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Judi Lynn

(160,211 posts)
Wed Aug 5, 2020, 08:10 AM Aug 2020

Watchdog Demands to Know If Drug Maker Sitting on Possible Covid-19 Treatment Due to Patent, Profit

Published on
Tuesday, August 04, 2020
by Common Dreams

"It is sadly predictable that Big Pharma responds to a global pandemic by trying to bring to market only those drugs that maximize its profits."

by Lisa Newcomb, staff writer

As Covid-19 cases and deaths continue an upward trajectory in the United States, a watchdog group and allied scientists Tuesday urged the federal government and Gilead, the maker of the promising drug remdesivir, to explain why they have not pursued a similar treatment that might be cheaper for consumers though possibly less profitable to the company.

The drug in question, known as GS-4441524, closely resembles remdesivir in chemical makeup, Public Citizen and scientist co-signers wrote in a joint letter to Gilead and United States federal government agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

. . .

In its letter, Public Citizen expressed concern over the drug's development and the possible motivations the company may have for putting one drug into trials over the other.

"It is unclear why Gilead and federal scientists have not been pursuing GS-441524 as aggressively as remdesivir, but the answer may be found in the corporation’s patent holdings," the group said. "Gilead holds patents on both agents, but the earliest patent approval date on remdesivir is 2015, whereas the earliest on GS-441524 is 2010. As a result, the corporation’s monopoly over remdesivir may last five years longer than that for GS-441524, allowing Gilead to make substantially greater profits from the sale of remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment."

More:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/04/watchdog-demands-know-if-drug-maker-sitting-possible-covid-19-treatment-due-patent

9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Watchdog Demands to Know If Drug Maker Sitting on Possible Covid-19 Treatment Due to Patent, Profit (Original Post) Judi Lynn Aug 2020 OP
Ralph Nader's Public Citizen is a organization of fools... NNadir Aug 2020 #1
It seems they are commenting on a business practice BBG Aug 2020 #2
The "business" of drug development is deeply... NNadir Aug 2020 #3
Capitalism dictates that the most profitable approach is the best approach BBG Aug 2020 #4
You know something? NNadir Aug 2020 #5
I think we are in agreement BBG Aug 2020 #6
I don't think we agree at all. You seem still to think it's all about money and your personal... NNadir Aug 2020 #7
Ok, whatever... BBG Aug 2020 #8
This sounds like conspiracy theory JI7 Aug 2020 #9

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
1. Ralph Nader's Public Citizen is a organization of fools...
Wed Aug 5, 2020, 08:33 AM
Aug 2020

...that would serve humanity well by not commenting on scientific issues.

There seems to be no one in that benighted organization who has ever opened a science book.

BBG

(2,476 posts)
2. It seems they are commenting on a business practice
Wed Aug 5, 2020, 10:16 AM
Aug 2020

And not a scientific issue. But that’s my take and I could be mistaken.

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
3. The "business" of drug development is deeply...
Wed Aug 5, 2020, 10:27 AM
Aug 2020

...dependent on scientific issues.

I have been involved in drug development for decades.

This glib bullshit is a distraction and represents people commenting on a subject about which they know nothing at all. Trust me, the people at "Public Citizen" have zero insight to issues in toxicology, bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, DMPK, formulation, stability, or any of the issues required to make a drug.

Nader and his successor denizens have a very Trumpian approach to reality, driven by their cynical belief that everything in the world is about money.

ANY pharmaceutical company that thought it had a viable Covid treatment would be fast tracking it.

BBG

(2,476 posts)
4. Capitalism dictates that the most profitable approach is the best approach
Wed Aug 5, 2020, 10:32 AM
Aug 2020

Not what is scientifically sound but what is most profitable. See big oil as example as well as reconfigured drug recipes in big pharma.

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
5. You know something?
Wed Aug 5, 2020, 11:30 AM
Aug 2020

There are many people alive today because of projects in which I actively participated.

I have zero use for people who believe that the hard work, long nights, time away from families, disappointment, failure, new trials, revision, and finally success is all about their primitive, cynical, materialistic, and shallow dogma.

Their focus on their belief that everything in the world is about money says more about them than those they deign to criticize from posistion of self imagined, and frankly absurd on a Trumpian scale, superiority.

They give nothing to humanity and speak in a way that actually does damage.

The disrespect for science and scientists is really not qualitatively different than the drooling and deadly nonsense on the far right.

People of this ilk certainly, given their low conception of ethics and their ignorance certainly qualify for membership in "Public Citizen."

BBG

(2,476 posts)
6. I think we are in agreement
Wed Aug 5, 2020, 11:45 AM
Aug 2020

Too little attention and respect is accorded the scientific and rational and too much the craven pursuit of profits. Your efforts and those in the scientific community are under appreciated.

Please don’t misconstrue my opinion of the business practices of capitalism with my support and appreciation of those who endeavor to deliver a better tomorrow thru their work contributions.

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
7. I don't think we agree at all. You seem still to think it's all about money and your personal...
Wed Aug 5, 2020, 07:33 PM
Aug 2020

...view of (gasp) capitalism.

You know, I worked to supply intermediates for five AIDS drugs: Saquinavir, Nelfinavir, Indinavir, Ritonavir, and Fuzeon (T-20).

These were incredibly risky projects, with every opportunity for failure. Why do you think we worked so damned hard? To please our corporate masters?

It sounds like your concern about putative "corporate masters" far outweighs any respect for the thousands upon thousands of scientists who worked to bring those drugs to market, synthetic chemists, toxicologists, analytical chemists, bioanalytical chemists, veterinarians, ethicists, physiologists, virologists, molecular modelers, process chemists, formulators, and of course the physicians and nurses overseeing the clinical trials, not only in the inventor companies, but in all the support countries, internationally.

The fact that you think this is about ethereal "corporate masters" makes very clear what you value above the work of scientists.

In full disclosure, I get paid for my work. I'm not about to apologize for that. After all, I did put in 18 and 20 hour days on occasion.

It's not about an anti-capitalist agenda; it's about human lives.

Lives were saved and the system by which we worked did that.

BBG

(2,476 posts)
8. Ok, whatever...
Wed Aug 5, 2020, 09:19 PM
Aug 2020

You read too much into my posts. But ok, whatever you say, I’m not disagreeing. And apologies if I came across too strident in response.

Have a nice night.

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