The U.S. government already is buying $162.5 million worth of vaccine against the H5N1 bird flu strain from two companies -- Sanofi-Aventis and Chiron Corp. It also is ordering millions of doses of Tamiflu and Relenza, two antiflu drugs believed to offer some protection against the bird flu.

Sanofi-Aventis Formerly known as Sanofi-Synthelabo. The Group's principal activities are the research, production and distribution of pharmaceuticals through the following therapeutic areas: Central Nervous System, Cardiovascular/Thrombosis, Oncology and Internal Medicine. It has operations in more than one hundred countries worldwide. The Group's products are sold under the brand names of Plavix, Lovenox/Clexane, Taxotere, Eloxatine, Lantus etc. During the year 2004, the Group Sanofi-Synthelabo and Aventis merged to create Sanofi-Aventis.

The World Health Organization is urging drugmakers including GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Sanofi-Aventis SA and Chiron Corp. to join in developing a vaccine to stop Asia's deadly bird flu virus from triggering a pandemic.

Klaus Stoehr, director of the UN agency's global influenza program, will meet in Geneva today and tomorrow with representatives of the world's major vaccine producers to enlist them in readying hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine in case the deadly strain of influenza starts spreading among humans.

BusinessWeek expects avian flu vaccine stockpiling by government officials will help the Sanofi-Pasteur company on behalf of Sanofi-Aventis and Chiron. "Tamiflu," it reported is an antiviral manufactured by Roche, . . . considered effective against avian flu. . . . The U.S. owns enough for 4.3 million people, with more on order." BusinessWeek failed to report:

1) Tamiflu's safety and effectiveness has not been determined in people with other chronic medical conditions--a significant percentage of the U.S. population-- and common side effects of this drug include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bronchitis, stomach pain, dizziness, headaches, and much, much more;

2) Roche (Hoffman-LaRoche) was found guilty of price fixing the world's supply of vitamins in 1999 as part of the global petrochemical/pharmaceutical cartel evolved from Nazi-Germany's I.G. Farben organization

3) Sanofi-Aventis's corporate colleagues include Merck, a company that received a lion's share of the Nazi war chest at the end of WWII, whose earnings plunged after the withdrawal last year of its deadly Vioxx arthritis drug.

According to recent news reports, Merck is partnering with Sanofi-Aventis to produce the world's first sexually-transmitted-cancer vaccine to be given to prepubescent boys and girls.