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posted by on Thursday December 01 2016, @04:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the scientists-in-the-making dept.

The ABC news website (an Australian national news service funded by the Australian government) reports on a group of high school students from Sydney Australia who have managed to recreate the active ingredient in Daraprim for a mere $20.

Daraprim has received a lot of coverage recently after Turing Pharmaceuticals who owns the patent, initially raised the price of the drug from $13.50 to $750.00, though they have since stated that the price will be reduced.

From the article:

For $US20, a group of high school students has created 3.7 grams of an active ingredient used in the medicine Daraprim, which would sell in the United States for between $US35,000 and $US110,000.

Pyrimethamine, the active ingredient in Daraprim, treats a parasitic infection in people with weak immune systems such as pregnant women and HIV patients.

In August 2015, the price of Daraprim in the US rose from $US13.50 per tablet to $US750 when Turing Pharmaceuticals, and its controversial then-chief executive Martin Shkreli, acquired the drug's exclusive rights and hiked up the price.

Since then, the 17-year-olds from Sydney Grammar have worked in their school laboratory to create the drug cheaply in order to draw attention to its inflated price overseas, which student Milan Leonard said was "ridiculous".


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday December 01 2016, @06:03PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday December 01 2016, @06:03PM (#435553)

    There is in fact a lot of racism (and sexism, and plenty of other -isms) out there.

    It all stems from the simple fact that everyone regularly has to answer this question: "There's a person I have never seen before in my vicinity, how much of a threat/opportunity do they present to me?" In the absence of any other information, people use whatever they can immediately observe about other people: What clothes are they wearing? What is their hairstyle like? What color is their skin? Do they have breasts/wide hips or broad shoulders? How fat are they? How symmetrical is their face? Do they look like they are carrying a weapon? An average person goes through this in under 10 seconds when they encounter somebody new, and doing so well is an important survival skill.

    Where that goes wrong, though, is that people tend keep that impression even in the face of evidence that counters their initial reaction. And that means that the portions of that initial judgment based on characteristics that in many cases have little-to-no bearing on the threat/opportunity question can still affect the assessment forever. Why do you think salespeople place so much value on a first impression?

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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  • (Score: 1) by Arik on Thursday December 01 2016, @08:00PM

    by Arik (4543) on Thursday December 01 2016, @08:00PM (#435628) Journal
    I think you explain the genesis of the problem quite well, but can you give us a solution?
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Thursday December 01 2016, @09:13PM

      by Thexalon (636) on Thursday December 01 2016, @09:13PM (#435672)

      There are things that make a big difference:
      1. Don't teach kids that skin color etc are good predictors of behavior. Pre-verbal babies and toddlers don't show significant signs of racism.
      2. Actively show kids people who don't look like them being kind and generous. Ideally in person (my folks did that), but barring that even intentionally anti-racist TV programs like Sesame Street help.

      I should point out that a real effort on the first two factors is one of the big reasons that younger people are substantially less racist than older people in America: There was a big push in the 1970's and 1980's to try to do precisely those steps.

      For adults, it's harder, but still possible:
      3. Put adults in situations where they have to work together closely with people who don't look like them. A classic example of this is the military: It's really hard to hate people for their skin color when someone with that skin color saved your life in combat.
      4. Give adults as many non-hostile interactions with people of other races as possible, so they begin to see members of those other races as individuals rather than a group. Although this can still get some really interesting effects, like "Grr, I hate all those Mexicans!" "But what about Miguel at the corner store? He seemed fine." "OK, Miguel's cool, but the rest of them, grr!" "But what about Miguel's wife Maria?" "Ok, she's fine, but the rest of 'em ..."

      Affirmative action and community policing are some examples of attempting to implement those two ideas. They are substantially less successful than the stuff targeting kids.

      One other thing that's vitally important: You can't do this in a way where you're announcing what you're doing is anti-racism training. You have to do it in a way that doesn't seem intentionally anti-racist.

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday December 01 2016, @09:32PM

        by Arik (4543) on Thursday December 01 2016, @09:32PM (#435683) Journal
        It seems like all of things might help but may not be necessary. You don't need population movement to find people who look different but share more important things if everyone is on the internet.

        Affirmative action has tremendous drawbacks. Community policing seems to have multiple meanings in practice.

        I seriously doubt that there is anything the government could *do* positively here about it that could balance the damage it did in only a few years back last century. The knock-on effects of that period have continued for generations and show no sign of petering out.

        Perhaps because we keep expecting institutions that make money from it to honestly work to end it?
        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 01 2016, @11:26PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 01 2016, @11:26PM (#435734)

        For adults, it's harder, but still possible:
        3. Put adults in situations where they have to work together closely with people who don't look like them. A classic example of this is the military: It's really hard to hate people for their skin color when someone with that skin color saved your life in combat.

        A good family friend commanded a tank battalion in the Korean war. He always maintained that the US Army was the first large organization to be desegregated, by order of President Truman...and that it was a very good thing as far as he was concerned. fwiw, he was white, and after his service became a lawyer specializing in wills and estates.

        Never bothered to look his claims up until now, but here is a reference,
              https://www.trumanlibrary.org/anniversaries/desegblurb.htm [trumanlibrary.org]

        President Truman had been examining the issue of segregation in the armed forces since at least 1947, when he appointed the President's Committee on Civil Rights. By January 1948, internal White House memos indicated that the President was determined to end military segregation by executive order. However, it was not until the delegates at the 1948 Democratic National Convention called for a liberal civil rights plank that included desegregation of the armed forces that Truman felt comfortable enough to issue Executive Order No. 9981 on July 26. The order stated that "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." The order also established the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services (Fahy Committee).

        Naturally, there was resistance to this order within the military. Staff officers from all branches protested anonymously and sometimes even openly to integration. The Fahy Committee worked with the different branches of the military to ensure that the armed forces instituted integration in their recruitment and unit composition practices. Full integration did not come until the Korean War however, when heavy casualties forced segregated units to merge for survival.

  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by Phoenix666 on Friday December 02 2016, @01:51AM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday December 02 2016, @01:51AM (#435766) Journal

    What if I don't like gingers?

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.