Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Re: Canada Overrides Patent for Cipro to Treat Anthrax -- 2 items worth reading
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 10:08:17 -0400
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 08:39:11 -0400 From: Dan Steinberg <synthesis () videotron ca> To: farber () cis upenn edu Subject: Re: IP: Canada Overrides Patent for Cipro to Treat Anthrax David Farber wrote: > [ I hope we don't need the drugs but the fact our government refuses to > order cheap generics bothers me. I hope Bayer does not contribute to any > election pots. djf] > > Canada, taking an unusual step that the United States has resisted, said > yesterday that it had overridden Bayer's patent for Cipro, an antibiotic to > treat anthrax, and ordered a million tablets of a generic version from a > Canadian company. > Dave, I've been following the events since 9/11 with great interest, and my main sources have been (and continue to be) your list and CNN (in that order). Whathas impressed me most is the quality of information here. You, with your limited resources to check things, manage to get it right first time waaaaaaaay more thanC "all anthrax all the time" NN. I believe in most cases, it is because youbother to check things, something news services appear to have forgotten to do.Or is it that you know the right people to ask? What I want to bring up today (pardon the somewhat disjointed rant), is acontinuation of a theme that started almost immediately: the tendency to eitheroverreact or react to a problem that isn't there. This started fist with the regulations about the elimination of curbside checkin. I remember right away comment here on this list to the effect of 'what kinda threat does this eliminate?'. In times of stress there seems to be a 'need' for people to act. I rememberreading something (I believe in Time) about the people of the city of Marietta, Ohio. Although they were as far from NYC or DC as you can get, they were deeplyaffected by the tragedy and worried about local threats. Today I thinking about anthrax. I went to see my doctor today (for somethingtotally unrelated to infectious diseases) and took advantage of her knowledge toask this question;"Listen....I have read about antibiotic resistance and how if we use antibioticsindiscriminately we end up with resistant strains. I know the drill. I studiedmolecular biology and some drug biochemistry. Can you tell me....how something that has been bottle up the lab all these years, not out there being treated (and mis-treated) with antibiotics....can you tell me please why the drug they use isCIPRO? When did anthrax become penicillin-resistant?" ...dead silence...So I did a bit of research...seems that anthrax does respond to a number of otherantibiotics...so why is CIPRO on everyone's lips?why is a senator talking about getting around Bayer's intellectual property andgoing generic? Why did I read about Canada's action (above)?[1]Is this a case of groupthink, someone saying something and the rest of the roomnodding heads?I know anthrax is scary, but is that any reason to rush off in all directions at once? This isnnt the first mis-information about anthrax propagated. I remember when the anthrax story first broke...it seemed like everyone was testing positive on the spot. I remember thinking 'that cant be right? they cant culture bacillus on the spot. Its gotta take hours not seconds to culture". OK. so the newshoundsknew that they had erred. Perhaps this would cause them to better check the information?Wellllllllllllllllll nope. Another one: soon after the anthrax scare came out,some talking head said... 'its gotta take millions and billions of dollars to culture anthrax...Onlythe most advanced nations can do it."I was thinking ...no...............I could do it on the stovetop....well not onthe stovetop but in a fermenter for sure...Last time I checked I was a middle-class entitiy no where near large nationhood.Then....when someone else with a bio degree called them on it, that statement waschanged (by a different talking head) to... 'ok its easy to make but it takes million-dollar machine to get the right particle size"... and I thought...hmmmmmm nobody ever heard of filters????? no one thought of using columns and gels?and sure enough...soon someone said it didnt need that fancy equipment there wereother ways to get the size down... Then...when everyone got scared about the mail system I was thinking...Geeez...this bug cant be that hard to kill. heat should do it... or why not usethose oh-so-controversial irradiating machines they use for food? A few gamma rays and its all good, right?"Was I surprised when someone testified to taht effect before congress? welll bythis time.... I WAS!!!!! finally I thought...here's someone thinking and not panicking... someone should hire this this person. Someone should put this person on that Presidents Council for Critical Infrastructure.Look I'm no genius. I'm not a doctor. And my biology/biochem knowledge is morethan a decade away from being current. So how is it that just sitting watching CNN (or a canadian news channel CNN by no means has a monopoly), every time Iturn on the tube I can sit there and say 'noooooooo that can't be right' and goupstairs and within 5 minutes find authoritative references. But this goes beyond reporting. Were it simply reporters in a rush, I would be content to do the armchair second-guessing thing. But it's not. People in government are making decisions, like rushing off to buy CIPRO, deciding to require printed receipts with e-tickets, etc etc....I think if the US is going into a protracted conflict, the last thing it needs isto be expending more energy than it needs. I think the best and the brightest have to find a way to come forward....Dave, I don't mind if you print this rambe, but my intent was more this: you know people in DC. Is there anyone there you can send this to that might get someoneto pause and take a deep breath?[1]As an aside, Canada has a thriving generic drug industry because of compulsorylicencing built into the law. I havent had time to check but for all we know there is already generic for Cipro available and no patent-busting is taking place. -- Dan Steinberg SYNTHESIS:Law & Technology 35, du Ravin phone: (613) 794-5356 Chelsea, Quebec fax: (819) 827-4398 J9B 1N1 e-mail:synthesis () videotron ca
and Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 08:51:39 -0400 From: Dan Steinberg <synthesis () videotron ca> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.78 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu> Subject: follow-up to my rant http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/19/business/19CANA.html seems like Apotex has already been making the generic. When I saw pictures of 'newly-manufactured' pills I knew this was not a new thing. Having worked in the drug industry I can tell you it takes more than a few days to gear up to produce something. It's not rocket science but it is chemical engineering. FYI compulsory licencing is a wonderful thing. It does keep the drug prices down and despite what the drug companies claim, doesnt seem to stifle research. It used to be 7 years in Canada before your Reagan administration pressured (then) Prime Minister Mulroney to lengthen the period. ok. enough rant for now. have a super day Dave and keep up the great work! -- Dan Steinberg SYNTHESIS:Law & Technology 35, du Ravin phone: (613) 794-5356 Chelsea, Quebec fax: (819) 827-4398 J9B 1N1 e-mail:synthesis () videotron ca For archives see: http://lists.elistx.com/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- IP: Re: Canada Overrides Patent for Cipro to Treat Anthrax -- 2 items worth reading David Farber (Oct 19)
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- IP: Re: Canada Overrides Patent for Cipro to Treat Anthrax -- 2 items worth reading David Farber (Oct 19)
- IP: Re: Canada Overrides Patent for Cipro to Treat Anthrax -- 2 items worth reading David Farber (Oct 19)
- IP: Re: Canada Overrides Patent for Cipro to Treat Anthrax -- 2 items worth reading David Farber (Oct 19)