I will never pass up an opportunity to point out that it costs Gilead approximately $6 to manufacture a month’s prescription of PReP, which would wipe HIV off the face of the planet if widely adopted and which was developed with federal funding, and they sell it at $1,500. - ThreadSky

issuefortyfive.bsky.social • 118 days ago

I will never pass up an opportunity to point out that it costs Gilead approximately $6 to manufacture a month’s prescription of PReP, which would wipe HIV off the face of the planet if widely adopted and which was developed with federal funding, and they sell it at $1,500.

Reposted from Catbus

hey, here's a thought- let's nationalize any company that sounds like the evil corporation in a dystopian Paul Verhoeven SF movie

Comments

proudanselmo.bsky.social•117 days ago

Unfortunately not quite true. There are several strains of HIV that current PrEP (Truvada and Descovy) does not protect against.

So in addition to making PrEP available to everyone everywhere, we also need more ART, approved as PrEP.

tubidefender.bsky.social•117 days ago

It costs nearly $3 billion to bring a new drug to final approval. And there are thousands of drugs that never make it to market or make any profit. Not a good rationale for 25,000% mark up, but drug companies can’t continue bringing new products to market on thin margins either. Broken system

drex.dev•118 days ago

Sometimes isolated pharmaceutical costs are deceptive (i.e. Merck has a ~3% operating income), but Gilead is not one of those cases. They have a 28% operating income! They could charge so much less and still make plenty. It's just greed.

jim-gras.bsky.social•117 days ago

Every time I see something like this I inch a little closer to seeing "repeal all IP laws" as a valid policy position

proudanselmo.bsky.social•117 days ago

A bigger issue is that the US doesn't set drug prices like every other country in the world.

jim-gras.bsky.social•117 days ago

[Whispers] Repealing IP laws *is* setting drug prices. Drugs cost pennies to make; they are only expensive because IP law gives the inventor a monopoly

Take away the monopoly, and everything is priced as generic

proudanselmo.bsky.social•117 days ago

No, not all drugs. Some are actually ludicrously complex and expensive to manufacture.

suddenlygarmo.bsky.social•117 days ago

my bf is a geneticist working in medical biotech and he agrees with you

cv-danes.com•117 days ago

but won't someone think of the profits tho the profits

truthhasacurl.bsky.social•117 days ago

For Profit Healthcare is a scam and the fact that we allowed it to go from non-profit charity to this nightmare does little to restore my faith in humanity.

josephinerobertson.com•117 days ago

Honestly all federal funding needs to come with the caveat that ANYTHING developed with it must be entirely in the public domain.

proudanselmo.bsky.social•117 days ago

I'm fine with companies making a profit off stuff they sell that was developed with government funds, but I'm very much against most extremes.

5% profit, go for it.

5000% profit, you and your third superyacht can get fucked.

josephinerobertson.com•117 days ago

Public domain would do that. Anyone could manufacture so they'd have to charge a reasonable markup.

proudanselmo.bsky.social•117 days ago

That would only work if the development was 100% government funded.

seethreepeehole.bsky.social•118 days ago

Jesus fuck, I buy three months worth for AUD $75.

classyearlgrey.bsky.social•117 days ago

Hate to be Captain Obvious, but wiping out HIV now would kill their cash cow while it was still under patent. It’s the most grim thing about the industry I was in- it doesn’t exist to cure disease, but instead, profit from it. 💯 why I left and never went back. Profit-driven medicine is such evil.

smenor.com•117 days ago

Beyond fucking evil

fortunasaga.com•118 days ago

Buying out the patent and just allowing cheap, generics worldwide would literally make everyone on Earth better off in any measurable way. The fact that this isn't considered is a choice.

proudanselmo.bsky.social•117 days ago

Generic Truvada already exists.

rinzy.art•117 days ago

It's still like $1k a month, because there's no incentive for the generic producers to make it actually affordable when the non-generic is so obnoxiously expensive.

proudanselmo.bsky.social•117 days ago

Which is why the US needs to set drug prices.

peteinsq.bsky.social•112 days ago

Not globally it isn't. It's currently £100 in the UK and a lot of HIV products are cheaper. The incentive for generic manufacturers to reduce price is competition amongst them. Then the floor to price is their cost of goods.

proudanselmo.bsky.social•112 days ago

The UK, like most rational countries, sets/negotiates drug prices.

peteinsq.bsky.social•112 days ago

Yes so when it comes to sourcing cheap, off parent drugs for HIV for Africa companies like Cipla and Dr Reddy's in India are in a position to supply at close to their costs.

peteinsq.bsky.social•112 days ago

Which is why atorvastatin currently sells for £0.24 in the UK where Lipitor sold for £13.00

southernviolet.bsky.social•117 days ago

So there is a balm in Gilesd but the capitalists won't let us have it. So we should let the capitalists...have it.

cynbelterreus.bsky.social•115 days ago

My HIV meds cost like $3600/month... I don't pay a dime, but my insurance sure does. (My copay is covered by... Gilead)

bleary.off-the-records.com•118 days ago

The argument about capitalism driving innovation isn’t totally false. But there should be something like a mandatory buyout at the end of the process. You cured AIDS? Awesome! Here’s $10 billion, now go see what you can do about malaria.

buckmeister.bsky.social•117 days ago

Anything capitalism invents that becomes public infrastructure-equivalent really.

Amazon delivery infrastructure? Congrats, you won capitalism, here's your $10bn, this is a public service now, off you pop and do it again if you're so smart

meanbeankerosene.bsky.social•117 days ago

“And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.”

William Gibson
Count Zero

dl-draco-rex.bsky.social•117 days ago

This reminds me of how there used to be a lyme disease vaccine.

borgly.bsky.social•118 days ago

🎶There is balm in Gilead / To make the wounded whole...🎶

naughtykyuubi69.bsky.social•117 days ago

it's just sheer greed and another reason why several other nations see the western world as wicked and decadent

issuefortyfive.bsky.social•118 days ago

This is the kind of thing that turns me from a Decent Liberal into a Burn The Motherfucker Down Maoist.

sixarmedsweater.bsky.social•117 days ago

I mean, health insurance companies ARE the landlords of the body.

issuefortyfive.bsky.social•118 days ago

https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/05/act-up-is-challenging-gilead-to-make-truvada-more-accessible.html

issuefortyfive.bsky.social•118 days ago

Non-USians can stop replying to this now, yes we all think you’re just swell for having functional health care systems.

issuefortyfive.bsky.social•117 days ago

Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich voice: Oh see, now that really pisses me off.

https://bsky.app/profile/lids.bsky.social/post/3l7mgft64b22w

woodmike.bsky.social•117 days ago

lids.bsky.social•117 days ago

Did anybody else think it was gross that they sponsored a cruising podcast?

issuefortyfive.bsky.social•117 days ago

I’m sorry they did what to a what?

carriagereturn.bsky.social•117 days ago

Everything about that podcast pisses me off. Well, maybe not the hosts themselves but still

lids.bsky.social•117 days ago

I never listened to it, tbh.

carriagereturn.bsky.social•117 days ago

I get the ads on other shows and it just seems so... Who is this even for?

bringthenoise.bsky.social•117 days ago

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I might suggest that Cool Zone Media are on iHeart so that the ads radicalise the listeners for them

stuhennigan.bsky.social•118 days ago

I'm reading How To Survive A Plague by David France atm and the amount of money that was made by some firms is eye-watering; every timd a new drug looked likely to work, up went the price. It's fucking devastating stuff. Superb book but christ it's heartbreaking

boshyboo.bsky.social•117 days ago

Furious

laxjohnny.bsky.social•118 days ago

Disgusting. They're literally holding the cure to a half a century's long epidemic over our heads and saying "ah ah ah, where's my fee?" Like the scrooge they are. Fie upon them.

proudanselmo.bsky.social•117 days ago

It's not a cure, it's prevention. ART only targets active copies of the virus.

geetnerd.bsky.social•117 days ago

The problem is you expect a capitalist who has ascended to Executive, CEO, or Board Member to posses empathy, or scruples. They don't posses either. It's about the money. Always.

chloerawr.bsky.social•117 days ago

better yet, free for all

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