Scientists and billionaires drive 'Manhattan Project' seeking to combat Covid-19, Deliver report to White House via backdoor channels

Wall Street Journal via The Straights Times ^ | 04/28/2020

[SeekAndFind]

WASHINGTON - A group of top American scientists backed by billionaires and industry titans says it has the answer to the coronavirus pandemic, and has delivered a report to the White House through backdoor channels.

The scientists compiled a confidential 17-page report that suggests a number of unorthodox measures to combat the coronavirus, including the use of powerful drugs that were intended to be used against Ebola in far heftier doses than tried in the past, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Specific recommendations made by the group, such as slashing manufacturing regulations and requirements for specific coronavirus drugs, have already been implemented by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Calling themselves Scientists to Stop Covid-19, the group of a dozen scientists - including chemical biologists, an immunobiologist, a neurobiologist, a chronobiologist, an oncologist, a gastroenterologist, an epidemiologist and a nuclear scientist - are marshalling brains and money to distil unorthodox ideas from around the globe.

They have described their work as a lockdown-era Manhattan Project - a reference to the World War II scientists who helped develop the atomic bomb - and are led by a 33-year-old physician-turned-venture capitalist, Dr Tom Cahill.

Living in a one-bedroom rental apartment near Boston's Fenway Park, Dr Cahill owns just one suit, but has enough lofty connections to influence government decision-making in the war against the coronavirus.

Of the other scientists at the centre of the project, biologist Michael Rosbash, a 2017 Nobel Prize winner, said, "There's no question that I'm the least qualified."

The group has helped pharmaceutical companies establish a link to Trump administration decision makers. Its members also acted as an ad hoc review board for research on the coronavirus, rejecting flawed studies before they reach policymakers.

[SeekAndFind]

Apparently, the White House has received their report. See here:

The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr Francis Collins, told people this month that he agreed with most of the report’s recommendations, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the matter.

The report was delivered to Vice-President Mike Pence, the head of the Trump administration’s coronavirus taskforce, and Cabinet members.

Dr Cahill’s connections come through his investment firm and include billionaires such as Mr Peter Thiel, Mr Jim Palotta and Mr Michael Milken, who enabled him to reach officials in the middle of the crisis.

[faucetman]

Okay, what is their “secret” cure? They forgot to explain it in this long boring article that says nothing.

[MHGinTN]

BBL

[Buckeye McFrog]

translation: Real scientists with serious research chops just couldn’t sit by and watch a couple of Washington desk jockeys like Fauci and Birx fumble around every day.

[trebb]

So, are they all taking this panacea or do they just want everyone else to take it?

[mmichaels1970]

Article is long on background, and short on details (IMHO), but I found this an interesting bit:

One major concern was the FDA, which required a month-long wait for approval of a proposal that identified monoclonal antibody drugs as the most promising treatment, which would involve drugmaker Regeneron Phamaceuticals Inc shifting its existing manufacturing facilities to Ireland in order to make the medicine in sufficient quantities.

Mr Scolnick attempted to convince bureaucrats, bu(sic) the effort ended poorly, prompting one scientist to remark of the FDA: "They're the problem here."

Dr Cahill then called the vice-president's aide, Mr Ayers. That same evening, Regeneron received FDA approval to immediately shift production to Dublin.

[shanover]

This is why Bill Gates is looking like a total treasonous globalist POS.

[unixfox]

It has to be kept secret. Otherwise they wouldn’t make money. Just like I believe there is a cure for most cancers. They make more money on treating it rather than curing it.

[Bommer]

There is one, Fendbendazole. Like the Trumps drugs, its over 95% effective is erradicating cancer and its cheap.

[glorgau]

Okay, what is their “secret” cure?

Inject lots of money into their pockets.

[Zathras]

Bill Gates needs to continue the coverup of his involvement.

[SgtHooper]

“We may fail,” said Professor Stuart Schreiber, a Harvard University chemist and a member of the group. “But if it succeeds, it could change the world.”

Typical Haa-vid hack looking for grants, etc.

[Bedford Forrest]

The Wall Street Urinal has the same sick compulsion to bask in the fleeting bling and flash of charlatans and fast money as do the NY Slimes and Bezos smut tabloid. Before they put out their stupid breathless piece about the lesser jackals circling the COVID19 money trough, they might have looked up Alfred Lee Loomis and the coterie of geniuses he oversaw during a time of extreme threat to the US. Suffice it, Loomis’ group didn’t consist of burntout Harvard faculty lounge lizards and weren’t led by a 33 year old former medical doctor starting a new career with other folks’ trust funds.

[FreeReign]

Long article. Nothing specifically positive.

But it did actually trash HCQ and antibody testing.