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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.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Opportunist on Monday July 06 2020, @10:50AM (3 children)
You really want to compare the US to Brazil? Are you honestly stooping that low that you're basically going to compare yourself to a borderland-third-world country just to feel better about yourself?
The US used to be the pinnacle of excellence. 50 years ago, if you wanted to know what the future holds in stock for you, you'd look across the pond because the future was already here in the US.
If that's still true, it's time to start worrying about the future.
The US was a role model. It was where cutting edge technology and sociological progress happened. Everyone wanted to be like the US and when they landed on the moon, there was no question AT ALL who is the top dog with the biggest balls on the planet. Not because they could intimidate us with their weapons, we genuinely loved them. They could do no wrong. Even our leftists kept their hands folded when Vietnam and later Iran happened because you do NOT protest against anything the US does. Period. They ARE right because they're good. PERIOD!
This started to change somehow from the 80s on. Reagan was the first in a line of really, really bad presidents (not that anyone since Eisenhower was anything to write home about, tbh, but at least they were not fucking stupid). And the public image of the US got the first cracks. When the wall fell in 90 and East Europe opened up, it was not immediately attributed as a victory for the US, it was more seen like something we have managed to do ourselves, from within, with the US at best not disturbing it.
And from there on, it went downhill big time. Iraq was the first time people openly started to say that it ain't right what they're doing, and oppositional politicians here started to side with Saddam (mostly to piss off the established politicians rather than really having any sympathy for him, but trying to side with an enemy of the US would have been political suicide in the 70s). And the cracks continued to grow.
Today, the US is the laughing stock of international politics. The equivalent of the schoolyard bully. Strong, but dumb. Other kids suck up to him because they think if he beats up the nerds for their lunch money, they can get some of the scraps, but nobody really likes him. Nobody likes the US right now. There is zero sympathy. You're essentially at the 180 degrees opposite point you were before the 1980s when you could do no wrong. Now, you can't do anything right.
Quite frankly, Trump could walk over water and our reaction would be "Some leader he is, can't even swim".
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday July 06 2020, @03:30PM (2 children)
Trump was elected because Americans are angry at having been shafted by free trade agreements over and over again the past 40 years. They're angry that their standard of living has been eroded by unchecked immigration from the third-world. They're angry that their supposed leaders are the ones conspiring against them.
Many forget that 4 years ago there was a massive free trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the Obama administration had negotiated in absolute secrecy, so secret, in fact, that not even members of Congress had been allowed to see it; Congress was supposed to approve the agreement before they would even be allowed to see what was in it. Trump pledged to kill it, Hillary said she would, too, but she had negotiated the thing as Sect. of State and everyone knew she was full of shit. Trump was elected, and he instantly killed the TPP.
That is such a huge deal that it's still worth it.
So, if Europe and others are not enjoying American populist anger, well, that's too bad. But maybe it's helping break them out of the spell of globalism that has been screwing them over, too. The gillets jaunes in France, Brexit, voters in Austria and Hungary, and elsewhere indicate that the same forces that produced Trump are at work in Europe, too.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by Opportunist on Monday July 06 2020, @05:49PM
Well, in Austria it already got a dampener when it turned out that the populist bozo was filmed in a holiday resort where he promised someone posing as the wife of some Russian oligarch that he'll hand over some of Austria's leading media for sufficient money. Didn't outright kill his career because even there some people are stupid enough to still think that he's worth more than a kick to his brown ass.
But certainly, populism works everywhere where there are people who are dissatisfied and disillusioned with politics. The worse people are doing, the better it works.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2020, @08:13PM
Yes, and that's the problem. They think the standard of living has been eroded by immigration, while in reality the standard of living has been eroded by your own 1%. It's so easy to make you look for the problem elsewhere that you fail to see what's right in front of you. Like my sibling says, populism works.
Learn to think. Learn to understand. Learn to recognize false idols. But most of all, learn to recognize that those who are in the same position as you are not your enemy.