Things are bubbling on the Left in ways we haven’t seen since1968. Yet mostly all we are seeing in the press is a parallel meltdown on the Right.
And no there isn’t an equal weighting of seriousness, Sanders and Corbyn are pushing substantive policy while Trump et al are pushing slogans. But the underlying dynamic is all too close to that of the 1920s and early 1930s. Which didn’t end well. Though WWII cleared a lot of flammable underbrush, it did it by lighting it all on fire.
One Washpost story: The drug industry wants us to think Martin Shkreli is a [unique] rogue CEO. He isn’t >b>[unique at all].
Plant used for gout 3,000 years — in pill form since 1800s. Pharma somehow got exclusive rights (normal apparently) — price shot up from 9 cents a tablet to $4.85.
2013 increase in price of brand name drugs (higher every year): 12.9%. That approaches 200% every 10 years.
Tetracycline, 1948 drug: 5 cents a capsule until 2013 — now $11.
Clomipramine, 1960s antidepressent, 22 cents a pill up to 2012 — now $8.17.
To which Washpost story I might add some boilerplate:
HERE COME DA DRUG MONOPOLIES
Sovaldi: Hepatitis C can be wiped out for $300 billion (that’s a “b”) — the same amount we now pay for all other prescriptions. Cost to manufacture: half a billion dollars. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/280635.php
[how much will we be willing to pay to cure the incurable?]
“Of the 2,644 patients, eight exhibited signs of dementia. Two were younger than 65, five were aged from 65-74 and one was aged between 75-84.”
“for the first time in human subjects, our notion that calcineurin inhibition has a protective effect on the development and possible progression and even reversal of Alzheimer’s disease,” http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295047.php
C-Pulse – a cuff that wraps around the aorta and pumps blood from the heart around the body – has proved effective in reversing [formerly incurable] heart failure, even in some patients with severe cases. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/283566.php
[the list of potential pharma rent collectors grows by day]
“And they also found that azoramide greatly improved blood glucose levels in obese mice and mice with type 2 diabetes. They showed this improvement was the result of two things: better functioning of insulin-producing beta cells and greater insulin sensitivity in tissues.” http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295623.php
[just a sample of monopoly possibilities; more — surely — to come]
Potential target for future Huntington’s disease treatment discovered “… MNT reported on a study that confirmed an activating protein called Rhes plays a pivotal role in Huntington’s disease. This protein could become a drug target in future treatments. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/297489.php
PLEKHA7 — puts brakes on cancer — better get ready to sell the Statue of Liberty back to France
“He notes this is like a speeding car that has a lot of gas (E-cadherin and p120) but no brakes (the PLEKHA7 complex), and concludes:”By administering the affected miRNAs in cancer cells to restore their normal levels, we should be able to re-establish the brakes and restore normal cell function. Initial experiments in some aggressive types of cancer are indeed very promising.” http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/298513.php
[just another day for potential new drug monopolies — we will all owe our souls to the corner drug store]
Why Insulin Costs So Much July 19th, 2015 by David Mendosa
“Dr. Hirsch reviewed the cost of insulin from 1921 when Drs. Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered it. “In a generous gesture that unfortunately didn’t start a trend, they sold the patent for $1 so that cheap insulin would quickly become available.
“By 2005, people worldwide were spending more than $7.3 billion for insulin. “But no one could have predicted what would happen over the next decade,” Dr. Hirsch said. By 2013 we were spending $21 billion for it.
“Between 2005 and 2015 the cost of a lispro vial went up 264 percent, while a vial of insulin glargine went up 348 percent, and a vial of NPH went up 364 percent. That’s a lot, but other insulins went up even more.
“The cost of an aspart pen rose in this 10-year period by 389 percent. And the cost of a vial of U-500 regular insulin jumped a staggering 508 percent.
Price Fixing?
“Dr. Hirsch noted that one year ago Sanofi increased the price insulin glargine 16.1 percent. “And literally the next day, Novo Nordisk increased the price of insulin detemir (Levemir) 16.1 percent. In fact, this pattern repeated six months later, and this has actually happened 13 times for these two products that have total U.S. sales of $11 billion.” http://www.mendosa.com/blog/?p=3529
[Such an collection of greed-driven price bleeding that I cannot encapsulate it — yet.]
“Jez we Can!” and “Feel the Bern!”
Things are bubbling on the Left in ways we haven’t seen since1968. Yet mostly all we are seeing in the press is a parallel meltdown on the Right.
And no there isn’t an equal weighting of seriousness, Sanders and Corbyn are pushing substantive policy while Trump et al are pushing slogans. But the underlying dynamic is all too close to that of the 1920s and early 1930s. Which didn’t end well. Though WWII cleared a lot of flammable underbrush, it did it by lighting it all on fire.
One Washpost story: The drug industry wants us to think Martin Shkreli is a [unique] rogue CEO. He isn’t >b>[unique at all].
Plant used for gout 3,000 years — in pill form since 1800s. Pharma somehow got exclusive rights (normal apparently) — price shot up from 9 cents a tablet to $4.85.
2013 increase in price of brand name drugs (higher every year): 12.9%. That approaches 200% every 10 years.
Tetracycline, 1948 drug: 5 cents a capsule until 2013 — now $11.
Clomipramine, 1960s antidepressent, 22 cents a pill up to 2012 — now $8.17.
In Australia, 2010, Amedra Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to abendazole, off patent, intestinal parasite drug selling for $6 a day — raised to $120.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/09/25/the-drug-industry-wants-us-to-think-martin-shkreli-is-a-rogue-ceo-he-isnt/
To which Washpost story I might add some boilerplate:
HERE COME DA DRUG MONOPOLIES
Sovaldi: Hepatitis C can be wiped out for $300 billion (that’s a “b”) — the same amount we now pay for all other prescriptions. Cost to manufacture: half a billion dollars.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/280635.php
Now comes: “Amgen scores a victory for PCSK9, halving cardio risks after one year” ” … new [cholesterol] drugs could eventually add as much as $150 billion to the national health-care bill.”
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/amgen-scores-victory-pcsk9-halving-cardio-risks-after-one-year/2015-03-15
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-type-of-cholesterol-drug-could-prove-costly-1426817085
[how much will we be willing to pay to cure the incurable?]
“Of the 2,644 patients, eight exhibited signs of dementia. Two were younger than 65, five were aged from 65-74 and one was aged between 75-84.”
“for the first time in human subjects, our notion that calcineurin inhibition has a protective effect on the development and possible progression and even reversal of Alzheimer’s disease,”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295047.php
C-Pulse – a cuff that wraps around the aorta and pumps blood from the heart around the body – has proved effective in reversing [formerly incurable] heart failure, even in some patients with severe cases.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/283566.php
[the list of potential pharma rent collectors grows by day]
“And they also found that azoramide greatly improved blood glucose levels in obese mice and mice with type 2 diabetes. They showed this improvement was the result of two things: better functioning of insulin-producing beta cells and greater insulin sensitivity in tissues.”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295623.php
My $500 Pill Revealed — Revlimid — by Kevin Drum
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/07/my-500-pill-revealed
[just a sample of monopoly possibilities; more — surely — to come]
Potential target for future Huntington’s disease treatment discovered “… MNT reported on a study that confirmed an activating protein called Rhes plays a pivotal role in Huntington’s disease. This protein could become a drug target in future treatments.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/297489.php
PLEKHA7 — puts brakes on cancer — better get ready to sell the Statue of Liberty back to France
“He notes this is like a speeding car that has a lot of gas (E-cadherin and p120) but no brakes (the PLEKHA7 complex), and concludes:”By administering the affected miRNAs in cancer cells to restore their normal levels, we should be able to re-establish the brakes and restore normal cell function. Initial experiments in some aggressive types of cancer are indeed very promising.”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/298513.php
[just another day for potential new drug monopolies — we will all owe our souls to the corner drug store]
Why Insulin Costs So Much July 19th, 2015 by David Mendosa
“Dr. Hirsch reviewed the cost of insulin from 1921 when Drs. Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered it. “In a generous gesture that unfortunately didn’t start a trend, they sold the patent for $1 so that cheap insulin would quickly become available.
“By 2005, people worldwide were spending more than $7.3 billion for insulin. “But no one could have predicted what would happen over the next decade,” Dr. Hirsch said. By 2013 we were spending $21 billion for it.
“Between 2005 and 2015 the cost of a lispro vial went up 264 percent, while a vial of insulin glargine went up 348 percent, and a vial of NPH went up 364 percent. That’s a lot, but other insulins went up even more.
“The cost of an aspart pen rose in this 10-year period by 389 percent. And the cost of a vial of U-500 regular insulin jumped a staggering 508 percent.
Price Fixing?
“Dr. Hirsch noted that one year ago Sanofi increased the price insulin glargine 16.1 percent. “And literally the next day, Novo Nordisk increased the price of insulin detemir (Levemir) 16.1 percent. In fact, this pattern repeated six months later, and this has actually happened 13 times for these two products that have total U.S. sales of $11 billion.” http://www.mendosa.com/blog/?p=3529
[Such an collection of greed-driven price bleeding that I cannot encapsulate it — yet.]
Drug Goes From $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight Andrew Pollack The New York Times
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/21/drug-goes-from-1350-a-tablet-to-750-overnight.html?__source=yahoo|finance|headline|headline|story&par=yahoo&doc=103012076&ref=yfp
That Guy Who Is Price-Gouging AIDS Patients (see just above) Also Did It to Kids with Kidney Disease
“The former hedge fund manager whose pharmaceutical company has come under withering attack for allegations of egregious price-gouging on life-saving medication (just above) … and it turns out he once tried a similar price hike scheme … During Martin Shkreli’s tenure as CEO of Retrophin … the company increased prices on a decades-old kidney medication by about 20 times its original cost … .”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/09/22/martin_shkreli_price_gouging_the_hedge_fund_bro_pulled_drug_price_hike_scheme.html
After many years of painful deleveraging , the global economy is now primed for liftoff :
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPx_QQDWEAELF8Z.jpg
Hehe.