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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to rounding the news.

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This is your weekly news roundup presented to you by rounding the earth and spoken to

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you with you today by me, Liam Sturgis, your host.

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I'm coming at you live from the very sunny Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and we've

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got a very interesting show for you today.

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I started a little bit later than expected, though Jen Slavin says, just in time.

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I'm just pouring myself my Friday drink.

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Well, Jen, you're going to need it.

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So let's get into it, ladies and gentlemen.

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And as always, let me know if the sound and video are working fine.

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Today we're asking a question.

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Who is David Bollware?

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And as I put in the description, he's the most important man you've never heard of,

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at least when it comes to COVID-19 early treatment.

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Now, before we dive in, just a reminder, everyone, support the show on Rumble, Rock, Fing, or

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Odyssey.

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Wherever you're watching, there's the ability to leave a tip either in the form of a Rumble

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rant or a direct contribution on Rock, Fing, or Odyssey.

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It means a lot.

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It really makes a difference, keeps this going.

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And on RoundingTheEarth.locals.com, where I am engaging with the chat, Ali Maria is

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here, Jen Slavin's here, Gurr7019 is standing by, and Matthew was here earlier.

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Hopefully he can pop back in and watch this very interesting deep dive.

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And if you want to become a member, either free or paid, either is good over at RoundingTheEarth.locals.com.

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You can do so.

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And of course, if you do decide to sign up as a paid member for as little as $5 a month,

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you can gain access to our weekly locals supporters exclusive live streams, such as this one that

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we did on Monday.

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And there was another one on Wednesday as well.

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So I highly recommend you do that.

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But folks, without further ado, this is going to be long.

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So let's dive right in.

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Today we're doing truly a deep dive into this gentleman right here, Dr. David Bullware.

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Now he's come up in discussions over the last two weeks or so, as we've had round tables

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and locals exclusive discussions around Remdesivir.

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And we've talked a lot about Steve Kirsch and his role in things.

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And it's time to go deep into this particular gentleman because he's had quite the impact.

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So let's dive in.

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Who is David Bullware?

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Well, Dr. David Bullware, David R. Bullware was born in 1974.

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He attended Wabash College, where he pledged Phi Kappa Psi.

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His fellow fraternity brothers would later describe him as intelligent, humble, and well

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balanced and able to balance academics, fraternity life, well, fraternity life and athletics too.

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And as a member of the cross country team.

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He graduated in 1996 with a bachelor of arts in chemistry.

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He later attended the Indiana University School of Medicine, graduating in 2000.

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He completed an internal medicine and pediatrics residency and an infectious disease fellowship

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from the year 2000 all the way through to 2007 at the University of Minnesota, receiving

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a certificate in tropical medicine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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in 2006.

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He completed his master's in public health in 2007 at the University of Minnesota.

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Now also in 2007, Bullware became an assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious

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disease and international medicine at the University of Minnesota's Department of Medicine.

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And one of his very first projects, it seems, perhaps even before he was officially hired

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in 2006, Bullware began working with the university's Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology

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Translational Research under the leadership of one Dr. Paul Boanen.

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Founded in 2005, CIDMT's stated mission was to discover mechanisms of pathogenesis that

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can be translated into new treatments and strategies for prevention of infectious diseases.

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Now more specifically, Boanen and his team were one half of a long-term collaborative

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effort between the University of Minnesota and medical researchers in the African nation

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of Uganda.

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A 2008 article published in MinPost provides a summary of the origins of the collaboration.

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And I quote, the story begins in 2003 when Dr. Paul Boanen came to Kampala to train African

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physicians in the use of HIV medicine.

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Boanen brought the wisdom of experience because he treats HIV AIDS at the University of Minnesota

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Medical Center.

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He also co-directs the University's Center for Infectious Disease and Microbiology Translational

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Research.

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In Uganda, Boanen met the full brutal force of the HIV pandemic.

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It had killed nearly a million people, one in every 27 Ugandans.

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A million more were living under its death sentence.

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Their only hope for a reprieve was in HIV drugs, which were just beginning to trickle

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in to sub-Saharan Africa.

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Back in Minneapolis, Boanen recruited a colleague, Dr. David Bolware.

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The University of Minnesota's Academic Health Center contributed $200,000.

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More funding came from a philanthropic arm of the company TyboTech and the U.S. National

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Institutes of Health.

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Bolware and Boanen boarded planes for Kampala two or three times a year, staying two to

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four weeks at a time.

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Students and fellows from the university's schools of medicine and public health filled

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gaps between their shifts.

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Now, of note is the fact that the MinPost article acknowledges that the, quote, reporting

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for this article was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington,

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D.C., end quote.

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Now the Pulitzer Center is itself, if you didn't know, funded by a number of organizations

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who may find it in their interest to influence the way, generally speaking, in which infectious

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diseases in Africa is covered in the media, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,

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the Meta, formerly Facebook, Journalism Project, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the Omidyar

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Network, Open Society Foundations, Planned Parenthood, Population Services International,

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Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Nations Foundation,

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and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, among others.

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Now that was based on a list from 2022.

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And of course it may be that the Pulitzer Center had different, less conflicted sets

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of donors back in 2008.

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Could be.

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Now as described in that previous article, Bolware and Bohannan would travel to Uganda

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two or three times a year, staying two to four weeks at a time, where they would conduct

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research on the genetics of HIV-AIDS.

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They would also run clinical trials on various therapeutics on sick patients at the partner

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hospitals of the Infectious Diseases Institute.

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Now the Infectious Diseases Institute, the IDI, operates out of Makarewe University in

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Kampala, Uganda.

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It was conceived in 2001 by a group that included noted HIV-AIDS researcher Merle Sandy, Makarewe

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University School of Medicine Dean Nelson Suencambo, and Hank McKinnell, former CEO

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and chairman of Pfizer.

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Maybe you see why I choked on that.

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This led to the formation of a non-profit organization called the Academic Alliance

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for AIDS Care and Prevention in Africa, or simply the Academic Alliance, which then set

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about founding the Infectious Diseases Institute in 2002.

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Initial funding for the project came from Pfizer, distributed through a separate foundation

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called the Pangea Global AIDS Foundation.

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In the span of just a few years, the IDI would develop strong relationships with American

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institutions including Johns Hopkins University, the Infectious Diseases Society of America,

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and of course, Bolwer's University of Minnesota.

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As previously noted, Bolwer and Bohannon's work with the IDI was funded by the University

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of Minnesota, the National Institutes of Health, and a pharmaceutical company called TyboTech,

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a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which would later become Janssen Therapeutics, part of

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the larger Janssen Pharmaceuticals brand.

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But the IDI would very quickly find themselves on the receiving end of a tremendous amount

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of money for a full range of activities.

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Sponsors and financial supporters over the years include Abbott, the Eris Global TB Vaccine

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Foundation, which by the way, for more on that, I highly recommend the recent work of

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Mark Kulag over at Heusatonic Live, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Center for

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Disease Control and Prevention, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, specifically their

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Cooperative Biological Engagement Program, BioWarsfare, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation,

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the European Commission, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, or FIND, Gilead

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Sciences, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, LADOS, a military contractor,

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Massachusetts General Hospital, where by the way, Dr. Rochelle Walensky was working, Merck,

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the Merieur Foundation, responsible for building the biosafety level 4 lab at the Wuhan Institute

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of Virology, Microsoft Research, the National Institutes of Health, specifically the National

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Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Division

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of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or DAIDS, Novartis, Pfizer, President's Emergency

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Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, the President's Malaria Initiative, Rand Corporation, another

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military contractor, Rockefeller Foundation, UNICEF, UNITAID, United States Agency for

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International Development, or USAID, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of

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Infectious Diseases, US AMRID, the United States Department of Defense, the University

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of Washington, Welcome Trust, and the World Health Organization, just to name a few.

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Jerry Alitalo in the Rumble Chat says, former CEO of Pfizer.

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I said that right.

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Yes.

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So, Bolwer's focus during his time working with the Infectious Diseases Institute, which

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is ongoing by the way, has been, quote, understanding the pathogenesis of HIV immune reconstitution

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inflammatory syndrome, or IRIS, an important complication of HIV therapy that has recently

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emerged with the rollout of antiretroviral therapy in Africa.

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Specifically, he and his team have been, quote, prospectively characterizing the differences

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in gene expression that occur over time among people who develop IRIS.

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The objective is to identify the pathophysiology of IRIS, identify biomarkers for the prediction

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and diagnosis of IRIS, and develop better treatments for and to prevent IRIS.

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I just want to reiterate, this is something that is caused by HIV treatment, and I was

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not able to identify if there was a specific HIV treatment that was causing all this.

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But so far, the focus of his research seems to be responding to adverse effects to an

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entirely new syndrome that is caused by HIV drugs.

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And note this, Bolware's early interest in genetic medicine should not be overlooked.

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Neither should the fact that his colleagues at the time also took particular interest

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in mRNA as the mechanism for both the cause of HIV-related disease and how to potentially

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treat it.

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And when I say colleagues, I actually mean his superiors.

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For example, Dr. Bohannan's profile from January 2009 explains, quote, one mechanism

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that cells use to turn off gene expression is specific mRNA decay within the cytoplasm.

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Dr. Bohannan is working to understand the biochemical mechanisms that regulate mRNA

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decay and to understand the role of mRNA decay in regulating gene expression in disease states

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such as malignancy, so cancer, or virus infection.

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Meanwhile, the CIDMT co-director Mark Schleiss was, quote, engaged in the study of CMV vaccines,

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specifically but not exclusively, purified protein subunit and DNA vaccines.

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There's various publications arising from this work disclose funding from the National

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Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

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In 2009, he received a grant from GlaxoSmithKline for a project titled HIV Immune Reconstruction,

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or sorry, Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome in Uganda, lasting until the end of 2015.

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Now, from March 2015 to February 2018, Boulware acted as principal investigator on a project

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at the Infectious Diseases Institute titled Adjunctive Certraline for the Treatment of

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HIV-Associated Cryptococcal Meningitis.

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The resulting study was published in August 2019 and found that the Pfizer-developed antidepressant

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did not reduce mortality and should not be used to treat patients with HIV-associated

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cryptococcal meningitis.

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It also noted, well, just before I move on there, recall our discussion, Matthew and

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I, our roundtable discussion with Kim Wichak, in which we go at length on about this sertraline,

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a medication I myself have been on, and its more commonly known name, Zoloft.

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Now, this study also noted support from the aforementioned Doris Duke Charitable Foundation,

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which as I previously noted, with a slight correction, hosts former NID head Anthony

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Fauci and Gavi the Vaccine Alliance director Afsena Beschloss, I know I pronounced that

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wrong, on its Board of Trustees.

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The correction is in my last video I said that Margaret Hamburg, former FDA commissioner,

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was on the Board of Trustees, and what I meant to say was Afsena Beschloss.

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Okay, BOLWARE began a, oh and there's the slide I put together for that.

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Now, BOLWARE began a second trial in May 2016 titled Cryptococcal Antigen Screening Plus

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Sertraline, or C-Assert.

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Originally scheduled to run until April 2023, the trial was cancelled in late 2019 after

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several Ugandan trial subjects suffered psychotic episodes associated with the sertraline, with

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one lasting greater than four months.

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Note, that sertraline, also known as Zoloft, is part of a class of drugs called Selective

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Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, or SSRIs, a class which also includes a drug later explored

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by BOLWARE for its effects on COVID-19 called Fluvoxamine.

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Now, while BOLWARE has spent years swimming in the pool of HIV and AIDS research, his

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real focus is on a condition called Cryptococcal Meningitis.

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In a 2016 article published in Newsweek, BOLWARE describes it as, quote, so neglected that

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it's not even considered a neglected disease, which is kind of funny.

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Quote, it just gets lumped in with HIV, so no one sees it and no one really cares.

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Now, the next paragraph of the article points out that the so-called neglected diseases

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have benefited significantly from Product Development Partnerships, or PDP, for which,

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as they note, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides the most funding globally, including

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through public-private partnerships like PATH, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative,

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and the TB Alliance.

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But somehow, BOLWARE's niche disease wasn't seeing any of that Gates funding, or at least

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not enough.

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He advocates in this article in particular for a new at the time screening tool called

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the Cryptococcal Antigen Lateral Flow Assay, or CRAG LFA, developed by a diagnostics company

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called Immuno-Mycologics, or IMI, which, you know, it says, receives support from the Clinton

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Health Access Initiative.

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That's all very interesting, but the most interesting part of the article comes right

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at the end, where Newsweek reveals that it too, eight years later, had created the piece

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with funding from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

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Very interesting.

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Now, one of BOLWARE's HIV studies at the IDI, published in December 2017, was featured

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in the Joint United Nations Program on HIV AIDS, or UNAIDS, August 2018 report titled

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Miles to Go.

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This next section is titled Relationships with Pharmaceutical Companies.

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In a presentation delivered at the 2018 Mycosis Study Group Education and Research Consortium,

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or MSGERC, biennial meeting, BOLWARE discloses that he has received research funding from

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none other than Gilead Sciences, the pharmaceutical company responsible for the development of

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the drug we now know as remdesivir.

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He also discloses acting as an advisor to Viomet and Minitronics.

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Minitronics is a medical device company that didn't stand out to me as particularly interesting,

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but Viomet Pharmaceuticals was a biotechnology company founded in 2005 by two researchers

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out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Northwestern University.

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Viomet, in their words, discovered and developed small molecule inhibitors of validated metallo

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enzymes via an innovative and proprietary metal binding approach called metallophile

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technology.

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Metallophile is trademarked.

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Viomet's investors included Astellis Venture Management, the venture capital firm of Astellis

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Pharma, Eli Lilly's Lilly Ventures, and the Novartis Venture Fund.

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On June 3, 2015, Viomet announced it had been awarded a $1.95 million grant from the United

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States Department of Defense to develop, quote, a novel tropical antifungal agent to prevent

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and treat mold infections as a result of battlefield wounds.

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More specifically, they're referring later on, they clarify it is for the treatment of

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valley fever.

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In April 2016, the company reported co-owning six patents with the United States government

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through the Department of Health and Human Services.

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And of course, of particular interest to Dr. Bolware would be Viomet's drug called VT-1129,

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which it had developed for treatment of cryptococcal meningitis.

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Indeed, Bolware served as senior author on a study published in September 2016 that found,

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quote, VT-1129 shows potential for use against fluconazole-resistant cryptococcus, for which

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you receive funding from Viomet.

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Now Viomet was acquired by NovaQuest Capital Management in January 2018 and was renamed

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to Mycovia Pharmaceuticals shortly after.

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So Bolware contributed as a site investigator for the Ambizome Therapy Induction Optimization

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Clinical Trial or AMBITION.

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It's a good word, ambition.

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Investigating the use of Gilead's Ambizome or Ambizome, just Ambizome, in treating cryptococcal

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meningitis published in the journal Trials in November 2018.

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The trial was sponsored by Gilead, who happened to have also paid the senior author and at

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least one other contributor to this.

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The second last author, I believe.

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So there you go.

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Now returning back briefly to Bolware's 2018 presentation for a moment.

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Let's see.

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We also see in that second point that Bolware is proposing running clinical trials on a

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drug called oral amphotericim.

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You know, I should really look up how to pronounce some of these things before I go live.

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Also to treat cryptococcal meningitis.

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Luckily for him, he would receive that funding for this project from the National Institute

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of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, or NINDS, in March 2019.

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There was other funding involved as well from Matinus Biopharma, which we'll get to in

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a second.

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Phase one of this clinical trial titled ENCOCHLIATED.

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ENCOCHLIATED?

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ENCOCHLIATED?

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ENCOCHLIATED.

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Oral amphotericim for cryptococcal meningitis trial, or INACT.

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It began at the Infectious Diseases Institute in Uganda on October 24th, 2019.

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So as mentioned, as mentioned, amphotericim is an antifungal medication developed by a

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biopharmaceutical company called Matinus Biopharma.

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Matinus was founded in 2013 by Jerry Jabur and Abdel Fawzi.

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Now this is where it gets interesting.

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On January 10th, 2019, Matinus announced that it had entered an agreement with an undisclosed

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pharmaceutical company to, quote, evaluate synergistic effects of Matinus's Lipid Nano

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Crystal, or LNC, platform delivery technology with their partner's nucleic acid polymer

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technology.

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CEO Jerome Jabur said that the collaboration would, quote, provide solutions for companies

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developing innovative nucleic acid polymers, small molecule drugs, vaccines, proteins,

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and potentially even gene editing technologies.

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Now what exactly is a Lipid Nano Crystal?

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According to Matinus's website, their proprietary intracellular LNC platform is designed to

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safely deliver a broad range of potent medicines, including small molecules, drugs with blood

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level limiting toxicities, nucleic acid polymers, proteins, peptides, vaccines, and gene editing

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technologies, end quote.

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In other words, the LNC certainly seems very similar in premise and application to the

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now very familiar Lipid Nano particle.

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As used in the COVID-19 genetic vaccine products deployed by Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna.

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The main difference, at least in terms of a sales pitch, appears to be in their, quote,

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natural, non-toxic, and highly efficient spiral crystal with the unique ability to be administered

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orally and through various other routes.

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But the real shocker comes later down on the same webpage.

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You ready?

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So in December 2020, Matinus announced it had been tapped by the National Institute

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of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to evaluate oral formulations of Gilead Sciences antiviral

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drug remdesivir in its potential treatment against COVID-19.

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But Matinus' good fortune from the pandemic didn't stop there.

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On April 11, 2022, Matinus and BioNTech announced a research collaboration, quote, to evaluate

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a novel delivery technology for mRNA-based vaccines.

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Then in January 2023, Matinus and National Resilience entered into a material transfer

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and evaluation agreement focused on exploring the potential for oral delivery of identified

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nucleic acids.

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Also in early 2023, the company sought funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and

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Development Authority, or BARDA, and continued into its third project with Genentech.

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Now it's unclear to me if Genentech was the mystery company first mentioned in 2019, or

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if that company remains unnamed.

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Now while BOLWARE was not, to my knowledge, involved in any of the above research collaborations,

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of which there's a surprising number, they all occurred while he was actively running

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his inact clinical trial.

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And given that he has been on Matinus' payroll since just prior to the declaration of the

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COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, the introduction of these new partnerships would begin to compound

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the perceived or potential conflicts of interest for anything BOLWARE might touch related to

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COVID-19 moving forward.

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Of course, as we see on screen, by 2019 he had already disclosed having received research

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funding directly from Gilead, and he disclosed this in a number of places.

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Now note, of course, that all of the companies and organizations that we just went through,

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all of them, every single one that Matinus describes as having all these new relationships

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with are directly involved in the development, manufacturing, or deployment of the various

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COVID-19 genetic vaccine products currently on the market.

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NIAID co-developed Moderna's mRNA-1273 and owns the patented coronavirus spike protein

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used in both Moderna and the Pfizer BioNTech products.

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BioNTech needs no elaboration as the primary developer of the BNT162b2 product marketed

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by Pfizer and all of its variations, including bivalent and so forth.

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National resilience, I might remind you, is the CIA slash Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

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00:29:51,340 --> 00:29:57,360
linked manufacturer of synthetic RNA in the United States and up here in Canada, by the

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way, particularly for Moderna's product, and it's co-led by a former FDA commissioner,

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Scott Gottlieb.

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And of course, BARDA, as we know, kick-started Moderna with substantial early funding, and

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you might not know this, but Genentech did the same with BioNTech.

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Well, the ENACT study is marked as completed on clinicaltrials.org as of February 15, 2023,

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after all of that happened.

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But we've come up to almost the present.

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Now we look at his role in COVID-19 early treatment.

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So at the outset of the declared COVID-19 pandemic, David Bolware was quick to jump

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into action.

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In an NPR article published March 31, 2020, Bolware points out that his, quote, normal

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research is doing clinical trials in Africa for fungal meningitis of the brain, end quote.

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But on March 9, 2020, chose to get his team together and spin up some clinical trials

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for repurposed drugs to treat COVID-19.

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And thus, Bolware began his work as the principal investigator for the first randomized control

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trial, testing hydroxychloroquine for its use against COVID-19.

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The trial, titled Post Exposure Prophylaxis or Preemptive Treatment for SARS-CoV-2, kicked

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off on March 17, 2020, six days after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19

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pandemic.

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As Matthew Crawford has covered fairly well, funding for the trial was provided by Jan

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and David Bazucki, by Steve Kirsch, the University of Minnesota Foundation, the Alliance of Minnesota

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Chinese Organizations, and the Minnesota Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

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Now those last two have some interesting threads to pull, but a different time.

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David Bazucki, for those who still haven't heard, who haven't experienced Matthew's

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00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:17,280
reporting on this, David Bazucki is the creator of Roblox, a video game which saw, quote,

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00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:22,280
dramatic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic as children who were forced to stay home spent

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more time playing games, end quote.

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Now it also has a bit of a sex problem, as noted in a report from BBC News, outlining

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various instances of sexual content in the game ostensibly made for kids, including a

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so-called virtual sexual assault.

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Very problematic image on screen right now.

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And that's not to mention the various accusations of insider trading from former speakers of

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the House of Representatives, but let's not go there today.

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Now Steve Kirsch is certainly no stranger to the Rounding the Earth audience.

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In fact, his name is coming up live in the chat as we go.

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Ginger Sladki says, I hope Kirsch doesn't try to buy slash steal Liam now.

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I'll let you know if he tries.

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I kid.

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But, Steve founded the COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund, CETF, in April 2020, in order to fund

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trials on repurposed drugs, starting with, it seems, Bolware's trial on hydroxychloroquine.

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Bolware later told MIT Technology Review that Kirsch was extremely helpful early on in the

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pandemic, stepping up to fund early treatment trials when the US government would not fund

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such studies.

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Donors to the CETF included the Bazookies, Elon Musk, Mark Benioff of Salesforce, I believe,

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Clint Serf, literally co-inventor of the internet, the Skoll Foundation, and Vanguard Charitable.

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Now, despite the enthusiasm and name power of the trial funders, on June 3, 2020, Bolware's

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team announced that they found that, quote, hydroxychloroquine has no benefit over placebo

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in preventing COVID-19.

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However, it is worth noting that the supposedly inert placebo in question was actually folic

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acid, which is a rather strange choice given that folic acid has its own evidence of clinical

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benefit in helping patients with COVID-19.

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Now, that's been covered by some very intelligent people, but a little disgust point about this

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first trial was that it also had a Canadian branch, co-led by the University of Alberta,

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University of Manitoba, and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center.

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Further funding for the Canadian branch came from the Bridge to Health Medical and Dental,

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Manitoba Medical Service Foundation, McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and

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00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:17,240
Immunity, or MI4, McGill University Health Center, Northern Alberta Clinical Trials and

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Research Center, Research Institute of St. Joe's Hamilton, and the St. Joseph Hospital

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Foundation.

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Now, look, I've spent a little more time than most of my American friends researching the

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academic health networks here in Canada, as these were the institutions leading the charge

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in our COVID-19 response.

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One of these funders that I find particularly interesting is the McGill Interdisciplinary

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Initiative in Infection and Immunity, or MI4.

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00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:59,920
Now, MI4 provided a significant amount of research funding towards projects related

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00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:07,000
to COVID-19 through their MI4 Emergency COVID-19 Research Funding Program.

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I've selected just a few examples of the many funded projects.

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00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:18,880
So let's see, development of a new virus-like particle vaccine against COVID-19, real-time

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00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:23,620
tracking of COVID-19 vaccine development, ethical tensions of implementing research

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00:36:23,620 --> 00:36:28,040
during a crisis, understanding moral experiences of healthcare providers caring for patients

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00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:33,860
who are enrolled in COVID-19 clinical trials, expert and lay perceptions of translation

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00:36:33,860 --> 00:36:39,920
of COVID-19 treatment and vaccine development, success rate and timeline for development

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00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:46,320
of vaccines for emerging and re-emerging viral infectious diseases, COVID-19 vaccines, novel

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00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:52,160
approaches to tackle a novel disease, effective coronavirus pandemic and healthcare system

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00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:59,880
response on non-COVID-19 related mortality, post-pandemic myocardial infarction and heart

401
00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:06,320
failure rates in Quebec, a collateral damage in this war?

402
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:13,440
And finally, health communication, social-cultural diversity and COVID-19.

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00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:23,640
Now, notably, MI4 announced in December 2020 that it had received a generous $600,000 gift

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00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:30,120
from Pfizer towards the creation of the Pfizer Early Career Investigator Awards.

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00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:34,520
How nice of them.

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00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:44,640
Okay, in June 2020, Gilead Sciences announced that their newly emergency use authorized remdesivir

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would come at a cost of $3,120 per dose.

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00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:56,400
Just for comment, Bolware offered that from the health system perspective, if remdesivir

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00:37:56,400 --> 00:38:02,140
can shorten duration of hospitalization by four days, then the medicine provides a reasonable

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00:38:02,140 --> 00:38:04,920
value.

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Hot take from Dr. Bolware.

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But hydroxychloroquine wasn't the end of the line for David Bolware.

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He also participated as a senior investigator in the Together Trial, a multinational clinical

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00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:25,080
trial platform launched initially by researchers in Canada and Brazil.

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00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:30,940
True to its name, the Together Trial really brought everything together under one roof.

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00:38:30,940 --> 00:38:35,880
In addition to its own hydroxychloroquine trial, which ran in Brazil, the international

417
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:45,520
investigators also tested HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir, the antidepressant fluvoxamine,

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00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:49,440
all-new purivir, which was Merck's experimental product, not a...

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00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:58,200
I suppose it was technically repurposed, ivermectin, inhaled corticosteroids, metformin, interferon

420
00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:00,240
lambda, and doxazosam.

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00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:04,920
There's a couple of those I haven't heard of before.

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00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:11,320
Now, Bolware participated as an investigator in the ivermectin arm, and I believe that

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also included a fluvoxamine element, which concluded that ivermectin is not useful against

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00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:19,400
the disease.

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00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:23,600
The New York Times quoted Bolware in their coverage of the study as saying, there's

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really no sign of any benefit.

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00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:31,880
Now that people can dive into the details and the data, hopefully that will steer the

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majority of doctors away from ivermectin towards other therapies.

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00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:43,000
Not sure what other therapies he's referencing.

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00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:48,360
Now the Together trial was funded by a whole lot of people, and that's for a further investigation,

431
00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:54,920
but just on a cursory review of my notes, they were funded by the likes of the FTX Foundation,

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00:39:54,920 --> 00:40:00,640
as well as Elon Musk, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey,

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00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:07,340
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, tech entrepreneur Yuri Milner, Google co-founder Eric Schmidt's

434
00:40:07,340 --> 00:40:12,040
Schmidt Ventures, and others through fast grants.

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00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:20,200
Okay, but that's still not the end, because finally, Bolware currently, as far as I understand,

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00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:25,440
serves as the national co-chair of the Trial Steering Committee for the National Institutes

437
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:33,000
of Health's Active 6 Platform Clinical Trial.

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Here is just a quick tweet of Dr. Bolware speaking highly of the Active 6 trial.

439
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:47,560
Now Active 6, for those who don't know, and this was very interesting to revisit some

440
00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:54,060
of my notes on this, Active 6 is part of the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions

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00:40:54,060 --> 00:41:01,620
and Vaccines Initiative, launched on April 17, 2020.

442
00:41:01,620 --> 00:41:09,760
In its own words, Active is a public-private partnership whose executive leadership includes,

443
00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:16,920
or in some cases I think included, Anthony Fauci, Peter Marks of the FDA, and Janet Woodcock,

444
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:27,440
formerly of the FDA, along with top representatives from Pfizer, Barta, and the FDA, among other

445
00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:33,680
pharmaceutical companies whose treatments and tests were deployed during the COVID-19

446
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:34,680
response.

447
00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:40,740
Furthermore, its preclinical working group includes Dr. Ralph Barak from the University

448
00:41:40,740 --> 00:41:48,840
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and it is stock full of representatives from Pfizer,

449
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:55,120
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gilead Sciences, Merck, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline,

450
00:41:55,120 --> 00:42:03,280
the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and Janssen.

451
00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:10,440
I've heard, in fact, and I believe I've seen this in his resume, that one Dr. Robert Malone

452
00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:18,720
is also still actively engaged in the active clinical trial platform.

453
00:42:18,720 --> 00:42:21,200
Further research required.

454
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:26,000
But for today, let's move to conclude here.

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00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:33,880
In looking over the career of David Bolware, I see a familiar theme.

456
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:43,400
A man of passion and ambition working towards a successful career endpoint.

457
00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:48,760
For Bolware, it's clear, Cryptococcal meningitis is what he always has come back to throughout

458
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:54,960
the course of his work, including during his work on COVID-19 early treatment trials.

459
00:42:54,960 --> 00:43:00,820
But just like many others who found themselves in positions of influence in 2020, his own

460
00:43:00,820 --> 00:43:04,780
ambition will always reassert itself.

461
00:43:04,780 --> 00:43:10,880
And thus, it's understandable why he would make decisions, even passively, that favor

462
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:14,760
the advancement of his own research.

463
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:22,760
In this case, recall that Bolware's work from 2006 onward has been experimenting on

464
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:30,960
sick people in Uganda under the banner of the HIV AIDS pandemic, just like Anthony Fauci,

465
00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:37,320
Rochelle Walensky, Margaret Hamburg, and many others who have sat in the seat of power.

466
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:41,960
There's a nice way to put that, and there's a realistic way to put that.

467
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:47,880
Realistically, the facility where he worked, where he still works, the Infectious Diseases

468
00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:55,260
Institute was quite literally co-founded by a Pfizer CEO and funded heavily by Gilead

469
00:43:55,260 --> 00:44:01,020
Sciences, Johnson & Johnson, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and various branches

470
00:44:01,020 --> 00:44:03,640
of the United States government.

471
00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:10,080
Those included Fauci's NIAID, Hamburg's Food and Drug Administration, Walensky's

472
00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:15,120
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and even Robert Malone's colleagues at the

473
00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:21,640
Department of Defense's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, or DTRA.

474
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:30,240
So both in the IDI and at home, Bolware's research funding came from NIAID, the DOD-funded

475
00:44:30,240 --> 00:44:36,440
pharmaceutical companies he's worked with, and from Gilead Sciences itself.

476
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:41,520
The co-directors of his research institution have long focused on the genetic aspects of

477
00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:48,960
viral infection, which naturally also includes the genetic aspects of the person infected,

478
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:54,120
and the genetic medicines to combat the disease.

479
00:44:54,120 --> 00:45:00,440
It seems to me that through the perceived failure of repurposed drugs to manage the

480
00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:07,720
COVID-19 pandemic, a wave of new technologies in genetic medicine have now been rolled out

481
00:45:07,720 --> 00:45:14,240
to the global population and normalized under the misleading banner of vaccination.

482
00:45:14,240 --> 00:45:24,560
Bolware's most recent funder, Matinus Biopharma, has benefited tremendously from this new reality.

483
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:29,480
While this has been simply an exploration and not something that I can reach a conclusion

484
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:33,680
based on, and I wouldn't want to without speaking with Dr. Bolware, it's hard to see

485
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:42,400
how he didn't walk out of this as a man much further along in his career, in large

486
00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:48,360
part thanks to his role in quashing hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, et al.

487
00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:55,320
But rather, and more importantly, the notion, simply the notion, that early COVID-19 treatment

488
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:59,880
existed at all in the early days.

489
00:45:59,880 --> 00:46:05,640
In the presence of such treatment opportunities, companies like Matinus, National Resilience,

490
00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:11,480
BioNTech, and Gilead Sciences, and Moderna would all be in a much different place right

491
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:12,960
now.

492
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:21,580
And, if there's any question as to how Dr. Bolware feels where he lands on these genetic

493
00:46:21,580 --> 00:46:26,400
medicines, we need only turn to his own words.

494
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:34,160
For example, there's this tweet from September 17, 2022, where he says,

495
00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:39,860
This sub-study of the University of Minnesota Medical School COVID out trial demonstrates

496
00:46:39,860 --> 00:46:49,360
that having a COVID-19 vaccine booster prior is the best early treatment.

497
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:51,800
Never feel like you're being gaslit.

498
00:46:51,800 --> 00:47:00,640
Nothing else reduces symptoms or resolves symptoms faster, even if at low risk of hospitalization.

499
00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:04,080
Talking to you kids, get boosted!

500
00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:10,700
Full disclosure, I added the talking to you kids part in there, just to be really transparent.

501
00:47:10,700 --> 00:47:23,760
And then there's this hot take on following news that Moderna's flu vaccine didn't work.

502
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:29,080
The headline says, Moderna Flu Vaccine Delivers Mixed Results in Trial Shares Fall.

503
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:36,120
I quote, Moderna Inc. on Thursday, this is from by the way February 2023,

504
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:41,640
Moderna said on Thursday, its closely watched experimental messenger RNA-based influenza

505
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:47,840
vaccine generated a strong immune response against A strains of the flu, but failed to

506
00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:55,040
show it was at least as effective as an approved vaccine versus less prevalent influenza B.

507
00:47:55,040 --> 00:48:01,120
The results dashed investor hopes that the company might plug its COVID franchise decline,

508
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:06,200
sending Moderna shares down more than 6% in after-hours trading.

509
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:13,080
Dr. David Bolwer, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Minnesota Medical School

510
00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:18,560
said, he was not overly concerned about the immune response versus influenza B.

511
00:48:18,560 --> 00:48:23,480
Bolwer said the immune response against the A strains demonstrated that the vaccine probably

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00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:27,080
worked.

513
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:33,440
And Moderna's tweaks to the vaccine are likely to improve the response against the B strains.

514
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:43,080
I consider it pretty positive, he said.

515
00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:49,600
Needless to say, Dr. Bolwer, I hope you're right about everything.

516
00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:55,760
About the uselessness of the most promising early treatment protocols, about the safety

517
00:48:55,760 --> 00:49:00,760
and efficacy of the various COVID-19 vaccine products, about it all.

518
00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:06,520
Sadly, I don't think you are.

519
00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:10,840
Ladies and gentlemen, this has been my special report on Dr. David Bolwer.

520
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:14,440
I hope I've answered some of your questions, and if you didn't have any to begin with,

521
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:16,900
I hope I've left you with even more.

522
00:49:16,900 --> 00:49:20,860
But for now, thank you for joining me here on Rounding the News, brought to you by Rounding

523
00:49:20,860 --> 00:49:26,160
the Earth, and of course you can go over to roundingtheearth.locals.com for more video

524
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:28,040
discussions just like this.

525
00:49:28,040 --> 00:49:31,600
Special reports, roundtable discussions, local supporter exclusive.

526
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:35,440
Sign up for $5 a month to gain access to all of those, including ones we've already done,

527
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:40,020
by the way, and everything we do moving forward.

528
00:49:40,020 --> 00:49:44,840
You can also go to roundingtheearth.substack.com where Matthew continues to publish excellent

529
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:49,120
articles on a variety of subjects, not just strictly related to COVID-19, but the bigger

530
00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:52,920
picture, what he calls the plan demonium.

531
00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:59,040
The economic factors, the socioeconomic factors, there's lots to explore beyond just infectious

532
00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:00,320
diseases.

533
00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:07,200
But for now, well, you can find me at liamsturgis.com where my album, Foreverland, remains available.

534
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:11,760
We're coming up on its one-year anniversary, and it's been a wonderful year of doing my

535
00:50:11,760 --> 00:50:17,080
best to get my music out there in a very different world than when I started making that particular

536
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:18,080
album.

537
00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:19,600
Well, you've been fantastic.

538
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:25,520
Thank you to everybody who's been tuning in on Rumble and Locals and Rockfin and Odyssey

539
00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:28,440
and, well, Facebook and Cloud Hub and Twitch.

540
00:50:28,440 --> 00:50:33,420
You guys are the best, and the show notes for this show will be available on roundingtheearth.local.com

541
00:50:33,420 --> 00:50:35,360
within about an hour.

542
00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:58,720
Stay tuned, and we will see you again very shortly.

543
00:51:06,360 --> 00:51:07,360
Thank you.

544
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:35,360
Thank you.