Big pharma bla bla bla bla (conspiracy) bla bla bla no sorry, it's enough please
Big Pharma saved my life a few years ago.
I had hepatitis-C to the point that my AST levels (standard liver function blood test) were around 300. Normal healthy levels are about 20 and warning levels are around 40.
After some European academics discovered a way to culture hep-C virus in petri dishes, American Big Pharma was able to identify a protein required by the virus to replicate (but was of no use to us) and they devised a blocker.
Yes, American Big Pharma shamelessly profiteered to the point of price gouging. They justified their $95k price per patient (Harvoni) by saying it was less than the >$250k cost of keeping patients in the hospital until they died. I wonder if Gilead Sciences ever made a donation to the European Universities?
Luckily once the idea was out, good old capitalism kicked in. Soon you could fly to India on a Hep-C vacation to get cured for <$1.2k. Where there's a table to go under or a back door to go through, things will go under and through.
Soon other Big Pharma companies made their versions. My hepatologist used his influence as the head of the Liver Foundation of Canada to get Merck to supply me with their version (Zepatier) for free under the guise of "compassionate care" since I was over 65 years old. They even sent it right to my door by courier.
I took one large tablet every day for 90 days. It was like taking a vitamin pill, no side effects or anything. One-A-Day. After 30 days my AST levels were down to 20 (normal) and after the full 90 day treatment, comprehensive tests showed me to be clear of the virus. I was tested clear again after 3 more months and 3 months after that. I shook the doc's hand, thanked him, saying that I hoped we'd never meet again (at least not professionally!) and wished him a happy retirement.
Through the treatment I continued belting back way too many overpriced ballpark beers, bottles of Guinness at my local live music bar, and of course assorted yummy cocktails. Didn't miss a beat.
Big Pharma? Yep, they can be greedy heartless profiteering scum, but they can also be of use.
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I keep wondering if they could use the same paradigm to develop blockers for proteins required by other viruses, Covid-19 for example.
Here's one for the conspiracy theorists. Maybe they already have and are waiting to produce and stockpile enough for their grand debut to maximize profits before governments have a chance to take over production or competitors move in. What are a few hundred thousand human lives when there's some profiteering to be done?
Disclaimer: I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I'm not a conspiracy denier either.
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