Rudy Giuliani played his part at the Republican convention and will probably be an intermittent surrogate for McCain in the next several weeks, but that isn't what will take up most of his time. Giuliani held onto his lobbying firm aptly named Giuliani Partners, albeit loosely while he was running for President. That's how he rakes in his cash, dealing with shady figures from around the world so they can have "Mr. 9/11" at their side. Giuliani will do anything for a buck and this week we learn he'll even go up against the U.S. Pharmaceutical industry to do so.
From BBC News:
Indian drug firm Ranbaxy has hired ex-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as an adviser, the company says.
The move comes a day after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the import of more than 30 generic drugs made by the drug firm.
The FDA said it imposed the ban after it found manufacturing quality problems at two Ranbaxy factories in India.
Gee, how can Rudy Giuliani bring a pharmaceutical maker into compliance with the FDA? Apparently the FDA put the black mark on Ranbaxy for having unsafe conditions and contamination problems at their facilities. Will the Mayor go into the factory and shout "9/11, 9/11, 9/11" and make all violations go away?
Of course not, but it is important to remember that the FDA is run by a combination of Bushies and Pharmaceutical industry lobbyists. They don't care about unsafe conditions, just take a look at the dangerous drugs that have been allowed out into the market due to lax regulations. So what is the real problem here?
Well as Forbes points out, every single drug that was banned was being made by U.S. competitors. In fact, the only drug that was left on the shelves was Ganciclovir Sodium and no one in Big Pharma made it. The crony at the top of the FDA talked tough about safety and holding other countries up to high standards but she really isn't fooling anyone.
So the question is, what will Rudy do to grease the wheels at the FDA of the Bush Administration to help Ranbaxy out? I'm guessing that somehow, somewhere and some way, money and favors will be exchanging hands when and if Ranbaxy is suddenly found to be in compliance again.
Image from NY Mag
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