4 ms·
> What if western governments stop enforcing drug development intellectual rights? No new drugs. Pretty simple. Now you ask, is that a bad thing? well yes, ye
by KaiserPro 11y ago
> What if western governments stop enforcing drug development intellectual rights?
No new drugs. Pretty simple.
Now you ask, is that a bad thing? well yes, yes it is. Right now, we are running out of (or have run out of) top end antibiotics.
Partly from over use (I'm looking at you America.) mostly from using them to get much higher yields in farm animals (yup, thats right, last line antibiotics are being used on pigs, so they can be packed in much higher densities. )
So what I hear you say? Well TB thats what. There is a resurgence in TB, the white death. Now, you might be content with each lung collapsed in turn, in a vein attempt to cure it[1]. However I'm not.
1 in 3 people get cancer. The survival rates are not good. Loads of people are diabetic. (mainly because they eat shit and are fat(unless its type1 which is genetic))
Opensource model is just bollocks. I don't want to be treated by some drug thats only had patchy test coverage. I don't want to be beholden to some amateur who thought it'd be good to reinvent for the billions time penicillin.
Who is going to pay for the time? its not like you can provide charge for support is it?
No, the way forward is actually having a proper handle on insurance. Here in the UK, drugs are purchased nationally[2] but more importantly you only pay a nominal upfront fee. Its not more expensive, in fact its hovering around 6% of GDP compared to 18% for the US (and with much better care too)
[1]http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/pdfaccess.ashx?ResourceID=2102478&PDFSource=13 http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/pdfaccess.ashx?Reso...
[2]https://www.evidence.nhs.uk/formulary/bnf/current/5-infections/53-antiviral-drugs/533-viral-hepatitis/5332-chronic-hepatitis-c/sofosbuvir https://www.evidence.nhs.uk/formulary/bnf/current/5-infectio...
- phaemon 11y ago> No new drugs. Pretty simple. I doubt that. There's no reason why the same research couldn't be academic research. Global spending on drugs research is only $77 billion a year. Take the 20 richest countries in the world and that's less than $4 billion a year each. That's less than half the UK's EU rebate. (EDIT: not enough coffee to add correctly)
- ChrisLTD 11y agoBingo. The private profit motive isn't the only way to get things done. Two of the greatest scientific and engineering feats of the 20th century, the atom bomb and landing on the moon, were both government run and funded.
- icebraining 11y agoNot sure if the war motive is much better than the profit motive, though.
- ChrisLTD 11y agoTo stretch the analogy, lives are being threatened in war as they are also threatened by medical illness.
- airless_bar 11y agoAmericans brought the end of antibiotics onto themselves. Even if the world found new antibiotics, their culture is just not amenable to use them responsibly. How to prevent them from spreading their new diseases to the rest of the world? Let's follow the advise from their next president and put a wall around their country.
- AlgorithmicTime 11y agoLet's not pretend the entire world doesn't use them irresponsibly.