Persuading Big Pharma to make vaccines for the poor »
Posted by: Ousama 1 year, 6 months agoHow can pharmaceutical companies be persuaded to develop vaccines for diseases of the poor, when poor people can't afford to buy them? The not-for-profit Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) and the World Bank have come up with a solution: rich countries should give money to poor countries to pay for the vaccines in advance.
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Eagle_Eye1 year, 6 months ago
This is so true, not enough money for them to make off the poor. They also do this to what is called "Orphan" diseases. Some thing that is rare and there is not enough demand for a medicine because it strikes smaller numbers.
Some where the Pharmacutical companies need their advertising dollars cut off and instead redirected to fund research.
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tomboy5011 year, 6 months ago
Agreed. Big Pharma's advertising campaigns are completely out of control. Those 5-page glossy magazine ad spreads littering every major publication now are ridiculous. And the rest of their slush money seems to go to political lobbying...$$$ for research only limited to what will provide a healthy return.
At least Big Oil is straight up about their cold greed. Big Pharma pretends to be interested in health and welfare.
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hamy1 year, 6 months ago
No, but you have to admit that treatment options should come from doctors. Not from "The Guiding Light." Wouldn't you agree?
I have friends who are physicians and most of their patients now come in to request drugs that they have seen advertised. And regardless of need or professional opinion, will pressure doctors into giving them these drugs. That is how strong the message of these companies has become.
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Eagle_Eye1 year, 6 months ago
That is just plain wrong there David: "Do you believe that people should have their treatment options suppressed by keeping them and their physicians ignorant about newly discovered options?"
The number of Pharmacutical Reps going in and out of my Doctors office (along with all the pens, pads and free samples) the small amount of time I am there tells me my Doctor is very aware of treatment options.
Drug companies have no business to advertise to public, drugs are only for Doctors to decide. Many people end up on wrong drugs with bad side effects from ragging on Docs to prescribe them. But it is up to the Doctor to use discretion of which there are many that prefer the Pharmacutical perks versus patients best interest.
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hamy1 year, 6 months ago
Wow! Someone finally is making the big drug companies do something about diseases that can easily be wiped out. I am so sad to see that the big donation to this organization from the US is the Gates Foundation.
Billions to kill people, nothing to save them. That will be Bush's legacy.
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Zodd1 year, 6 months ago
What is the incentive to provide drugs for free? Pharmaceutical companies are just that, companies and like any other publicly held company their primary purpose for being in business is paying dividends for the shareholders who own the company. If they are not returning a profit they cannot stay in business. Capitalism is first and foremost about profit. It's not a perfect system but it works. No company can stay in business buy giving away their product without recovering the cost of production, advertising, R&D, manpower etc. That is no comfort to people who need certain medicines and cannot afford them but unless there is an incentive to produce these medicines the pharmaceutical companies have no reason to reduce their profits. It is not about doing the right thing, it is about business
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jordan111 year, 6 months ago
David said "Politically motivated groups who are looking for a third party to abuse to energize their political base are the dishonorable people.">>>>
David, you mean like women who seek abortions, or the rights of gay people? Anyway, it took a lot of pressure to get the big pharmaceuticals to come down in the prices for AIDS drugs, right here in this country. Oversight is needed, and if you want to make that 'political', I'm sure nothing will change your mind.
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tommmmie1 year, 3 months ago
The greed of the companies will have the final effect on the U S. If there was a drug to stop a pandemic from happening and the drug companies only let people who can afford the vaccines have them, the diseases will not only wipe out the poor, but the mutations will wipe out the rest. All for the pockets of the CEO's and major stockholders. They do it with flu shots now.
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OldRusty1 year, 6 months ago
I say medicine of any kind should be free to any one, any where, any time,If man kind is going to advance beyond, the WAR lords and political upheavals in todays time, simple things, like clean water, clean air, basic food, medicine,and even cell phones, and inter-net, should be available to everyone free.Now what do you think about that?
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fotoman11334061 year, 6 months ago
Guys,
Sorry, but the poor...for that matter, almost all mankind are'nt worth it. Those that have(rich)--GOD is money. And you can't take any amount away from them. That would be...
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JackofallChems1 year, 6 months ago
For all you left-wing braindrains that want pharma companies to work for free, I have bad news for you that comes from personal experience. You've already stolen so much money from big pharma companies already through price manipulation and the threat/reality of patent expropriation in European countries, Canada, etc., that there's not enough money for big pharma companies to be charitable and still provide even reasonable paychecks for the people that work there. I've worked as a long-term temp (see Microsoft for details on that big-corporation scam) in two of the big pharma companies and didn't get into either one in spite of rave reviews from my supervisors because neither one had the $$ in the budget to hire all of the people they wanted - or needed - for their drug development projects. Tell the poor of the world that they can buy their own drugs, beg Bill Gates to buy them instead, or just drop dead. Other options aren't there, due to socialist thievery. Got it? Good.
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JackofallChems1 year, 6 months ago
Oh, and by the way, I've dropped out of the medical industry and gone back into industrial chemistry research, and then strolled back in, and now I'm in another section of the medical technology sector because there's actually jobs that haven't been destroyed due to socialism and the delusion that 'everyone has a right to health care'. That being said, however, I'm not stating exactly which part of the medical industry I'm in, because I'd like to keep a roof over my kid's heads for longer than the two weeks it would take for Eurotrash and their moronic disciples in Canada and Australia to start stealing money from my obscure corner of the U.S. economy. You all do realize that innovators that can't get paid a decent buck for innovating will eventually quit trying and sweep floors for a living, even in high-end medical stuff, right? Of course you do. Socialism is exploitation and abuse of the poor under the pretext of assistance, after all.
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jordan111 year, 6 months ago
For all you left-wing braindrains that want pharma companies to work for free, I have bad news for you that comes from personal experience. You've already stolen so much money from big pharma companies already through price manipulation and the threat/reality of patent expropriation in European countries, Canada, etc., that there's not enough money for big pharma companies to be charitable and still provide even reasonable paychecks for the people that work there.>>>>>
hahahahaha! You've been had, m'dear. Yanno where Pfizer is hiding out with its Lipitor? Ireland. They save MILLIONS in taxes by hiding out there with that drug, which is the biggest selling drug in the WORLD! One months supply, for ONE person in the U.S., costs approx. $140.00. And to add insult to injury, the people in other parts of the world pay LESS than Americans do, while Pfizer hides from taxes, & submits for AMERICAN tax dollars to help it pay for its research.
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Eagle_Eye1 year, 6 months ago
Stop blaming American's for our governments and greedy corporations (with their big salaries and bonus packages that takes ((STEALS)) the money for multiple houses, luxuries vacation islands, yachts, etc) doing and foreigners for taking. That is wrong and so is your rant, the Pharmacutical companies have been ripping off the American People for Years.
Sounds like you have some serious anger issues, chill
Peace
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JackofallChems1 year, 6 months ago
The estimated cost for GlaxoSmithKline to develop a malaria vaccine for African countries is about $800 million, and they have been trying to do it on a low budget with less than half of the money coming from the Gates foundation, as of about 1 1/2 years ago. The real cost, thanks to the things that almost inevitibly go weird during a drug development project when the stuff hits the larger clinical trials, will almost certainly be between a billion and two billion. That money goes mostly toward infrastructure, lab supplies, and the researchers that figure things out - managers don't start pulling the big bucks until the stuff is on the market, assuming that there's a profit in the first place. When you figure out how many researchers get ripped off by price fixing, or who simply have to find another line of work and let drugs go undiscovered or undeveloped, you'll know why my 'rant' is really just a mild statement of reality for people with eyes that simply won't see.
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Eagle_Eye1 year, 6 months ago
oh, I see, how about some of those drug companies executives and stock holders take less profit and put it into developing research....also there are a lot of grants for developing cures.
"The estimated cost for GlaxoSmithKline to develop a malaria vaccine for African countries is about $800 million,", let Gates and the "Red" campaign chip in Africa, I am all for taking care of America first.
Peace
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trippyocean1 year, 6 months ago
The Pharms don't want to make vaccines for the poor because they can't pay for them. They only want to keep money in the circle. But if we can break that circle; i'm all for it.
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geoffhasler1 year, 3 months ago
Sadly, U.S. drug companies are not totally altruistic. Patient Assistance Programs, that this company has processed over 130,000 medication requests for, saving U.S. consumers over $20 million, provide that U.S. drug companies get a tax benefit for the hard cost of the drugs that they provide under these Programs. If the U.N. or World Bank extended similar benefits to U.S. drug companies to do this, U.S. drug companies would probably be more forthcoming. U.S. Patient Assistance Programs, that provide free medications to low income, uninsured Americans, helped almost eight million Americans last year.
Geoff Hasler, MyFreeMedicine.com, LLC, CEO
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