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posted by takyon on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the inject-this dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Open Insulin, 'DIY bio' and the future of pharma

The development, manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical drugs in the United States is a complex landscape involving intellectual property and strict federal regulations. But according to Colorado State University scientists, the status quo of the U.S. pharmaceutical market may soon be turned on its head. That's due in part to a growing community of do-it-yourself "biohackers" who are disrupting business-as-usual for pharmaceutical discovery, development and distribution. A Sept. 13 perspective piece in Trends in Biotechnology [DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2018.07.009] [DX] frames these emerging issues, and predicts how the pharmaceutical industry, and the U.S. regulatory environment, will need to change in response.

[...] The authors use the California-based Open Insulin Project as a case study of how the DIY bio movement might shape the future of medicine. Founded in 2015, the project's creators are trying to increase competition in the insulin market by developing and releasing an open-source protocol for manufacturing off-patent insulin.

Why does the Open Insulin Project exist in the first place? Insulin is 100 years old, but it remains prohibitively expensive for many patients, with some uninsured patients paying up to $400 a month for this life-saving medicine. People are angry, and in some cases, people are dying, from lack of access to affordable insulin.


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:50PM (34 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:50PM (#736477)

    ...but then I live in a civilized country, not a 3rd-world backwater like the USA.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:52PM (29 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:52PM (#736478) Journal

      Someone or something paid for your insulin. If the manufacturing costs were cheaper, there's more money that could be spent on a park or something.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:17PM (8 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:17PM (#736490)

        I'd much rather see my tax money pay for someones insulin than bomb some foreign country.

        • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @03:19PM (4 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @03:19PM (#736547)

          Fear not, some of your tax dollars are diverted from the military that insures this country continues to exist and into programs that give free insulin to illegal immigrants.

          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:52PM (2 children)

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:52PM (#736598) Journal

            You seem to think that would be worse than spending money on bombs?

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 18 2018, @08:49PM (1 child)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 18 2018, @08:49PM (#736722) Journal
              I fear he hasn't done sufficient research on his target population.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @01:43AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @01:43AM (#736879)

                Why is there no Bazinga!! mod?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:56PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:56PM (#736619)

            You prok bellied fool, no one is saying zero military. I suspect you are trolling so ill just exit this thread after plopping my sweaty junk on your head.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:44PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:44PM (#736614)

          It's hard to take the high road when you freeload off of countries that are on the hook to defend you. It's like the young man from an independently wealthy family working for a charity for free because he couldn't stand to sully himself by taking money for that work. If you owned up to your responsibilities you'd find more of those tax dollars would have to be spent in non-sanctimonious ways.

          • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:52PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:52PM (#736649)

            God damn you military die-hards are nuts. Do we need a massive military to prop up our Empire? Yes. Do we need to spend quite so much on it? NONONONO and NO! The cost/benefit algorithm has been superseded in your brain by a piece of tri-colored cloth and I would guess a bit of personal investment in the pork machine.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @08:43PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @08:43PM (#737211)

          It's simple evolution in action. Unless the person needing insulin is sterilized, we're breeding sickly people who will not do well when we go all Venezuela.

          Bombing gets rid of our competition. It's how we win.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by aiwarrior on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:22PM (4 children)

        by aiwarrior (1812) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:22PM (#736493) Journal

        The problem is

        What is cheaper?
        A decentralized small volume buyer vs A centralized volume buyer

        What is cheaper?
        An amputated citizen and or even a minimal hospitalization for diabetes vs Help the person with a very simple medicine so he can be productive.

        We are not talking about Hepatitis C here, and even there, there may be a case....

        Morality vs Economics/Math

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:31PM (3 children)

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:31PM (#736501) Journal

          It's possible that the DIY bio crowd will come up with an absolutely cheaper method of making the insulin. In which case the official producers can adopt that method and scale it up. Or maybe it will only be significantly cheaper because they are skipping safety and quality control checks, and there's lower transportation costs (when made in your home or locally), etc.

          Whatever the case, the Open Insulin Project and others like it can't be stopped. Only driven underground, like other biologists and chemists (except there is much more sympathy for someone making cheap insulin than cheap meth, so they could probably distribute it without getting ratted out).

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
          • (Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:52PM (1 child)

            by aiwarrior (1812) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:52PM (#736511) Journal

            I am with you on this, this is good. Competition is good, if it fails its part of life.
            This is where the actual philosophy and morality enter: Is the US system, with it's Darwinism always going to come out on top of the game? Perhaps. Is it worth it?

            One of my current philosophical dilemmas.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday September 19 2018, @11:54AM

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 19 2018, @11:54AM (#737003) Journal

              This is where the actual philosophy and morality enter: Is the US system, with it's Darwinism always going to come out on top of the game? Perhaps. Is it worth it?

              We should ask why the US system ended on top in the first place? Second, the US health care system is screwed up despite significant attempts to make it less Darwinian. These attempts have often backfired badly (such as creating the oligopoly situation with insulin).

          • (Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:56PM

            by sjames (2882) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:56PM (#736513) Journal

            Or more likely, it will cost twice as much to make but without the rapacious markup, will only cost 1/10th as much to the end user.

            The market is broken.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:25PM (6 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:25PM (#736497)

        I'm not the AC above, but my guess is he was referring to the obesity rate in the US. His insulin is free because his own pancreas produces it.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:52PM (4 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:52PM (#736512) Journal

          His insulin is free because his own pancreas produces it.

          Pancreas - the enemy of diabetes research and the profi... no, scratch that - and the jobs.
          Big Pharma should lobby for regulation imposing the surgical removal of the pancreas immediately after birth

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @03:22PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @03:22PM (#736549)

            Obesity is only a risk factor.

            Once my glucose was controlled (type 2), my weight rapidly plummeted (down 85 lbs so far, and still dropping) with no change of diet nor lifestyle.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:47PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:47PM (#736616)

              Just make sure you're confident it is diabetes. A co-worker of mine had his blood sugar go crazy and he was on various diabetes-related medications. It turned out that he had pancreatic cancer and the cancer was squeezing his pancreas causing his blood sugar to go all over the place.

          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:56PM

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:56PM (#736599) Journal

            Big Pharma should lobby for regulation imposing the surgical removal of the pancreas immediately after birth

            Your ISP and your mobile phone provider will be fighting over those vital organs with marketable value. The resale market in used organs will still harm the profits of Big Pharma.

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
          • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday September 19 2018, @12:53AM

            by MostCynical (2589) on Wednesday September 19 2018, @12:53AM (#736855) Journal

            Monty Python [youtube.com] didn't intend the movie to be a documentary or user manual..

            --
            "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @02:13PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @02:13PM (#736519)

          Isn't obesity only a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes (many of which don't use insulin)? Most/all Type 1 diabetics require insulin and I don't believe obesity is a related factor.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by isostatic on Tuesday September 18 2018, @03:57PM (6 children)

        by isostatic (365) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @03:57PM (#736566) Journal

        http://imgur.com/giZOXqel.png [imgur.com]

        It's not hard to manufacture cheaper insulin, all the other countries manage to do it.

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:09PM (3 children)

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:09PM (#736577) Journal

          How much of the price is due to socialized medicine? What about packaging and shipping costs on top of the manufacturing costs?

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:58PM

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:58PM (#736601) Journal

            Amazon seems to have reasonable packaging and shipping costs.

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
          • (Score: 3, Informative) by Bobs on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:16PM

            by Bobs (1462) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:16PM (#736632)

            FYI: compare the price for the same bottle of insulin in Canada vs. USA:

            Canada ~$52
            USA ~$250

            Product from the same company.

          • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:54PM

            by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:54PM (#736759)

            I live in a country with proper civilised socialist medicine, and from what I understand the national drug buying agency offers potential suppliers a "take it or leave it" price for anything that is not under a patent, and as they can easily work out the cost of manufacture, that price is very, very low.

            There will be multiple manufacturers world wide, so if they are offered a supply contract for (say) 12 months, with guaranteed volumes, the small margin is probably no big deal.

        • (Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Wednesday September 19 2018, @01:02AM (1 child)

          by el_oscuro (1711) on Wednesday September 19 2018, @01:02AM (#736857)

          Where do those numbers come from? I used to take Lantus and Humalog and both had a cash price of $750/vial.

          --
          SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
      • (Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Wednesday September 19 2018, @01:07AM

        by el_oscuro (1711) on Wednesday September 19 2018, @01:07AM (#736860)

        Insulin *used* to cost $20/bottle as recently as about 2002, right here in the good old USA. Back then I had a really sketchy individual insurance plan that didn't cover drugs and I paid cash for it.

        --
        SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:41PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:41PM (#736505) Journal

      not a 3rd-world backwater like the USA.

      Objection. They are the bloody-edge of the advancement into the corporatist feudalism.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:50PM (#736508)

      That's why this project is not based in your country. You're still paying for it.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:08PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:08PM (#736576)

      not for long you don't, Mohamed. your precious leaders are destroying your country while you cheer them on. when you finally realize you're in trouble, you'll be trying to use rocks against their AKs. good luck with that.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @11:40PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @11:40PM (#736820)

        This already happens. They use rocks against tanks. Knives against guns. They storm a border then claim murder when people die. There are many videos posted of them baiting armed military security guards.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by bradley13 on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:54PM (9 children)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:54PM (#736479) Homepage Journal

    There are a lot of problems in and around the pharma industry. Basic capitalism works, in the sense that potential profits drive research. However, the patent system is being abused, and there is a lot of corruption in the drug approval, and the corresponding suppression of generics. Here's a three-step suggestion:

    - Let companies charge whatever crazy prices they want. Do not require any insurance or government program to purchase any particular drug. If their prices are too high, no one will buy their drugs.

    - Be strict about patents: one term, no renewal, no trivial adaptations (like changing dosages, etc.) that effectively extend the patent.

    - Be generous with approval of generics.

    The result: At latest, any drug will be available for generic manufacture after 17 years, which is not all that long in the scheme of things.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:51PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:51PM (#736510)

      Even after patent expiration, many drugs are expensive due to its niche target market and few producers. In fact, some pharma pay off generic makers to not produce out-of-patent medicines because they can both make more money that way. Market failure is built-in for medicine.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Tuesday September 18 2018, @02:08PM (2 children)

      by sjames (2882) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @02:08PM (#736518) Journal

      I predict that will last right up until you or someone you care about needs a few doses of a drug that costs pennies to manufacture but is nevertheless fantastically expensive in order to live long enough to see the patent expire.

      Consider, Insulin has been on the market for nearly 100 years but people die regularly in the U.S. because they can't afford it.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:00PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:00PM (#736726) Journal

        I predict that will last right up until you or someone you care about needs a few doses of a drug that costs pennies to manufacture but is nevertheless fantastically expensive in order to live long enough to see the patent expire.

        Consider, Insulin has been on the market for nearly 100 years but people die regularly in the U.S. because they can't afford it.

        At least he's trying to fix the problem.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @08:50PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @08:50PM (#737217)

        "I want that" doesn't mean you have a right to it or will get it.

        If we ban those high prices, the drugs would not likely be discovered and would certainly not undergo the required testing.

        So the alternative to high prices is that there is no drug.

        I guess this makes you happy? While dying due to lack of the drug, you can be comforted by knowing that well-off people are dying with you. You won't have anybody to be jealous of. Everybody suffers, not just the poor. Yay communism!

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:55PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:55PM (#736618)

      You can't have basic capitalism in this market if you don't open it up to foreign companies. Big Pharma makes all this noise about how we need to keep the Government out and let the market decide, while at the same time fighting tooth-and-nail to keep the US market closed to foreign vendors because, you know, safety. There's a reason they charge the US market 10 to 100 times more for the same drug than they do in the rest of the world, and it doesn't have anything to do with safety.

      Also, go back to banning them from advertising their drugs to the mass market. You can't also cry that even the tiniest drop in their profits will drive their R&D out ("we can't research the next big drugs!") when they are spending MORE on their ad market than on their R&D ("just ask your doctor about ....").

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:09PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:09PM (#736629)

      It is a little early for stuff this scary but I'm not waiting 2 weeks to post

      *puts on Ayn Rand Sociopath costume*

      "The free market will work out all problems. Work allows people to purchase what they need to survive, so the free market is the simplest method of letting the natural process of selection work out. All the socialist programs have allowed the human population to expand without any checks or balances, but through simple supply and demand the lower tiers of humanity will eventually die off leaving us stronger and more capable than ever."

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:10PM (1 child)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:10PM (#736733) Journal
        After the Trollpocalypse, only the straw men will survive.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @10:26PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @10:26PM (#736782)

          So sayeth the king!

          God wills it! god wills it!!

    • (Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:58PM

      by digitalaudiorock (688) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:58PM (#736763) Journal

      I'd also add that top on the list of perverse incentives is that fact that there's very little money to be made in curing anything as apposed to treating it for life with expensive drugs. This is why the "free market" can fucking blow me when it comes to health care in general. And yes...I'm glad to have my taxes go to health care as apposed to the shit it's doing now...especially supporting people who make more than most of our annual salaries in the time it took me to write this.

  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:13PM (10 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:13PM (#736580)

    15-20 years ago I had a diabetic cat (I didn't do it, she was a rescue). Had to get a prescription not for the insulin, but for the needles to inject her with. Being a cat insurance didn't cover it. I don't remember it being very expensive. In fact, I think I paid more for the needles than I did for the insulin.

    FWIW, turned out the cat hated getting shots twice a day. So I decided to let things run their course and quit injecting her. 3-4 weeks later I put her down. Ended up throwing about 70 needles into the trash, I couldn't find anyone to donate them to.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:26PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @04:26PM (#736586)

      I am of the opinion that you shouldn't do heroic things to prolong the life of an animal.
      (It's not a person that has dependents, after all.) Especially if it has reached a normal lifespan, let it go. There are too many cats or dogs that need homes to spend a bunch of resources propping up a dying one. Better to let nature take its course (well, ethanize if suffering) and adopt another healthy animal. You're actually doing greater good that way in my opinion.

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:33PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:33PM (#736644)

        What about people who don't have dependents? Better to clear them out and make room for healthier people?

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:48PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:48PM (#736647)

        Your logic makes sense, however one of our strengths as humans is the ability for love and compassion. Many people view their animals as family members and whether you agree with that or not no amount of "greater good" logic will change their perspective. If they can provide their animals with another 6 months or a few years of happy life then that is what they will do if they can afford it.

        Is it logical? No. Is it human and comforting to know people actually do care? YES!

        • (Score: 2) by Alfred on Tuesday September 18 2018, @07:51PM

          by Alfred (4006) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @07:51PM (#736691) Journal
          You are exactly right because each person is allowed, even entitled, to make bad decisions with their resources.

          Some people switch from spending money to let them die when they realize what they could have bought instead. Even for actual family members, love can be a fickle thing.
    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:02PM (2 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 18 2018, @05:02PM (#736603) Journal

      I couldn't find anyone to donate them to.

      I had old drugs once. My primary care doctor was happy to take them where they could be used in projects like doctors without borders. The drugs weren't too old, and the doctors know some drugs are good much longer than Big Pharma wants you to believe.

      Needles might be useful too if individual units are unopened.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:27PM (1 child)

        by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:27PM (#736743)

        Needles might be useful too if individual units are unopened.

        They came 100 in a single bag, once I opened that bag none of the needles in it was sterile anymore. That's why I couldn't find anyone to give them to.

        --
        Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday September 19 2018, @05:36PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 19 2018, @05:36PM (#737130) Journal

          As I recall, individual syringes are sterile until the cap over the needle is removed. I also seem to remember much smaller bags.

          A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, my daughter's insulin pump had problems. So the solution was to go back to the old fashioned treatment of a basal insulin along with a bolus when needed. But we didn't have syringes on hand. So I rush to walgreens in the night, in jogging shorts, hair disheveled, to buy only one bag of needles. Not the entire box of multiple bags. (Entire box was 100 syringes.) Of course, this seems suspicious in the middle of the night.

          But I knew all the right answers. It is for insulin. Yes, I can specify what kinds exactly. What patient, who was a minor child. All on file in their records. So they sold it to me over the counter.

          --
          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:13PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:13PM (#736631)

      This is the 2nd time I've seen this comment...

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:56PM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday September 18 2018, @06:56PM (#736654) Journal

        A consistent story applicable to two different articles (but I forgot where it last showed up).

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @07:31PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @07:31PM (#736676)

        It's just the usual kind of high quality comment here that displays a high level of education, critical thinking, and analysis of current events and issues.

        .

        I ran a 8 year experiment back in the 80s when one of the pet stores was singing the praises of their bio-degradable insulin needles. Tacked a couple to the sunny side of a shed, and staked a couple more on the ground. Ten years later my wife took them down and threw them in the recycle when we moved out of that house.

        Statute of limitations on false advertising had already expired.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @01:09AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @01:09AM (#736861)

    Why does the Open Insulin Project exist in the first place? Insulin is 100 years old, but it remains prohibitively expensive for many patients, with some uninsured patients paying up to $400 a month for this life-saving medicine. People are angry, and in some cases, people are dying, from lack of access to affordable insulin.

    This. So many times this. Fucking left wing crazies think everything should be free.

    It's supposed to be this way. What? Can't afford your insulin *and* [food|rent|electricity|whatever]? That's because you're worthless. Anyone who can't afford to keep themselves alive deserves to die. How do I know this? Because if you ain't got the bread, you don't eat. And if you ain't got the money, you don't get the drugs. So. If you're poor, you're just a loser who is using air someone more deserving should be breathing.

    That's why our fearless leader is trying so hard (with no help from those fucking RINOs in congress) to create the 'murica we used to have. When the almoghty dollar was, well, almighty.

    It's just going to take a while as we weed out the democrazy voting useless poor people. As they die, we will slowly Make America Great Again.

    So get out there and help us make our nation proud and happy once again -- go out and shoot some poor people. IF they're darkies, no one will even care. Not that too many folks will care about dead whites if they're poor too. But we can get to them later -- they're voting the right way for now.

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