Hungarian birdflu vaccine - deals with question marks
I've been very busy during the last couple of months, with elections in Hungary, which totaly diverted atention from almost everything. I think this is an interesting aspect of my country's life: are we too provincial? I'm not sure. We have had very serious floods on our rivers - the Danuba and the Tisza - during the election campaign, nevertheless, it did not become an election issue and whta is more important, people and materiel were not abandoned because of the political infighting. All the same, my topics here in this blog - birdflu - has not been an issue either during these long campaign-months. Although actually there were some pieces of news concerning the production and the sale of licences of the Hungarian vaccine.
And this is a highly interesting and sensitive issue.
Its about a small Hungarian company in the viccinity of the Hungarian capital, Pilisborosjenő. The company, Omninvest is said to be the first in the world that started to produce a vaccine against the H5N1 virus, a vaccine that prevents a human being from developing the illness should he or she be infected with the virus, which, for the time being is spreading only from animal to animal (at least this is what the Hungarian PM, Mr. Ferenc Gyurcsany said when he visited the company in mid-March).
Ominvest, which has been producing vaccines against ordinary flu, has already received a nonrefundable capital-injection of some 10 million US Dollars (2 Bn Hungarian Forints) to speed up development and production of the H5N1 vaccine.
The company agreed - according to the Hungarian economic weekly Figyelő (Observer) - to transfer 14 per cent of all the proceeds it gets from the sale of the vaccine and or its licence.
This story seems to be really fine. But. According to some Hungarian reports not everything is crystal clear with Omninvest.
Omninvest, founded some fifteen years ago by two Hungarian businessman is now 98 % owned by an offshore company registered in Cyprus, but it is not clear who are behind this offshore company. Thus nobody knows who profits from the huge investments provided to them by the Hungarian state i.e. the taxpayer.
Another delicate side of the story is that Omninvest struck a deal with a Bagdad based company, named IIG Holding Iraqi Investment & Development Group Co giving them the exclusive rights to resell the know how of the vaccine-production technology in as many as 29 countries. The named company was founded by a dubious Iraqi businessman of mixed - Iraqi and Hungarian blood -, Mr. (Dr., Sheikh?)Semir Sabih Khelil Al-Dulaimi who has a rather long record in the Hungarian press of unclear political and business connections.
Most strikingly Hungarian officials refuse to comment on the many questions journalists raise in connection with Omninvest, its background and especially on the question: why is it in the interest of the state to finance a company whose dealings are absolutely non-transparent for the public eye.
I've been very busy during the last couple of months, with elections in Hungary, which totaly diverted atention from almost everything. I think this is an interesting aspect of my country's life: are we too provincial? I'm not sure. We have had very serious floods on our rivers - the Danuba and the Tisza - during the election campaign, nevertheless, it did not become an election issue and whta is more important, people and materiel were not abandoned because of the political infighting. All the same, my topics here in this blog - birdflu - has not been an issue either during these long campaign-months. Although actually there were some pieces of news concerning the production and the sale of licences of the Hungarian vaccine.
And this is a highly interesting and sensitive issue.
Its about a small Hungarian company in the viccinity of the Hungarian capital, Pilisborosjenő. The company, Omninvest is said to be the first in the world that started to produce a vaccine against the H5N1 virus, a vaccine that prevents a human being from developing the illness should he or she be infected with the virus, which, for the time being is spreading only from animal to animal (at least this is what the Hungarian PM, Mr. Ferenc Gyurcsany said when he visited the company in mid-March).
Ominvest, which has been producing vaccines against ordinary flu, has already received a nonrefundable capital-injection of some 10 million US Dollars (2 Bn Hungarian Forints) to speed up development and production of the H5N1 vaccine.
The company agreed - according to the Hungarian economic weekly Figyelő (Observer) - to transfer 14 per cent of all the proceeds it gets from the sale of the vaccine and or its licence.
This story seems to be really fine. But. According to some Hungarian reports not everything is crystal clear with Omninvest.
Omninvest, founded some fifteen years ago by two Hungarian businessman is now 98 % owned by an offshore company registered in Cyprus, but it is not clear who are behind this offshore company. Thus nobody knows who profits from the huge investments provided to them by the Hungarian state i.e. the taxpayer.
Another delicate side of the story is that Omninvest struck a deal with a Bagdad based company, named IIG Holding Iraqi Investment & Development Group Co giving them the exclusive rights to resell the know how of the vaccine-production technology in as many as 29 countries. The named company was founded by a dubious Iraqi businessman of mixed - Iraqi and Hungarian blood -, Mr. (Dr., Sheikh?)Semir Sabih Khelil Al-Dulaimi who has a rather long record in the Hungarian press of unclear political and business connections.
Most strikingly Hungarian officials refuse to comment on the many questions journalists raise in connection with Omninvest, its background and especially on the question: why is it in the interest of the state to finance a company whose dealings are absolutely non-transparent for the public eye.
Technorati Tags: Flu, Avian Flu, bird flu, prevention , vaccine, Hungary , Gyurcsany
posted by Birdflu(g) at 5:12 AM
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