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Watch and make sure no edits come from anyone connected to Roche pharmaceuticals. They hold the marketing rights to Tamiflu and stand to profit tremendously fr

by sdurkin 17y ago

Watch and make sure no edits come from anyone connected to Roche pharmaceuticals. They hold the marketing rights to Tamiflu and stand to profit tremendously from this.

mikedouglas 17y ago
Watch and make sure no edits come from anyone connected to Michael Bay. This totally sounds like a viral ad campaign for his latest shitty movie.
- mattmaroon 17y ago
  At least it promises to be better than Transformers. That movie was like watching a large, HIV positive felon rape my childhood in the jailhouse shower.
  - randallsquared 17y ago
    ... Your childhood was in jail?!
maxharris 17y ago
Roche makes one of the two drugs that can treat this outbreak, and you're talking smack about them? That's tasteless. Oseltamivir is not available OTC. People that want it need permission from their doctors to get it, at least in the US. In Mexico, emergency procedures are being taken, and its distribution is being handled appropriately.
- sachinag 17y ago
  Note: the other is Relenza, made by GSK. Also, apparently, KPCB had a $200 million pandemic disease fund, which strikes me as hysterical: http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN2445216420090424 http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN244...
  - tomsaffell 17y ago
    > strikes me as hysterical Why? KPCB is a tech VC fund, so it invests in high-risk companies that use technology to solve problems. Why is that hysterical?
    - sachinag 17y ago
      I dare you to find me an example of someone so shamelessly, transparently looking to profit off of the hypothetical suffering of others. EDIT: OK, I guess it wasn't clear why I find this hysterical. I'll explain how I see it. (As background, my job previous to starting Dawdle was as the junior member of the investment team at Ascension Health Ventures, a health care VC fund. I know a little something about how this all works in this space. Also, it's Saturday night and I'm sick at home but nonetheless tipsy.) To me, a fund dedicated to pandemics is an example of thematic investing gone to its extremes. Pandemics are a such a minor subset of the incredibly large and complex health care system that it strikes me as implausible that there are $200 million worth of worthy VC investments. I could be wrong, but that's my gut. But what really strikes me as hysterical is that pandemics are hypothetical situations. Medical devices and new pharmaceuticals are generally about finding solutions to known - and existing - problems. The economic returns from investments in those things are well known and replicable. Pandemics are totally different - the next pandemic could be any from a range of diseases with any sort of transmission protocol with who-knows-what root cause. To me, trying to find infrastructure investments for something that doesn't exist (cause Lord help you decide what the next pandemic is going to be) that takes rapid adoption by the moribund and dysfunctional health care industry is crazy. KPCB strikes me as being perhaps the world's only venture firm that could get $200 million in commitments from LPs for such a crazy-ass thesis. To me, it's just a crazy-ass boondoggle to think this could possibly work. But, hey, I could be wrong. Thanks for the downvotes, though. Those who did showed a total lack of appreciation for the English language. Y'all saw "hysterical" and read "terrible". Perhaps you'll do better next time. [EDIT 2: If I were to invest in "pandemics", I'd try to take advantage of the certain hysteria among the public that would result. That, at least, is predictable. EDIT 3: http://www.fluidinfo.com/terry/2009/04/26/a-few-comments-on-pandemic-influenza/ http://www.fluidinfo.com/terry/2009/04/26/a-few-comments-on-... is worth the read.]
mhb 17y ago
I'd be more concerned about the government stockpiles of antivirals going to the big investment banks and car companies.

by sdurkin 17y ago

Watch and make sure no edits come from anyone connected to Roche pharmaceuticals. They hold the marketing rights to Tamiflu and stand to profit tremendously from this.

mikedouglas 17y ago

Watch and make sure no edits come from anyone connected to Michael Bay. This totally sounds like a viral ad campaign for his latest shitty movie.

mattmaroon 17y ago
At least it promises to be better than Transformers. That movie was like watching a large, HIV positive felon rape my childhood in the jailhouse shower.
- randallsquared 17y ago
  ... Your childhood was in jail?!

maxharris 17y ago

Roche makes one of the two drugs that can treat this outbreak, and you're talking smack about them? That's tasteless. Oseltamivir is not available OTC. People that want it need permission from their doctors to get it, at least in the US. In Mexico, emergency procedures are being taken, and its distribution is being handled appropriately.

sachinag 17y ago
Note: the other is Relenza, made by GSK. Also, apparently, KPCB had a $200 million pandemic disease fund, which strikes me as hysterical: http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN2445216420090424 http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN244...
- tomsaffell 17y ago
  > strikes me as hysterical Why? KPCB is a tech VC fund, so it invests in high-risk companies that use technology to solve problems. Why is that hysterical?
  - sachinag 17y ago
    I dare you to find me an example of someone so shamelessly, transparently looking to profit off of the hypothetical suffering of others. EDIT: OK, I guess it wasn't clear why I find this hysterical. I'll explain how I see it. (As background, my job previous to starting Dawdle was as the junior member of the investment team at Ascension Health Ventures, a health care VC fund. I know a little something about how this all works in this space. Also, it's Saturday night and I'm sick at home but nonetheless tipsy.) To me, a fund dedicated to pandemics is an example of thematic investing gone to its extremes. Pandemics are a such a minor subset of the incredibly large and complex health care system that it strikes me as implausible that there are $200 million worth of worthy VC investments. I could be wrong, but that's my gut. But what really strikes me as hysterical is that pandemics are hypothetical situations. Medical devices and new pharmaceuticals are generally about finding solutions to known - and existing - problems. The economic returns from investments in those things are well known and replicable. Pandemics are totally different - the next pandemic could be any from a range of diseases with any sort of transmission protocol with who-knows-what root cause. To me, trying to find infrastructure investments for something that doesn't exist (cause Lord help you decide what the next pandemic is going to be) that takes rapid adoption by the moribund and dysfunctional health care industry is crazy. KPCB strikes me as being perhaps the world's only venture firm that could get $200 million in commitments from LPs for such a crazy-ass thesis. To me, it's just a crazy-ass boondoggle to think this could possibly work. But, hey, I could be wrong. Thanks for the downvotes, though. Those who did showed a total lack of appreciation for the English language. Y'all saw "hysterical" and read "terrible". Perhaps you'll do better next time. [EDIT 2: If I were to invest in "pandemics", I'd try to take advantage of the certain hysteria among the public that would result. That, at least, is predictable. EDIT 3: http://www.fluidinfo.com/terry/2009/04/26/a-few-comments-on-pandemic-influenza/ http://www.fluidinfo.com/terry/2009/04/26/a-few-comments-on-... is worth the read.]

mhb 17y ago

I'd be more concerned about the government stockpiles of antivirals going to the big investment banks and car companies.