Power Alley — But… Tardy: Amgen’s Lobby Spend Up Sharply In Q1 2022, Like Pfizer & Merck Before It…

May 19, 2022May 19, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Yes, I am about a month overdue with this report — the raw data from the Congressional disclosure forms has been available since April 20. I apologize. [And, since Pfizer is significantly larger on a market cap basis, than either of the others mentioned, we would expect its spend would be larger — but it is out-sized, still — compared to its size advantage over the two.]

And you may compare the below to the ones I did on Pfizer here — and Merck, here, each for the same period as the below. Enjoy — but that’s a… lot of… scratch, for just one fourth of a one year:

…H.R. 3, Prescription drug pricing issues;

H.R. 19 Lower Costs, More Cures Act of 2021;
H.R. 5260 Reduced Costs and Continued Cures Act;
H.R.5376, Build Back Better Act;
S2891 Restoring America Invents Act, patent thickets/product hopping;
HR 4521 Unites States Innovation and Competition Act
of 2021 Issues related to FTC;
Biosimilars reimbursement issues, no specific bill:
Supply Chain Issues, no specific bill;
Issues related to clinical trial diversity, HR 6584 DEPICT Act;
HR5030 DIVERSE Trials Act;
Issues related to biodefense issues, S3799 PREVENT Pandemics Act;
Issues related to cardiovascular disease awareness, no specific bill;
H.R. 5801 HELP Copays Act;
Issues related to patient affordability issues, including copay cards, copay accumulators, National Benefit Payment Parameters
FDA Issues; User Fee Reauthorization (no specific bill);
H.R. 6963, the Accelerated Approval Integrity Act of 2022;
H.R. 7047, a bill to amend Title III of the Public Health Service Act with respect to the determination by the Secretary regarding certain biosimilar application elements, and for other purposes;
H.R. 6000, the Cures 2.0 Act; and
H.R. 7008, the Pre-Approval Information Exchange Act (among other matters)….

Now you know — onward, grinning at the idea of an “over/under” bet — measured in weeks, before Martin Shkreli sees his halfway house placement revoked, due to a terms of monitored release violation. We shall see. I hope he’s learned some… self-control, and self-reflection, while away.

नमस्ते

In Which Hinderaker (And His Former Client) Cite Non-Peer Reviewed “Racial Difference” Study — On Vax In Rural South.

May 18, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Damn. Just… damn.

I didn’t realize Kevin had a racial agenda. I just assumed he was not very… sharp. Like John, but I’ve long seen Hinderaker’s “phrenology” agenda appear, in many a context.

Tonight, the pair of them, ostensibly to critique the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines (a mission they both fail, yet again — BTW), end up wandering into offering wholly speculative conclusions about data (making racially- stereotyping assumptions, about the data — that is itself highly suspect, since it is not peer vetted… and covers only a small part of the rural South).

Actually — this looks to be… intentional lying, of a racial sort: they want to promote the idea that Black people are “the problem”… when it comes to persistently-high Covid incidence rates.

So they grab a shoddy data set, and offer wholly unsupportable conclusions from it.

As to the vetted facts, do see at above left. The truth is, the best predictor of whether you’ll die of Covid turns out to be (i) whether you are unvaccinated over the age of 65, coupled to (ii) how completely your county voted Trump in 2020. That is, the more MAGA your local old folks are, in a given county, the greater the overall mortality rate is.

Those are facts; peer vetted, boys.

So sit down and shut up.

Out.

And While We Are Speaking Of “Old Crooks”… Martin Shkreli Is Now On The Loose In NYC…

May 18, 2022May 18, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We know that Martin was not, in fact, “hitchhiking” on the Pennsylvania Turnpike at 7:35 am this morning, as the caption he put on Twitter plainly, but playfully, stated. [Earlier update, here.]

As Billy (“Mister, the Kid” to you!) says, I think this suggests Martin may well not be hanging with people who would be most-focused on his walking the straight and narrow.

The gent depicted claims to be a private equity investor in various health care ventures, and says he serves as an advisor as to the same — on some portfolio companies.

Now, recall that Martin’s SEC and FTC banning orders expressly forbid advising such people and companies — even for no fee. Even, for free. He is supposed to be “out” of the game, completely.

If they discussed any life science investing business — or any publicly traded securities-trades for/of any ’34 Act company, with a view toward influencing any policies or profiting from trading any of them… well, Martin has already more than arguably… violated his banning orders.

We shall see. This is a literal mine-field — for Martin, if anyone overheard any conversation along those lines, at the Cracker Barrel today.

Y I K E S.

नमस्ते

An Update, On UAE & Thomas Barrack, Colony And Wynn — And China…

May 18, 2022May 18, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

If it wasn’t clear before — it certainly is now. Tangerine’s policy positions were, in the main, for sale to the highest (non-US) bidders. [We already know about Jared’s cozying up to the Saudis — and his, and Ivanka’s over $44 million, in just one year at 1600 Penn.]

And this week, the Justice Department sued the owner of the Wynn casinos, for failing to register as a foreign agent for China, while lobbying Trump, on behalf of Xi. Kinda’ makes one skeptical, about what he meant by “America First” — huh.

But my punchline is… the superseding felonies indictment dropped yesterday, in Brooklyn, on one other billionaire, one… Thomas Barrack.

It alleges (and can prove) a $374 million payday, for Barrack’s company, called Colony — after many dry years seeking funds in the UAE, once Barrack convinced Trump to insert pro-UAE language in official GOP- and later, Trump Admin- policy statements. He did all of this without telling the American people he was working for a foreign government at the White House… thus:

…According to records maintained by Company A [Colony], Company A raised no new capital from United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth funds between 2009 and 2016. However, in2017 and 2018, in part as a result of the efforts of the defendants THOMAS JOSEPH BARRACK and MATTHEW GRIMES and the assistance of the defendant RASHID SULTAN RASHID AL MALIK ALSHAHHI and United Arab Emirates officials, Company A raised approximately $374 million in capital commitments from United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth funds….

…While the primary purpose of the [investment fund] [will be] to achieve outsized financial returns, it will also accomplish a secondary mandate to garner political credibility for its contributions to the policies of [Trump]…. We will do so by sourcing investing, financing, operationally improving, and harvesting assets in… those industries which will benefit most from [a Trump presidency]….

Meanwhile, Hinderaker and the boys yammer on about anything but the racial massacre in Buffalo, NY — or these shockingly large straight bribes allegedly received by Trump-kins for delivering Tangerine’s acquiescence on various non-America-First positions.

If there is any justice in the world, Barrack will spend the end of his life behind bars (not in Aspen) as this ends.

What a crooked bunch… of crooks.

नमस्ते

A Fossilized Tooth — In A Cave In Laos… Looks To Be A 160,000 Year Old By Product Of Denisovans… Interbreeding.

May 17, 2022May 17, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Nope. I won’t spoil this one.

I won’t even hint at it with a new graphic. I’ll run a legacy graphic. But to be certain, there is a new discovery here — about who we are. . . and from whence we all may have come. Read about, and see it all, at The New York Times, science section, this evening:

…Sorting through [the Laotian “Cobra Cave” ancient limestone walls, they found]… bones… [and,] the scientists found a surprise: a molar that resembled a human child’s tooth. But some features of the molar suggested it was not quite human. “We were so amazed and so excited,” Dr. Shackelford said….

They were even more delighted when geologists examined the cave wall to determine the age of the tooth. The tooth itself was too small to analyze, but the researchers found fossils and minerals nearby that contained radioactive elements that broke down at a regular pace. By measuring those elements, the researchers estimated the tooth was between 164,000 and 131,000 years old….

In other words, the Cobra Cave tooth is about twice as old as the oldest modern humans that Dr. Shackelford and her colleagues have found in the region. The tooth’s great age hinted that it belonged to an extinct relative of modern humans. But which one?….

You will have to go read the NYT, to find out. Smile… g’night.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Thinks Elon Should Pay… $44 Billion For A Company Without A Profit Orientation… Charming.

May 17, 2022May 17, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Clearly… Hinderaker was never an M&A lawyer.

Nuthin’ there — below the hat, it seems — nor above the full Windsor knot.

Equally clearly, he believed the Gordon Gecko character Michael Douglas played now 45 years ago — in a… fictional movie — was real. It was a fiction, John.

Just as you, John, would never recommend “A Few Good Men” as indicative (in any manner) of how a court-martial works… (but it is a fun “farce“!) stick to your lane. [But I guess it makes you a perfect match, for Musk — at M&A. Charming.]

What… exactly that lane might be… is not at all clear, in the last two decades.

He seems to actually know… so very little, anymore.

That’s what happens when an old lawyer is put out to pasture — since he didn’t find a worthy cause to volunteer for — he’s just becoming more and more… irrelevant.

Cheers.

To Hinderaker — “Cool Story, Bro… Sure, Sure…” If So, Now Do… Candace Owens.

May 17, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Here tonight, John Hinderaker again libels BLM.

Y A W N.

You know, if he could actually prove it — he would show the documents. He did so two decades ago — re Dan Rather. But not a scrap of paper, here so far — what a… useless… chucklehead.

And even IF you eventually do (have documents)… then, I expect you’ll agree, your buddie Candace Owens… goes next into the barrel, for you — since you are such a fair-minded, principled sort.

Yeh. Nah — I won’t wait up, for that.

Out.

At Risk Of Sinking… Into Trivia — But We’ve Covered Musk’s Bot Claims, Here…

May 17, 2022May 17, 2022 ~ condor ~ 1 Comment

This morning, Candace Owens makes wholly-evidence free claims about how many followers HRC has.

She — but of course! — ignores that in mid-2018 Tangerine’s follower count went up by about 25 million (bots) in two nights. Plainly, he bought the bot followers from a Russian oligarch connected “business(es)”.

Similarly, Candace’s follower count nearly doubled — and did so, almost a full year before her book announcements. That is, before she was widely known to a white audience, of any kind.

Hers jumped by over a million — in very short order (we watched). We hear she too paid some of the Blexit Foundation’s cash, to similar (or the same) “businesses”.

And yet, she would pretend this helps Elon’s case — for what… it is unclear.

I gather she wants Mr. Musk to walk away.

Which plainly seems to be where he is headed.

Cool.

Out.

John Hinderaker: Apologist For White Replacement Theorists?

May 17, 2022May 17, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Let’s start with this: not one Powerline writer has condemned the weekend’s racist white mass murderer. Not one. Not one has even mentioned it. For PL, it’s an Orwellian moment: an event that cuts against the boys’ agitprop agendas. So they fall silent. Yet in the recent past, John made disgustingly false statements about Black on Asian crime. These are his affirmative, false and incendiary remarks designed to incite low information whites to attack people of color, broadly.

Moreover, I could link no fewer than eight posts, in which Hinderaker openly fanned the fire (with the lie that) claims the goal of Democrats is to “replace” (remove the majority existence) of white Americans, to replace them with people of color.

But I’ll link just two: the one above, and this other one.

Yet, to be sure, he regularly falsely paints people of color as responsible for most of the crime… and on and on.

The Powerline site has been very quiet; moribund almost, since the Buffalo / Tops racial massacre, by a Kevlar-kitted, heavily armed (AR-15 toting) white terrorist 18 year old, who left a manifesto echoing John’s thoughts.

And Candace Owen’s and Tucker Carlson’s, to be fair. [I may yet return to amend this — to list 30 or so similar posts by Hinderaker.]

Have the federal and local domestic terror authorities contacted Powerline, to ask why they so often lie about matters that have time and again led to the mass murders of primarily people of color?

I wonder.