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From The Socialist newspaper, 14 April 2020
Big pharma's profiteering holds back drug supply
Nationalise big pharma!, photo (public domain) (Click to enlarge)
Jon Dale, secretary, Unite union Nottinghamshire NHS branch (personal capacity)
All over the world, intensive research is taking place to find drugs to treat Covid-19. Good options would be finding existing drugs already used to treat other conditions. They would be quicker to take through safety trials and scale up production.
But how much would they cost? One possible combination of drugs is sofosbuvir/daclatasvir, which is used to treat Hepatitis C. A course of treatment in the United States costs $18,610. Liverpool University research shows the treatment could be produced for $5 - just 39 cents a day - and still make the pharmaceutical company 10% profit!
Another combination known as Kaletra, made by AbbVie and used for HIV, sells for $503 in the US - but could be produced for $4 a course. Pirfenidone, made by Roche, sells for $9,606 a course in the USA, but could be sold for $31 - $1.09 a day - at a profit.
The giant pharmaceutical corporations all over the world need to be in public ownership, not run for profit. Democratic control by medical experts, scientists, trade unions, communities affected by diseases and socialist governments could coordinate research and manufacturing capacity. Socialist planning would end today's blatant profiteering.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
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In The Socialist 14 April 2020:
Coronavirus news
MPs get £10k each for lockdown expenses - where's ours?
Dispatches from the front: NHS staff say give us PPE, not medals!
Johnson's hospitalisation: a tale of two treatments
Big pharma's profiteering holds back drug supply
Lockdown increases domestic violence calls - Tory money a drop in the ocean
NHS nurse: we're not wasting PPE - the Tories don't value us
Rapacious capitalism and the spread of coronavirus
What we think
Exit strategy? PPE and mass testing and workers' control of workplace safety
Fight back against the corona propaganda war
Transport
London Transport workers fighting private companies and TfL to secure health and safety
Workplace news
Unite opposes all cuts to domestic violence services
Passport workers forced back to offices as Home Office shirks its duty of care
Collectively demanding safe warehouse working conditions
Usdaw shop workers' union activists meet via Zoom
Coronavirus workplace news in brief
Labour
Sabotage - the inner workings of Labour's political machine exposed
Campaigns
Plymouth students discuss rent strike
Final push for May Day greetings
Socialist Party coronavirus crisis finance appeal
Join an online Socialist Party meeting during lockdown
The Socialist Party and socialist ideas are growing
Lessons from history
How the catastrophe of WW1 sparked revolution
Readers' opinion
Going viral: Socialist comments on the corona crisis
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