3 ms·

Favipiravir trial result is out and the result looks good: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.17.20037432v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101

Favipiravir trial result is out and the result looks good: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.17.20037432v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.17.20037432v...

ncmncm 7y ago
There has also been success with Avastin (bevacizumab), although the WHO does not seem to be pursuing it. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04275414 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04275414
- adrianN 7y ago
  Since it ends in mab I assume it's a monoclonal antibody. Those are expensive as fuck because they're so difficult to make. I wonder whether we could scale production up to meet pandemic demand.
  - hprotagonist 7y ago
    mabs are not a straight small molecule synth. Scale as much as you want, growing them takes a while even in parallel. (this is more or less also why vaccine timelines are so long; chicken eggs take a bit of time to get going, and that's the best breeding ground we have!)
deskamess 7y ago
The world needs something that is accessible. "As of 23 March 2020, it seems that Japan and China have issued an export ban on the substance. Japan and China are the only countries in which favirapir is produced and approved as a medical compound." [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favipiravir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favipiravir
- dx034 7y ago
  And I guess setting up factories to produce millions of doses of new meds can take a while. At the same time, each new manufacturer has to negotiate terms with the patent holder. Using an existing cheap generic drug means that production facilities are already up and running and that any company could start if they have the means to produce it. Apparently a 1-month dose costs £5 in the UK, so there doesn't seem to be a large hurdle to produce it.
  - owl57 7y ago
    Do governments have a good reason not to suspend patents for the time of emergency? Emergency rules break a lot of other businesses, and pharma is probably one of the few industries not in danger?
    - hanniabu 7y ago
      Curious about this as well, it would make sense to me for them to do this.
    - JNRowe 7y ago
      When thinking about this I always assume it is the same reason countries tended not to reach for national security provisions¹ despite how attractive they are, it just isn't clear how to put the genie back in the bottle when you've broken it with the biggest-and-most-crushy hammer you can find. If you dig around in the other exceptions in the document I've linked you'll see there are multiple places where patent protection and protection of human life are discussed. I know where I sit on the patent validity continuum already, but I also know other people are furiously bouncing on the other end of that seesaw. 1. https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/gatt47_02_e.htm#articleXXI https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/gatt47_02_e.htm#a...
    - outworlder 7y ago
      Some governments do this. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/19/business/patents-health-emergencies-brazil-allows-copying-drugs-dismay-american-companies.html https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/19/business/patents-health-e...

Favipiravir trial result is out and the result looks good: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.17.20037432v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.17.20037432v...

ncmncm 7y ago

There has also been success with Avastin (bevacizumab), although the WHO does not seem to be pursuing it. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04275414 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04275414

adrianN 7y ago
Since it ends in mab I assume it's a monoclonal antibody. Those are expensive as fuck because they're so difficult to make. I wonder whether we could scale production up to meet pandemic demand.
- hprotagonist 7y ago
  mabs are not a straight small molecule synth. Scale as much as you want, growing them takes a while even in parallel. (this is more or less also why vaccine timelines are so long; chicken eggs take a bit of time to get going, and that's the best breeding ground we have!)

deskamess 7y ago

The world needs something that is accessible. "As of 23 March 2020, it seems that Japan and China have issued an export ban on the substance. Japan and China are the only countries in which favirapir is produced and approved as a medical compound." [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favipiravir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favipiravir

dx034 7y ago
And I guess setting up factories to produce millions of doses of new meds can take a while. At the same time, each new manufacturer has to negotiate terms with the patent holder. Using an existing cheap generic drug means that production facilities are already up and running and that any company could start if they have the means to produce it. Apparently a 1-month dose costs £5 in the UK, so there doesn't seem to be a large hurdle to produce it.
- owl57 7y ago
  Do governments have a good reason not to suspend patents for the time of emergency? Emergency rules break a lot of other businesses, and pharma is probably one of the few industries not in danger?
  - hanniabu 7y ago
    Curious about this as well, it would make sense to me for them to do this.
  - JNRowe 7y ago
    When thinking about this I always assume it is the same reason countries tended not to reach for national security provisions¹ despite how attractive they are, it just isn't clear how to put the genie back in the bottle when you've broken it with the biggest-and-most-crushy hammer you can find. If you dig around in the other exceptions in the document I've linked you'll see there are multiple places where patent protection and protection of human life are discussed. I know where I sit on the patent validity continuum already, but I also know other people are furiously bouncing on the other end of that seesaw. 1. https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/gatt47_02_e.htm#articleXXI https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/gatt47_02_e.htm#a...
  - outworlder 7y ago
    Some governments do this. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/19/business/patents-health-emergencies-brazil-allows-copying-drugs-dismay-american-companies.html https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/19/business/patents-health-e...