When it comes to naming the scion of greed the
countenance of one snot-nosed little son-of-a-bitch named Martin
Shkreli leaps immediately to mind. One may recall that in 2015 as
head of Turing Pharmaceuticals he acquired Daraprim. “The drug's
most prominent use as of late 2015 was as an anti-malarial and
antiparasitic, in conjunction with leucovorin and sulfadiazine to
treat patients with AIDS-related and AIDS-unrelated
toxoplasmosis...The price of a dose of the drug in the U.S. market
increased from US $13.50 to US $750. per pill, overnight, a factor of
56” (1)
This outraged followed previous behaviors.
“In May 2014, Shkreli had difficulty accessing
public markets for capital, but received a $4 million series A
funding round and a PIPE deal valued at $10 million underwritten by
Roth Capital Partners. After obtaining the financing, Shkreli was
able to acquire rights to market tiopronin (brand name, Thiola) a
drug used to treat the rare disease cystinuria and Chenodal and
subsequently raise the price of each drug substantially, with Thiola
subsequently being marked up about 20 fold, from $1.50 to $30 per
pill (patients must take 10 to 15 pills a day), and Chenodal about
five fold. Retrophin did not lower the price of these drugs after
Shkreli's departure.” (2)
There are other
examples. He was hauled before Congress but refused to answer any
questions other than confirm his name. After receiving a tongue-lashing from outraged Democrats (the ReSCUMlickans were in control of the body), Shkreli was released to quickly return to rapine and plunder.
The real outrage is
that he was finally sent off to prison...but for securities
fraud! Yes, you can pluner the
public but by god the capitalist is sacrosanct. Shkreli had finally
gone too far—committed the capital sin—ripping off the
stockholders. In America, you can put the health of millions at risk but by god you don't mess with shareholders.
This is the state of
the American health care system. I bring this up because this week
yet another outrage was brought to our attention the editors of The
New York Times.
“At first blush,” wrote
the editors, “the news that Gilead—the company that
makes Truvada, the medication that prevents H.I.V. infection—will
donate enough of the drug to treat 200,000 patients a year through
2030 seems like unequivocally good news. Some 40,000 Americans are
newly infected with H.I.V. Every year. Reducing that transmission
rate is the key to eradicating the virus in the United States...
“But, as drug policy experts regularly note, such
donations have a long history of doing more for drug makers than for
patients.” (3)
Indeed as the Times points out, the tax breaks
for the donation will amount to an estimated $1 billion on a product
that costs around $10 million to produce. (4) So much for
enlightened self-interest or disinterested benevolence.
“A month's supply of Truvada costs roughly $6 to
make and sells for more than $1,600 in the United States, according
to the PrEP for All Collaboration, an advocacy group...Owing partly
to those prices, only about 18 percent of the million or so at-risk
Americans who need the drug have access to it, according to the
Kaiser Family Foundation...
“...As the Washington Post has reported, Truvada
was developed largely with taxpayer dollars. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention holds a patent on the medication, and the
Justice Department is investigating whether the company owes the
federal government back royalties on the patent, which experts say
could amount to as much as $1 billion...
“Officials at the Department of Health and Human
Services have resisted calls to sue the company for those royalties,
saying that such a lawsuit would be expensive and time-consuming and
would ultimately not make much of a dent in the drug's price.
They're probably right. But the prospect of such a lawsuit should
have given the government considerable leverage in its negotiations
with Gilead.
“Mr. Trump appears to have used that leverage
poorly. Regardless of how much access to the drug is increased by
the new donation, most Americans who need Truvada will still be
charged thousands of dollars a year for the drug, which citizens of
most other countries get for a small fraction of that price. Those
other countries made no investment in the development of Truvada, but
most have access to generic versions of it. Gilead has managed to
keep its rivals from introducing generics to the American market
through a combination of lawsuits and private deals with would-be
competitors.” (5)
It is evidently lost on
the Department of Justice that making deals with would-be competitors
in order to restrict access is price-fixing and a violation of
anti-trust laws.
Clearly Disgustus, who
had pledged to eradicate H.I.V., is no negotiator. Not only did the
administration fail to bring legal action on the patent rights, but
the government has failed to prosecute Gilead on charges of
price-fixing. Disgustus didn't even employ the threat of
such action in order to bring compliance.
The whole system is
outrageous. This is what happens when profit governs the nation's health care system. This is what happens when the government fails to protect the people by not enforcing laws long on the books against price-fixing. This is what happens when Capital is allowed to form cartels controlling the marketplaces in the pharmaceutical, insurance and medical industries. Here is yet another example of a product developed at
public universities, at public expense, the patent for which is
somehow found under the control of Corporate America. Why the
people, who paid for the creation of this product, are not reaping
the rewards is a national outrage. Here is yet another example of
how we allow corporate greed not only plunder the marketplace but the
public domain as well. The Kleptocracy at work, with the great
kleptocrat sitting on the throne, overseeing his den of thieves. The
ship of state has taken down the Grand 'Ole Flag and has run up the
Jolly Roger.
An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh
Impeach and Imprison.
_________________- Ibid
- Editors. “Gilead's Gift Horse” The New York Times. Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Page A22
- Ibid
- Ibid
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