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Medicine Businesses United States

US Tried To Buy Out German Company For Access To Coronavirus Vaccine Research, German Officials Say (nytimes.com) 295

Posted by BeauHD from the money-talks dept.
New submitter andywest shares a report from The New York Times: The Trump administration attempted to persuade a German firm developing a possible vaccine for coronavirus to move its research work to the United States, German officials said, raising fears in Berlin that President Trump was trying to assure that any inoculation would be available first, and perhaps exclusively, in the United States. The offer arose from a March 2 meeting at the White House that included the chief executive of the German firm CureVac, Daniel Menichella. President Trump briefly attended the meeting and Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the White House coronavirus task force, was also there. White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But two senior American officials said that some of the German news accounts first reporting the story were overblown, particularly with regard to any effort by the United States to secure exclusive access to a vaccine. The Trump administration has spoken with more than 25 companies that say they can help with a vaccine, one of the American officials said, and is open to speaking with others. Any solution, he said, would be shared with the world.

Nevertheless, Germany's interior minister, Horst Seehofer, said that Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has a famously testy relationship with Mr. Trump, will lead a crisis meeting with ministers on Monday that will include discussion of a German defense strategy for the firm. Asked by a reporter to confirm that the U.S. administration had tried to take over a German company researching vaccines, Seehofer responded that he had heard about the effort "from several members of the government and it will be discussed tomorrow in the crisis team." Another official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the company was offered a "large sum" of money.

According to the German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag, which first reported the story on Sunday, Mr. Trump offered CureVac roughly $1 billion in exchange for exclusive access to the vaccine. The newspaper quoted an unnamed German government source who said Mr. Trump wanted the resulting vaccine "only for the United States." But another German official, reached by The New York Times, said it was unclear whether the administration simply wanted the research work, and for any resulting production to be on American soil.
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US Tried To Buy Out German Company For Access To Coronavirus Vaccine Research, German Officials Say More

US Tried To Buy Out German Company For Access To Coronavirus Vaccine Research, German Officials Say

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  • More fake News (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I see slashdot continues to disseminate fake news and disinformation when it suits them.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by bloodhawk ( 813939 )
      how is fake when the US government confirms it did try to buy it and the company in question also confirms it? I gather your definition of fake is "news I don't like"

      • Re:More fake News (Score:4, Insightful)

        by sexconker ( 1179573 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @08:46PM (#59838310)

        how is fake when the US government confirms it did try to buy it and the company in question also confirms it? I gather your definition of fake is "news I don't like"

        It's fake because that didn't fucking happen.
        They're trying to tell you that Trump is trying to buy a vaccine and withhold it from the rest of the world. That's just pure fucking bullshit.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Cylix ( 55374 )

          Whatever they need to feed their TDS.

          There is no desire or need for the US to acquire the only vaccine. It isn't a money making operation for the US and nor would we conduct some secret warfare by withholding a vaccine.

          Every is absolutely crazy.

          • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

            by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @09:32PM (#59838466)
            Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • I'm sorry people who don't like opinions other than their own marked your comment "troll". It's their only way to vent. Your comment is relevant and rational. The U.S. looked to help finance 25 different international companies developing vaccines -- not to mention we have our own promising test vaccines right here. But, hatred for Trump... well, trumps reason. Oh, and I didn't vote for Trump. I just believe in facts.

        • Re:More fake News (Score:5, Interesting)

          by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @09:14PM (#59838410) Journal

          FD: not a huge fan of the rey coronado americano. But. The US fucking always shares lifesaving technology with the rest of the World... it's in our alleged hero DNA.

          El Presidente Trump is merely trying to rescue his presidency, and it shouldn't come off as too far fetched that he might believe he could buy his way out of this debacle.

          • Re:More fake News (Score:5, Insightful)

            by znrt ( 2424692 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @11:35PM (#59838770)

            El Presidente Trump is merely trying to rescue his presidency, and it shouldn't come off as too far fetched that he might believe he could buy his way out of this debacle.

            this seems the most simple and plausible explanation.

            anyway doesn't really matter anymore, it blew up. however, i'd wager he will rescue his presidency anyway, no matter what. that's peanuts compared to getting it in the first place. polarized us won't renounce to their local putin easily now. don't you enjoy being great again? :)

            • Stop and think for a moment; why would this sound bad to the average voter out there? Trump was trying to secure a vaccine for the US, possibly at the expense of another country so we'd have it first.

              I know us worldly types want to act outraged over anything "nationalistic" Trump pulls, but consider how this sounds to the voters.

              Trump will be our president until 2024 with this kind of behavior. The only question is whether we have a Trump as president after 2024.

              • Re: (Score:3)

                by gtall ( 79522 )

                Given the national debt increase under Trump and because of his last tax giveaway, the U.S. will be lucky to make it 2024. And to make matters worse, the Medicare trust fund is expected to require further support starting in 2025. Wait until the blue hairs learn Trump frittered away their health care.

                • The last several Presidents, starting at least with Clinton, doubled the national debt during their time in office (except for Bush '42, as a single-term President he oversaw a smaller, yet similar increase in the national debt.

                  On the campaign trail Obama bemoaned Bush'43s $8TN dollar national debt, and when Obama left office it was at what, $15-16TN?

                  The people complaining about Trumps trillion dollar annual deficits were mum when Obama ran similar size deficits.

        • It's fake because that didn't fucking happen.

          Oh, so the White House confirming it means it's a lie? Give it a rest, goober.

          They're trying to tell you that Trump is trying to buy a vaccine and withhold it from the rest of the world.

          It would be his wet dream come true.

        • Nobody cares if you cannot accept it. Get your triggers in check.

          Sorry, there are assholes in this world. And conspirators, and liars and murderers and catastrophes.

          And people who are too weak to handle reality, and need help.

      • Weirdly, it seems there are still Americans who are not horribly embarrassed by their president.

        Even more weirdly, there seem to be several who intend to vote for him again.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by HiThere ( 15173 )

          Read your history, you can find lots of analogies. You don't even need to go back very far. Consider Huey Long. Consider Jimmy Hoffa. Some are closer analogies than other. Read "When Prophecy Fails", and realize that it doesn't only apply to religion.

      • > how is fake when the US government confirms it did try to buy it

        Prove it. The part about wanting to make it US-only is also fake, what on earth kind of sense would that make?

        > and the company in question also confirms it?

        They're on the record denying it. Source [bloomberg.com]. Maybe talk to the actual company next time instead of spreading absurd rumors from idiots with axes to grind.

        You guys are full of crap. It's amazing how you bounce from saying the Russians want to divide the nation to posting fake news d

      • You're feeding a troll. Also, it's more AC FP shite. If you really can't help yourself, at least you can nuke the troll's Subject: line and try to guide the discussion into more constructive turf.

        When I first heard this story, I knew it was true, but I also knew it would take years to squeeze the full truth out of the GOT. (That's Gang Of Trump, the replacement for the defunct GOP.) Probably require a fresh Supreme Court, too. (Unless partisan "justices" could be compelled to recuse themselves.) However the

    • Except the White House confirmed it.

      Is anything that you disagree with or that doesn't fit your asshole narrative deemed to be "fake news"?

  • In times like this the Government has the power to just take stuff over and / or wave any IP, trademark , patent in place.

    • Just take stuff over? From the fucking Germans?

      How does that work, exactly?

      • The EU may just do on there OWN for the EU.

      • This happened before with AIDS research.

        France was far ahead of everyone else and shared their research with the U.S.. A U.S. company filed and received their drug patent even though France applied for the U.S. patent several months earlier but still hadn't received it.

        It was later discovered that the U.S. government purposefully delayed the patent application so a U.S. firm could control the research.

        Much of this was detailed in the book "And the Band Played On" which was later made into a movie.

      • Just take stuff over? From the fucking Germans?

        How does that work, exactly?

        "The Russians put our camera made by our German scientists and your film made by your German scientists into their satellite made by their German scientists." -- Ice Station Zebra

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          I wonder if that was based on some real life events. The first probe to photograph the far side of the Moon was Russia but used American film taken from spy balloons that crashed in the USSR.

          However the camera, the probe and the rockets were all developed by the Russians. They started from captured V2 rockets and some German documentation but unlike the American space programme didn't have German scientists actively developing the technology for them.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by msauve ( 701917 )
        >How does that work, exactly? Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.

        Where is that large automobile?.

  • News? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 16, 2020 @08:26PM (#59838260)
    Already debunked. [usatoday.com]
    • See https://www.politico.eu/articl... [politico.eu]

      Dietmar Hopp, the owner of the company, sought to put an end to the public fight on Monday saying the business would stay in Germany, but confirmed that Trump had sought to secure exclusivity rights. "It is not possible that a German company develops the vaccine and that it is used exclusively in the U.S. That was not an option for me," he told Germany's Sport1 when asked why he had refused an offer by Trump worth €1 billion.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Are you really that easily fooled?

      The company put out a very carefully worded statement saying that they didn't receive a specific offer. They just sat down and had talks with the Trump administration, and then word of it leaked out and the Germany government said they wouldn't allow it, and no offer was made.

      Who are you going to believe, a PR statement by the company that is in PR meltdown and who just fired the CEO who met with the Trump team, or the German government? And note that the Trump administrati

  • discussion of a German defense strategy for the firm.

    What, we're going to send in Marines to take the German lab over?

    TDS is apparently also an international phenomenon.

  • ...and CureVac shoots down the fake news (Score:3, Informative)

    by Kogun ( 170504 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @08:33PM (#59838276)
    "CureVac AG is disputing reports that President Donald Trump tried to recruit the company to give the U.S. exclusive access to a possible coronavirus vaccine. Bloomberg’s Daniel Schaefer reports on "Bloomberg Markets: European Open." (Source: Bloomberg)" https://www.bloomberg.com/news... [bloomberg.com]

    • Re:...and CureVac shoots down the fake news (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 16, 2020 @09:02PM (#59838368)

      CureVac just unexpectedly booted their CEO, right after his meeting with Trump and other US officials. Turns out CureVac's major investor was not a fan [reuters.com] of the idea:

      CureVac’s main investor Dietmar Hopp said he was not selling and wanted CureVac to develop a coronavirus vaccine to “help people not just regionally but in solidarity across the world.”

      Reuters also reports that sources in the German government confirmed US interest in CureVac, as does Der Spiegel.

      But I'm sure you're right and these are all purely coincidental, nothing at all to do with the story being reported by so many respectable German news services.

      • Look at that! Some time ago, in response to an overly zealous american claiming that Europe has nothing on the US I went into erotrash rant pointing examples where we have it better...
        One of my points was 'and most of the modern drugs from which your BigPharma makes billions are developed in Europe, specifically Germany'.
        Prophetic. American guys, I like you. I don't suffer from TDS. But your BigPharma sucks and this attempt to buy your way out (again!) on the expense of others is a dick move. Sorry.

    • I would guess the denial hinges on the word, "exclusive."

      I could imagine the US vying to control this technology, which will be taken as an affront within Germany. However I don't see why the US (or anybody) would then try to block other nations from also licensing it.

      • His whole gameplan has been disruption from day 1; this fits the pattern.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        By "exclusive" I think they meant "priority." As in, the US gets all the vaccine they need, first.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mark-t ( 151149 )

        However I don't see why the US (or anybody) would then try to block other nations from also licensing it.

        Then you lack imagination.

        Horrible people are unfortunately a reality, and it is quite believable for some country's leader to want to use the position of being the only country in the world with the vaccine to strong-arm other nations into doing what that nation's leader wants.

        I do *NOT* mean to suggest that is what Trump has necessarily done. I honestly don't know if he actually wanted exclusive a

      • Hmm... You just gave me the idea that maybe Trump's real plan was to sell the vaccine at a huge markup to other countries. In joke form:

        1. Buy German company that is making vaccine.
        2. YUGE increase on price of vaccine.
        3. PROFIT!

  • F A K E N E W S (Score:5, Informative)

    by sexconker ( 1179573 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @08:48PM (#59838322)

    This is pure FAKE NEWS.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news... [bloomberg.com]
    https://www.usatoday.com/story... [usatoday.com]

    BeauHD is an enemy of the state. Fuck BeauHD. Fuck Slashdot.

  • Russia Propaganda. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kaenneth ( 82978 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @08:50PM (#59838328) Journal

    Who gains from driving a wedge between the US and Europe?

    • Re:Russia Propaganda. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Delicious Pun ( 3864033 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @09:58PM (#59838516)

      Who gains from driving a wedge between the US and Europe?

      News outlets. The true enemy of the people today.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by U0K ( 6195040 )
      Maybe it's Russia, maybe not.
      Because if you ask the question who's gaining from that it could be every one who isn't the US or Germany or gains from their relationship. At most this is about the US and the EU and not Europe as a whole. All the geo-politically important parts of Russia are also in Europe, don't forget that.
      So a small but incomplete list would be: the UK for example, Iran, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Russia...

      So if you want to imply Russia here, there should be

    • Russia for course but Russia is closer to Europe while the US is merely a distant spectator with sentimental ties based on race which are rapidly fading as our cultures diverge.
      If Europe wants protection from Russia Euros can make adult choices and fund their own war machine instead of hiding beneath US skirts. I'd like to see the division continue because as with Israel, all the US does is sacrifice blood and treasure for ungrateful parasites.

    • Who gains from driving a wedge between the US and Europe?
      The wedge is there since the 1970s ... the only "stupid ally" of the US in Europe is UK ... if at all.

  • "...raising fears in Berlin that President Trump was trying to assure that any inoculation would be available first, and perhaps exclusively, in the United States."
    Oh shit, it's possible the President of the USA is interested in protecting the people of the USA from a pandemic. Break out the pitchforks! What if he doesn't want to share?!?! Get the torches!
    Article is a load of crap.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Seriously, I doubt that Trump was trying to get this just for America. Bringing the R&D here would be something that he would try (think trying to buy greenland).

    • Why else would Trump want foreigners?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      Why wouldn't Trump try to push a deal for his American friends to own the vaccine? Whoever gets the vaccine first can make a YUGE profit if they price it high enough.

      The more outrage I see from the deranged followers of Trump, the more convinced I am that there really is another scandal of Trumpian incompetence in here. So much smoke has to have a fire.

  • Lies (Score:4, Informative)

    by sexconker ( 1179573 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @09:18PM (#59838424)

    As usual, this is pure bullshit.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news... [bloomberg.com]

    • Re:Lies (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @10:42PM (#59838632) Journal

      Various German officials are reluctant to outright deny the story. There is probably more to this that has yet to come out. Note that dealings with the German gov't and dealings with a private company may not necessarily be in sync.

  • Nope. (Score:2, Informative)

    by sexconker ( 1179573 )

    Not true at all.
    https://www.usatoday.com/story... [usatoday.com]

  • oh slashdot, how money and advertising have corrupted you.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geek ( 5680 )

      This might be the end of slashdot for me. 20 years visiting this site, watching it die like this is heartbreaking

  • Next you'll be telling me we bought technology form Yugoslavia so we could go to the moon. :)

  • "... raising fears in Berlin that President Trump was trying to assure that any inoculation would be available first, and perhaps exclusively, in the United States."

    This kind of activity is tantamount to a war crime in my opinion.

    Trump would have loved to hold the rest of the world hostage while he doled out doses of vaccine to his cronies and favorites. If you aren't on the "yes I love you Dear Leader" list, you wouldn't get the vaccine.

    You know it's true. You right-wingers will deny it and pretend to be o

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      Since your quote said "...raising fears..." I've got to agree with you. But that doesn't mean that's what happened. And we can't tell. A denial by a liar isn't that convincing.

  • The whole story must be false, since I have it on good Slashdot authority that the development of new drugs and treatments does not happen in a country with socialized medicine.

  • So you know this is fake news when the first human trials are ALREADY started in the USA. This is not the only company ... Moderna, Inc. is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company that is focused on drug discovery and drug development based on messenger RNA. The company creates synthetic mRNA that can be injected into patients to help them create their own therapies.

  • The rest of the world hears it, and clearly remembers it perfectly. Especially in times like these.

  • How is that any different from mass-murder?

    I don't even get why anyone would want exclusivity, other than to literally let others die.

    I'd treat it like a threat of war or terrorism.

  • Pure lies. (Score:3)

    by Nostalgia4Infinity ( 3752305 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @09:02AM (#59839960)

    I expected better from slashdot then posting proven fake news. Welcome to the new national enquirer of tech news.

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