Dear Reader,
'Everyone loves a good underdog story. And this one's absolutely heartwarming.
Picture this: An unprofitable pharmaceutical company, toiling away for over 20 years, absolutely unable to bring a drug to the market no matter how hard it tries. Then, suddenly, a crisis like H1N1 strikes. Who can we turn to?
Well, this Little Pharma Company That Could has a surprise for us all. A brand new drug, not even out of clinical trials. It's called Peramivir. Is it safe? We don't know! Does it work? We don't know!
But could it save BioCryst Pharmaceuticals? It just might! (Go ahead and breathe that sigh of relief--I know you were worried about them.)
Despite the fact that we know virtually nothing about Peramivir's safety or efficacy, the FDA has given the go-ahead for doctors to use it in patients hospitalized with H1N1 who are too ill to take approved drugs.
This month, the US government ordered up 10,000 treatment courses of the drug at $2,250 per patient, for a grand total of $22.5 million.
Only 2 weeks after it had been authorized for emergency use, there had already been 237 requests for the drug. And many doctors want to treat patients for 10 days instead of the recommended 5 (gotta love that "bigger is better" attitude, even in completely unproven drugs). Suddenly, the cost per patient skyrockets to $5,500, and we're holding the bill.
Who's been most vocal about getting Peramivir approved? Not doctors who believe it will save the lives of patients. Not health experts who think it's worth it to start injecting people with the drug, no matter how little we know about it.
Nope. The people making the biggest push have been investors in Peramivir. I'm sure you didn't see that coming. They've been meeting with government officials and commenting on meetings about flu preparation (while conveniently forgetting to mention their financial interests).
So once-struggling BioCryst finds itself in a fairly cushy position. Investors clamoring for approval on its behalf, Japan looking to use Peramivir for everyday flu, a big fat check from the government, and a free loan from Uncle Sam to boot.
Yep, that's right. The vast majority of the money that went into creating Peramivir ($180 million) came from grants from the Department of Health and Human Services. BioCryst gets to keep as profit anything it makes from selling Peramivir to the government. And at $2,250-$5,500 per patient, that's a pretty sweet setup.'
Yours in good health,
Christine O'Brien, from Health e-Tips
Original Article: Health e-Tips Newsletter
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