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posted by martyb on Sunday July 05 2020, @09:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the all-mine dept.

US Secures World Stock of Key Covid-19 Drug Remdesivir

US Secures World Stock of Key Covid-19 Drug Remdesivir:

No other country will be able to buy remdesivir, which can help recovery from Covid-19, for next three months at least

The US has bought up virtually all the stocks for the next three months of one of the two drugs proven to work against Covid-19, leaving none for the UK, Europe or most of the rest of the world.

Experts and campaigners are alarmed both by the US unilateral action on remdesivir and the wider implications, for instance in the event of a vaccine becoming available. The Trump administration has already shown that it is prepared to outbid and outmanoeuvre all other countries to secure the medical supplies it needs for the US.

“They’ve got access to most of the drug supply [of remdesivir], so there’s nothing for Europe,” said Dr Andrew Hill, senior visiting research fellow at Liverpool University.

Remdesivir, the first drug approved by licensing authorities in the US to treat Covid-19, is made by Gilead and has been shown to help people recover faster from the disease. The first 140,000 doses, supplied to drug trials around the world, have been used up. The Trump administration has now bought more than 500,000 doses, which is all of Gilead’s production for July and 90% of August and September.

US to buy 500,000 Remdesivir Coronavirus Treatment Courses at $2,340 Each

US to buy 500,000 remdesivir coronavirus treatment courses at $2,340 each:

The US Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to buy 500,000 remdesivir treatment courses, in the wake of clinical trials revealing the drug can help patients recover more quickly from the coronavirus. A five-day course will cost $2,340,or $3,120 for commercially insured patients, biotech firm Gilead Sciences said.

Early last month, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization for remdesivir to be used in cases of COVID-19 when patients were "hospitalized with severe disease," shortly after the drug showed "clear-cut positive effect" in a US trial.

[...] "To the extent possible, we want to ensure that any American patient who needs remdesivir can get it," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a release.

[...] Gilead CEO Daniel O'Day addressed the higher price for private insurers, according to health site Stat, by noting that there are "always two prices" for a drug in the US. In an open letter, he acknowledged that the company's work on remdesivir is "far from done."

[...] He also said that countries in the developing world will get the drug at greatly reduced prices, through generic manufacturers.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by HiThere on Monday July 06 2020, @03:38AM (12 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 06 2020, @03:38AM (#1016808) Journal

    If the drug were more effective, I'd consider the move more sinister. As it is it's almost as sensible as the HCQ stockpile. A bit more sensible, as it reduces the stay in the ICU by an estimated 4 days. Unfortunately the same report didn't say it reduced the death rate, and didn't mention other serious after effects. And the company jacked it's price up hugely just before Trump bought the world supply. So you may guess who really benefits.

    That said, Trump may be the necessary president for out times. He's going to so wreck the country that we drop out of "top dog country" without a war. It's hard to estimate how beneficial that is. We were slowly losing our position, but frequently when that happens it causes a war to force the old "top dog" to surrender its place. Trump has so weakened us by sabotaging trade treaties and other treaties with foreign governments as well as absurd domestic policies that we don't have a pack of friends to back us up. Some of them have even started preferring China, for reasons which are quite understandable, if a bit humiliating. We've become an unreliable trade partner.

    One thing this quick exit from the top position will do is prevent our abusive excesses in foreign affairs from being even worse, so a few decades from now folks will look back on our time of dominance with longing. But our approaches to foreign countries had become increasingly abusive as we continued in the top position. Prior to this Britain had been the "least bad ever dominant nation", but with our quick descent from that position, we are likely to be the new holder of that title. If we'd hung on...well, we'd been getting more and more abusive.

    --
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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 06 2020, @04:38AM (7 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 06 2020, @04:38AM (#1016840) Journal

    Unfortunately the same report didn't say it reduced the death rate, and didn't mention other serious after effects.

    Well, well, well... if the death rate is not an issue, I think there are cheaper alternatives to shortening the stay in ICU. (grin)

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Monday July 06 2020, @06:27AM (5 children)

      by MostCynical (2589) on Monday July 06 2020, @06:27AM (#1016867) Journal

      invest in pillows!

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 06 2020, @06:43AM (4 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 06 2020, @06:43AM (#1016872) Journal

        No need for more effort than switching the oxygen line to the mask with a pure nitrogen one.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday July 06 2020, @07:41AM (3 children)

          by MostCynical (2589) on Monday July 06 2020, @07:41AM (#1016879) Journal

          you want them to die...

                  Hallucinations
                  Increased intensity of vision and hearing
                  Sense of impending blackout or of levitation
                  Dizziness, euphoria,
                  Disorganization of the sense of time, changes in facial appearance
                  Unconsciousness,
                  Death

          happy? [wikipedia.org]

          --
          "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2020, @08:26AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2020, @08:26AM (#1016884)

            Nitrogen narcosis requires multiple atmospheres of pressure to force the nitrogen to dissolve in blood. At 1 atm the only symptoms are drowsiness and death.

          • (Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Monday July 06 2020, @09:13AM (1 child)

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 06 2020, @09:13AM (#1016893) Journal

            See inert gas asphyxiation [wikipedia.org].

            The minor disadvantage of the pillow method you alluded to is that it will trigger the hypercapnic alarm response [manicgrant.com] - the subject will die panicking.

            The major disadvantage: it requires the application of enough force to overpower the subject. This makes this job less open to equal opportunity, by applying a discrimination favoring muscular humans - e.g. highly unlikely a mother's basement dwelling incel could get the job of applying the pillow.

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
            • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday July 07 2020, @03:12AM

              by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday July 07 2020, @03:12AM (#1017484) Journal

              Very large, muscly man enters ward... "hi, I'm the new night nurse.."

              --
              "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday July 06 2020, @01:54PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 06 2020, @01:54PM (#1017028) Journal

      Well, to be fair it also didn't deny that it reduced the death rate. It just didn't talk about it.

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday July 06 2020, @04:12PM

    Yeah, I didn't say it was a good idea or a bad idea, just that if he thinks it's a good idea, he has that responsibility.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2020, @06:36PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2020, @06:36PM (#1017228)

    I know 4 days may not mean much at first glance, however as someone who spent the better part of a year in hospital when I was a teen, I would have gladly taken a pill that reduced that time by 10 percent, shit even 4 days would have been welcome.
    You are also forgetting the additive effect - 4 days less for even 100000 people mean that another thousand or so could get needed intensive care, instead of potentially dying. This could be you.

    Having said that, it's scary that instead of coming together, fuck8ng politics and nationlism is driving us apart.Even here.

    "Let nations east and west
    tremble at the might
    til standard bearers eyes are hungry
    and the reasons dead forever.
    God, let it be soon."
    - Killing Joke

  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday July 07 2020, @12:29AM (1 child)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday July 07 2020, @12:29AM (#1017426) Journal

    Trump is the apotheosis of American culture. He is its physical locus, its human shell. He's not the president we need, Goddess no, but in some sense he's the one we as a nation deserve.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @06:05AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @06:05AM (#1018077)

      As designed, rich asshole TV personality, narcissist, the values America has been pumping out to validate the "greed is good" actions we first colonized the continent.

      Just watch Wolf of Wall Street if you want to see the pinnacle of US culture. Unadulterated celebration of greed and power with a touching story to humanize the sociopath.