1. Decades of disinterest
- A pot of government gold – and the prospect for no-strings-attached profits – is fueling pharma’s interest in vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 after *decades* of disinterest in treating infectious disease. Read the second blog in our series on taxpayer funding for COVID-19 vaccine and treatment development. — (P4AD)
2. ? Cries for reform will grow louder ?
- The old way Big Pharma conducts itself isn’t going to fly in our new pandemic paradigm. The public is watching, and if pharma hoards intellectual property and profits at the expense of public health, ensuing cries for reform will be deafening. — (Bloomberg Law)
3. Pandemic price gouging
- A drug maker tripled the price of a pill as it pursued the medication’s use for coronavirus patients – and it’s not an isolated instance. Pharma, we’ve got our ? on you. — (Axios)
4. Follow the money
- The author of “PHARMA: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America,” discusses how drug industry lobbyists successfully blocked proposed measures in the recent $8.3 billion COVID-19 relief package that would have allowed the government to ensure fair prices for COVID-19 drugs. If pharma’s recent, and distant, sordid past has taught us anything, it’s that we can expect more of this. — (The Hill)
5. Without lower drug prices, expect more stories like this
- A Kansas dad of four and aircraft mechanic was laid off just before the coronavirus struck and is about to lose his health insurance. He fears he’ll be forced to choose between feeding his children and buying his insulin. No one should have to make that choice. — (CBS)