17 votes

US buys up world stock of remdesivir

6 comments

  1. [3]
    knocklessmonster
    (edited )
    Link
    The world's stock was bought so it can then be sold at a mark-up to American patients. I'm surprised any single country was allowed to buy the whole stock.

    The world's stock was bought so it can then be sold at a mark-up to American patients. I'm surprised any single country was allowed to buy the whole stock.

    12 votes
    1. psi
      Link Parent
      Amusingly (or maybe just depressingly), Yannis Natsis (board member of the European Medicines Agency, the EU equivalent of the FDA) made a similar quip when the CEO of Sanofi (French...

      Amusingly (or maybe just depressingly), Yannis Natsis (board member of the European Medicines Agency, the EU equivalent of the FDA) made a similar quip when the CEO of Sanofi (French pharmaceutical company) suggested the US would likely receive the vaccine before anyone else.

      "Why? Because there, they get the highest price," [Natsis] says. "Because the U.S. doesn't have a health care system, it has a market. And the principle is the sky is the limit — as much as the market can bear."

      17 votes
    2. pvik
      Link Parent
      At approx $530/dose how can they be making any profit? I am sure they are taking heavy losses trying to have this manufactured and available to every American who may need it. (Of course, assuming...

      The cost is around $3,200 per treatment of six doses, according to the US government statement.

      At approx $530/dose how can they be making any profit? I am sure they are taking heavy losses trying to have this manufactured and available to every American who may need it. (Of course, assuming they have proper insurance)

      /s in case it wasn't clear.

      5 votes
  2. [2]
    pvik
    (edited )
    Link
    This article in Stanford Medicine does a good job explaining how Remdesivir works, and This graphic from Science does a good job illustrating how drugs like Remdevisir work. At the same time...

    This article in Stanford Medicine does a good job explaining how Remdesivir works,
    and This graphic from Science does a good job illustrating how drugs like Remdevisir work.

    At the same time articles like this makes me wonder how effective this is even going to be?

    Also, with Remdevisir still being an IV drug, I am not sure of the logistics of administering this to patients with early/mild symptoms and helping patients not progress to a more serious condition.

    Edit: And also this.

    11 votes
    1. Omnicrola
      Link Parent
      Re: your last link about Remdesivir being similar to an antiviral used to treat cats with FIP Well that's fucking upsetting. FTA: FIP causes the immune system to go haywire, and the body to attack...

      Re: your last link about Remdesivir being similar to an antiviral used to treat cats with FIP

      Well that's fucking upsetting. FTA:

      According to Pedersen, Gilead worried that the cat research could impede the approval process for remdesivir. Because GS-441524 and remdesivir are so similar, any adverse effects uncovered in cats might have to be reported and investigated to guarantee remdesivir’s safety in humans. Gilead’s caution about generating unnecessary cat data is standard industry practice. “One of the rules in drug development is never perform a test you don’t have to, if the results could be problematic,”

      FIP causes the immune system to go haywire, and the body to attack itself. So I watched my two 5-month-old kittens slowly degrade like a Parkinson's patient, shaking, lose the ability to walk or feed themselves over the course of 2 months, because it might have affected your ability to profit off another drug? Fuck you Gilead.

      I realize that in the context of a global pandemic, the lives of 2 kittens aren't than important, but they where important to me. It tore my soul apart to have to put them to sleep because we didn't think there was anything we could do.

      12 votes
  3. ohyran
    Link
    Its almost as if we lived in a capitalist dystopia and have been since the dawn of capitalism.

    Its almost as if we lived in a capitalist dystopia and have been since the dawn of capitalism.

    7 votes