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Pfizer starts large trial for anti-COVID pill

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This covid thing is really becoming a cash cow for big pharma.

1 ( +14 / -13 )

Exactly BigYen. Very sad that the phrase 'Big Pharma' is now just associated to conspiracy theorists. These mindless people seem to forget how much, just as an example both HIV and Cancer survival rates have improved in the last 30 years thanks to the big drug companies.

-1 ( +9 / -10 )

I've never used Tamiflu. Suspect this pill will be used just as much. By the time I feel sick enough to notice, it would be too late to help. The FDA has licensed it for OTC use in 2019, but the company that got the approval hasn't shipped any.

I like that drug companies are working on this. If it costs more than $5 for a treatment, most people won't keep it on-hand at home for the season. Isn't Tamaflu like $60 with a prescription?

Last time I had any drug prescription was in the early 1990s - and an excellent prescription it was.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

"The clinical trial will enroll 2,660 adults who will take part at the first signs of COVID infection or at first awareness of exposure.... If it works in real life, it will likely only be effective at the early stages of infection."

Exactly!!! That is how the assays should be done when you're targeting the viral phase of the disease. This is the exact opposite of the Oxford U. RECOVERY and WHO DISCOVERY trials, who treated the later stage because they wanted to show that HCQ was not effective.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Ooops: WHO DISCOVERY trials - WHO Solidarity trials

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Yeah big pharma as opposed to what? I guess an effective pill is good for those who hate needles. Personally I prefer shots because are annoying, especially if forget or skip a dose.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Yeah big pharma as opposed to what?

Nothing wrong with them making medicines. But there is something very wrong when they actively attack safe and effective repurposed medicines. It's a good time to remember that many pharmaceutical companies have each been fined several billions in fine for falsifying data and bribing officials; Pfizer had the largest ever fine!

I guess an effective pill is good for those who hate needles.

No, it's for people who hate heart inflammation, Bell's palsy, blindness...

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

 But there is something very wrong when they actively attack safe and effective repurposed medicines.

Nobody is doing that, just demonstrating that the drugs antivaxxers so often repeat should be supported actually have no role in the treatment of COVID, companies are not doing it, scientists all over the world that examine the evidence professionally and find problems with how some unethical scientists want to "prove" something with false information and fabricated data.

Attacking false remedies is nothing wrong, it is actually something that should be done in order to protect the patients. Even if the Raoults and Carvallos of the world try to deceive everbody for their own profit.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Even if the Raoults and Carvallos of the world try to deceive everbody for their own profit.

Yes, Raoult was trying to "deceive" everybody that a safe drug costing pennies per dose was effective. Right after he started to do this, he started receiving death treats from Raffi (he was later fined for those treats), who was heavily funded by Gilead, makers of Remdesivir.

Again, I have nothing against pharma making drugs, and even profiting from them. But we should all have access to cheap, safe, and effective repurposed drugs. Big pharma is doing their best to block this access and control the narrative.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Again, I have nothing against pharma making drugs

Who do you expect to make them? Starbucks?

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Again, I have nothing against pharma making drugs, and even profiting from them. But we should all have access to cheap, safe, and effective repurposed drugs. Big pharma is doing their best to block this access and control the narrative.

The. Vaccines. Are. Free.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

So who else has the equipment, know how, money, and production facilities to develop new medicines? You antivaxxers??? I don't think so, but you run to the hospital quick enough to get your medications, don't you? And who made them??? Isn't it the Big Pharma??? As I have never heard of Antivaxxers Pharma!!!

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Well said Zichi - for every drug that is proven and is successful through trials many fail which cost vast amount of money to that point. Yes, of course there is always for drugs to be made available at MUCH cheaper prices prior to patent expiration, of that there can be no argument.

However in the case of the Covid vaccines, very good cases have been made against retaining the IP rights. I'm not going to waste time typing what they are as the factory of anti-vaxxers will just come back with some more rubbish.

None of the anti-vaxxers on this forum ACTUALLY tell us SPECIFICALLY they they don't want the vaccine.

They have multitudes of reasons 'Big Pharma' - 'Experimental' - 'Emergency Use Only (now false)' - the list goes on. But they won;t actually tell us WHAT they are scared of. I'm terrified of needles! I really really had to steel myself to go and get this jab. Is that what it is?

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Yes, Raoult was trying to "deceive" everybody that a safe drug costing pennies per dose was effective.

Already proven beyon any reasonable doubt, so much he had to correct his original report to confirm it had no usefulness in preventing hospitalizations and deaths, something he tried to hide but could not. After that it was found he conducted unethical human experimentation, falsified results, fabricated data, etc. topping it with harrasment of the people that helped discover all those problems in his publications. Anybody that complains about death threats and harrasment is on principle also against him.

No data from the COVID vaccines (or drugs) has even a tiny portion of the problems discovered on Raoult's reports, so if you are going to take the side of a proven scammer that specifically used false information to push for something that resulted to be useless you are accepting your interest is not the health of the public, just to oppose science even if you have to use falsehoods to do it.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Pharma, big or small, is a business. They are not a charity. If they don't make profits, then they won't be in business long. They all try to make as much money as possible from the countries where there is more money and less govt price controls. Living in a relatively wealthy country has responsibilities and funding drug research is one of them.

Running the CDC and FDA is also a responsibility that the US had taken, to ensure that there is actual proof when a drug is proposed for any specific use, that it actually works. 100 yrs ago, charlatans were selling codeine in drinks with a little alcohol claiming that the drink was an effective treatment or cure for all sorts of things. In parts of the world, that still happens, but many countries simply follow the FDA information to avoid having that overhead for their people. Many countries in the Americas so that, but not all.

Unfortunately, there are inequities in the system for non-wealthy people in wealthy countries and even more difficulty for people in poor countries.

Because there is an incentive for profit, amazing things can be accomplished, at least for people who can pay. Just look at the results from 2020 drug research. As with most new things, eventually, it becomes widely available. That applies to drugs and iphones.

If countries wish to fund drug research and give that research away to the world, that would be fine, but I'd bet it would be 3x longer and more expensive. Yes - more expensive. Compare what NASA and SpaceX have accomplished in the last 20 yrs. That's a fairly clear example of where govt vs private matters for actually getting things done.

I'd bet in Japan, it would be even less efficient if the govt took over drug research. They'd still be meeting about having meetings, probably. Exactly how many Japanese made COVID vaccines are there today? /s Where Japan accels is once the path is known and solved, they can organize and build up efficient processes - thanks to training from W. Edwards Deming. And they were smart enough to listen! That's a big deal too.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

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