Temple
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Posts : 7317
Join date : 2014-07-29
 | | Subject: Trump FDA grants drug company exclusive claim on promising coronavirus drug Tue Mar 24, 2020 5:07 pm | |
| 8 mins ago on March 24, 2020
This is a massive scandal’: Trump FDA grants drug company exclusive claim on promising coronavirus drug.
As healthcare providers across the U.S. desperately attempt to treat a rapidly growing number of patients with the coronavirus, a pharmaceutical company
with ties to the Trump administration
has been granted exclusive status
for a drug it is developing to treat the illness—
a potential windfall for the company that could put the medication out of reach for many Americans.
As The Intercept reported Monday, the Food and Drug Administration granted Gilead Sciences “orphan” drug status for remdesivir, one of several drugs being tested as potential treatments for the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19.
Having secured orphan drug status, Gilead Sciences can now profit exclusively off the drug for seven years and could block manufacturers from developing generic versions of the drug which might be more accessible to many patients.
The company can set price controls on the drug as well as benefiting from grants and tax credits.
As The Intercept reported, the designation was given to a company where Joe Grogan,
a member of President Donald Trump’s “coronavirus task force,”
worked as a lobbyist from 2011 to 2017, often working on issues regarding drug pricing.
“This is a massive scandal,” tweeted Ryan Grim, Washington, D.C. bureau chief for The Intercept
Coronavirus Treatment Developed by Gilead Sciences Granted “Rare Disease” Status, Potentially...
A promising anti-viral developed by Gilead Sciences, remdesivir, has received lucrative “orphan” drug status.
But as Sharon Lerner and Lee Fang reported at The Intercept, the “orphan” status is expected to create a massive windfall for Gilead.
“The special orphan designation,” they wrote, “was given to remdesivir despite hefty support by the government for the development of the drug. Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir was developed with at least
$79 million in U.S. government funding.”
“The Trump Administration just gave the Gilead pharma corporation a seven-year monopoly, so they can charge patients outrageous prices for the medication we’ve already paid for,” Social Security Works tweeted.
Gilead’s rush to profit off a potentially life-saving drug in the midst of a public health and economic crisis could prove “deeply harmful” to the American people, many more of whom are expected to contract the coronavirus, said government watchdog Public Citizen.
“Remdesivir is one of relatively few medicines that may prove effective in treating COVID-19 this year,” said Peter Maybarduk, director of the group’s Access to Medicines program.
“The government should be urgently concerned with its affordability for citizens.
Instead, the FDA has handed Gilead, one of the most profitable pharmaceutical corporations on earth,
a long and entirely undeserved seven-year monopoly and, with it, the ability to charge outrageous prices to consumers.”
“Gilead has gamed the system by rushing through its ‘rare disease’ orphan drug application,” Maybarduk added. “Its action is disingenuous and outrageous.”
The group ACT UP, which has fought for decades for equitable access to HIV-AIDS drugs and to healthcare, also expressed outrage on social media.
Banks Pressure Health Care Firms to Raise Prices on Critical Drugs, Medical Supplies for CoronavirusBig Pharma Prepares to Profit From the Coronaviru
https://theintercept.com/2020/03/23/gilead-sciences-coronavirus-treatment-orphan-drug-status/ |
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The Wise And Powerful
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| | Subject: Re: Trump FDA grants drug company exclusive claim on promising coronavirus drug Tue Mar 24, 2020 5:42 pm | |
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