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THREAD: Woohoo, first guest post on @TOTMblog. Thanks to @geoffmanne for edits and publication. We've got different views on the #patent issue, to be sure, but these are strange times... /1 https://truthonthemarket.com/2020/04/02/preventing-pandemic-profiteering/
As much as I rail against @PhRMA for their (ab)use of the patent system, let's make one thing clear: the long-run treatments and cures for this pandemic will come from pharmaceutical companies. This should make them the most revered industry in America. /2
But, as of last year (curious to see what more current survey data would look like) they were dead last. Behind fossil fuels, healthcare, airlines, tech, and the federal government itself. /3
A lot of this has to do with the opioid crisis, but drug prices are something we all feel. @PhRMA has had some interesting ad campaigns shifting blame for drug prices on insurance intermediaries (not wrong), but at the end of the day it's monopoly prices. /4
And the simple "patents are necessary to prevent free-riding" narrative becomes complicated when you consider thicketing, evergreening, and all sorts of other legal maneuvers researched by @IMAKglobal here. /5 https://www.i-mak.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/I-MAK-Overpatented-Overpriced-Report.pdf
And pharma companies, for all the good they do in bringing these drugs to market, don't start from zero in R&D. Government $ lays the groundwork (the R) and private $ brings it to market (the D). That's comparative advantage in action! /6
But, if taxpayers pay for the groundwork (they 100% should, information is the ultimate public good), why should they pay again when they pick up their prescriptions? @NIH has invested almost $700m in coronavirus research since 2002. @Public_Citizen /7 https://www.niskanencenter.org/niskanen-center-joins-public-citizen-in-appeal-for-affordable-coronavirus-vaccine/
In the case of a COVID19 vaccine/treatment, it's especially important that it's cheaply available for the same reason we're all #SocialDistancingNow: every person who's sick (or asymptomatic but positive) poses a threat to other people. /8
Lots of companies are doing their part. @GileadSciences (after public scrutiny) withdrew their application asking for orphan drug status from @US_FDA for remdesivir. /9
Public scrutiny worked here but we can't necessarily count on it because (1) some of this stuff can fly under the radar and (2) the court of public opinion can't enforce its rulings. We need better policy to prevent these abuses. /10
