At GlaxoSmithKline, our mission is an exciting and important one - to prevent, treat and cure disease, allowing people to live longer, feel better and do more.
Black fever, a disease also known as kala azar, kills an estimated half-million people worldwide each year, almost all of them poor, soon, however, all that may change.
OK, you really didn't think that third statement had anything to do with the first two did you? Because both Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, along with the rest of Big Pharma, have had the chance to help millions of people stricken with Black fever "live longer, feel better, and do more" for almost 40 years. That's how long they've known paromomycin to be a promising treatment for the disease, and that's how long they have done nothing about it. Assuming that paromomycin had patent protection for 20 years, that's 10,000,000 people dead while the drug was in the public domain.
"Uh, drugnazi" you might be saying, "that doesn't sound like good news, and you promised us good news in your headline." Yes I did, and here it is.
It seems that there is someone out there who takes the mission statements of Big Pharma seriously, and it's not Big Pharma. According to the New York Times:
A small charity based in San Francisco has conducted the medical trials needed to prove paromomycin is safe and effective. Now it is on the verge of getting final approval from the Indian government. A course of treatment with the drug is expected to cost just $10, and experts say it could virtually eliminate the disease.
The charity is One World Health, founded by Dr. Victoria Hale, a former executive of Genentech. I can only wonder if it was the business practices of her former employer that led her to reclaim her soul. (click here and here to read earlier posts about the evilness of Genentech) I suppose it's not important. What matters is that after a fight with the IRS (The tax man couldn't comprehend the idea of a non-profit drug company, seriously) The world now has a precedent for helping those that don't meet Big Pharma's definition of a person. (that definition being "person with a lot of money")
The next time some right wing gasbag tries to give you a condescending lecture about how do-gooder liberalism just doesn't work in the real world, do me a favor. Print out this article and make them read it. Then punch them in the face and force the paper down their throat. Then dare them to call you a liberal pussy. My thanks in advance.
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