Diary Prequel Package — page 117

May 12, 2005 - Met today in Building 31, 7A-24 with the Ugandan Vice president Professor Gilbert Bukenya, who is former Dean at Makerere University in Kampala. We had met previously when he was still in academics and now he is VP. We discussed collaborations between Uganda and NIAID. Over the past couple of weeks we are still engaged in trying to settle the Fishbein issue. He continues to attack. Cliff Lane is leading the arbitration effort for a settlement. It is clear that he, his brother Rand, his mother and their lawyer Steve Kohn are bad people, well beyond the lawyer issue; they really suck without care for lives of people whom their lying endangers. Also, morale at NIH is the lowest that I have ever seen it. House Chairman Joe Barton is trying to "reauthorize the NIH" by consolidating ICs and putting much more money into the NIH Director's office. We cannot tell if Barton is doing this on his own or if Zerhouni is behind it. I tend to think that it is a bit of both, but that Barton is the main driver. Also, the conflict-of-interest issues have not been settled. May 23 - 27, 2005 - Things again heating up with avian flu in Vietnam with press reports that the virus in evolving with possible resistance to Tamiflu and greater number of clusters in Vietnam. Lesser virulence could mean that virus is adapting to humans better. It is likely that all of this just reflects better surveillance and reporting as opposed to a significant degree of evolution of the virus. Nonetheless, the press has jumped on this and I have been on CNN a few times, Jim Lehrer Newshour, Lou Dobbs (CNN) and CSPAN for a Congressional Hearing on Flu (Energy and Commerce with Chairman Deal). Also, several briefings at DHHS and the White House with the usual suspects. May 30 - June 3, 2005 - Bird flu activities continue with briefing at DHHS a couple of times. White House briefing on June 2 on purchases of Tamiflu versus vaccine in VP's ceremonial office in White House. Present were: Carol Kuntz, Binita Ashar (Carol's assistant, Tom Reilly (OMB), Norris Cochran, Jeremy Katz, Rajeev Venkkaya, Lance Leggitt, Stew Simonson, Bill Raub, Kerry Weems, Bruce Gellin, Laura Lawlor (by phone), Jesse Goodman, CDC by phone - Julie Gerberding, Charles Schable, Steve Bice, David Baden. We are trying to reconcile the budget projects for FY 05 and 06 and 07 with the purchase needs for stockpiles of H5N1 vaccine and tamiflu. My role was important since we are doing the clinical trials with the H5N1 to determine the correct dose. This will then determine whether we will buy and how much depending on the required dose. We already have 2 million doses of vaccine in bulk and we plan to buy 20 million more vaccine doses. Also we are thinking of 20 million more treatment doses of tamiflu. Also, White House briefing with Carol Kuntz on June 3 on biologics biodefense. June 3 - 14, 2005 - I have not been recording events since I have been very busy, but over the past 10 days or so there has been considerable activity around the area of pandemic flu, biodefense, etc. I have briefed DHHS people as well as WH people. In addition, on June 13 we had a Hearing of the House Government Reform Committee for Biodefense chaired by Rep. Christopher Shays. I testified along with Stewart Simonson, Dale Klein (DoD), Joe Vitko (DHS), and Ron Saldareni (formerly of American