the government is buying it in mass quantities for the Strategic National Stockpile.

The manufacturer, Emergent BioSolutions Inc. of Rockville, Md., prevailed in a bitter struggle with a rival company that was preparing what federal health officials expected to be a superior vaccine. The episode illustrates the clout wielded by well-connected lobbyists over billions in spending for the Bush administration's anti-terrorism program.

Emergent's rival, VaxGen Inc. of South San Francisco, had spent four years developing a new anthrax vaccine and had won an $877.5-million federal contract to deliver enough doses for 25 million people. The contract threatened Emergent's very existence. The old vaccine, its only moneymaker, would likely be obsolete if VaxGen succeeded. [Emphasis added]

VaxGen hit a glitch in the development, but it was the kind of glitch that the government's science advisors were certain could be overcome fairly quickly. However, that glitch was just the wedge Emergent was looking for when it unchained the K Street dogs.

Emergent responded by mobilizing more than 50 lobbyists, including former aides to Vice President Dick Cheney, to make the case that relying on the new vaccine was a gamble and that the nation's safety depended on buying more of Emergent's product.

The company and its allies in Congress ridiculed VaxGen and impugned the competence or motives of officials who supported the new vaccine. The lobbying effort damaged VaxGen's credibility with members of Congress and the Bush administration, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.

As a result, the contract with VaxGen was cancelled and we are now stuck with Emergent's vaccine and with all of its attendant problems:

The existing vaccine often caused swollen arms and muscle and joint pain. Inoculation required six injections over 18 months, followed by yearly booster shots. The estimated shelf life was just three years.

Here's how one respected biodefense described Emergent's victory:

...Dr. Philip K. Russell, a vaccinologist and retired Army general who was a senior biodefense official in the Bush administration, described the outcome as "a big, dramatic failure."

"National security took a back seat to politics and the power of lawyers and lobbyists," said Russell, who supported the decision to award VaxGen the contract. [Emphasis added]

And with this administration, that certainly comes as no surprise.