WHO Exaggerated H1N1 Flu Problems, After Consulting With Consultants Working For Pharmaceutical Firms

from the regulatory-capture dept

The deeper you look at the pharmaceutical industry, the more and more ridiculous it seems. Pharma has abused patent laws greatly for many years (even though many of the roots of the industry come from areas that refused to allow patents on drugs... until some companies got too big and wanted to limit competition). The latest news is that the World Health Organization apparently has been dinged for exaggerating the H1N1 flu threat... in part because they relied on pharmaceutical industry insiders for information. Guess what they suggested? Stockpiling a limited supply of super expensive pharmaceuticals, which were so super expensive thanks to patents limiting competition. Part of the issue is that the goals of the pharma industry are not at all aligned with basic public policy on health care. The incentive structure is entirely screwed up. Pharma has no interest in making sure people are healthy, but because sometimes its drugs happen to do that, as a side effect of making money for the industry, officials falsely believe that pharma execs should have some sort of say in public health policy.

Filed Under: h1n1, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, who
Companies: who

More Important Saving Lives From Swine Flu Or Protecting Roche's Monopoly?

from the moral-issues? dept

In other parts of the world, it's become acceptable for governments to simply ignore drug patents in order to produce more of necessary drugs in times of health scares. However, the US has mostly shied away from doing that, as the myth of patents as some great encouragement for innovation remains deeply rooted (and, oh yeah, pharmas are big campaign funders). However, with growing concern over the lack of supply for swine flu vaccines, there is some talk over whether or not the US will consider importing generic Tamiflu, even though the drug is still under patent in the US. There are approved generics, which are chemically identical, that are made elsewhere, such as India. However, importing it into the US, while it could save lives, is bound to be massively controversial. However, again, if we're going to have a moral discussion about intellectual property, can someone please explain the moral argument for not being able to use generic drugs in this instance?

Filed Under: h1n1, patents, swine flu, tamiflu, vaccines