Free Republic

NBC reporter Dana Lewis reporting live video from newly discovered PLO terrorist training camp that was discovered in Iraq. It has obstacle course, shooting range, pretty much looks like one of the familiar AlQaeda terrorist training camps. Dana Lewis also reports that this camp is close to the infamous pesticide site and that there are some of the same French pesticide drums (not the others suspected of containing the CW "Cocktail" mixture) at the PLO camp along with gas masks and chemical suits. They're not sure what to make of it and the officer in charge was hesitant to say...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats on Wednesday introduced legislation that would repeal a law that gives vaccine, drug and medical device makers broad protection against lawsuits in a public health or bioterror emergency. Democrats generally agree there should be some legal protections for certain vaccines but say the Republican version defined health emergency too broadly and did not compensate people who were injured. The liability provision, strongly favored by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, was added to a defense bill enacted in December. Democrats would have an uphill struggle trying to repeal it.

SWIFTWATER -- Swiftwater-based Sanofi Pasteur, formerly Aventis Pasteur, is threatening to transfer future development at its Monroe County site to foreign countries if the state does not commit $40 million for a sewer project the company says it needs to expand. In a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell, Sanofi Pasteur warned that without additional sewer infrastructure, future expansions -- specifically the expansion of a $160 million flu vaccine production plant -- would shift to company locations in Canada or France. Such a transfer would cost the region future jobs and potential new contracts, the company said in the letter. "Without...

The British government delivered a major blow to the U.S. health prospects this winter when it shuttered Chiron's (CHIR) flu vaccine shipments, leaving a significant shortage that sent U.S. health officials scrambling. The only other major supplier, Aventis (AVE), a unit of Sanofi-Aventis (SNY), appears able cover only another 10% from its inventory, and there are doubts about that. Medimmune (MEDI) can produce only 2 million flu vaccine doses out of about 100 million needed. Flu season begins in November. Flu shots are usually given in October. It takes six months to bring a production cycle up to par. Some...

FRANKFURT, Sept. 6 - The year's big drug-industry merger may turn out to be about using marketing muscle to fight fat. In April, when the French drug company Sanofi-Synthélabo vanquished all other players with a long-shot takeover bid for a much larger French-German rival, Aventis, many commentators focused on the role of politicians in Paris. The French government, determined to create a national champion in pharmaceuticals, all but stage-managed the deal, which created the world's third-largest drug company, after Pfizer of the United States and GlaxoSmithKline of Britain. But last week, with Sanofi's release of promising test results for a...