Dutch minister: ‘If you don’t stop Russia now, they’ll go further. It’s not just Ukraine’ (Me: Are you listening US GOP?)

Source: Dutch minister: ‘If you don’t stop Russia now, they’ll go further. It’s not just Ukraine’

Violência Contra a Mulher – Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

NÃO SE CALE
NÃO SE ENCOLHA
NÃO RENUNCIE SEUS DIREITOS

Quando se trata de violência é importante a mulher tenha consciência e saiba se posicionar. O que não pode é ficar se encolhendo e continuar apanhando e sendo violentada como muitas fazem. Quando queremos igualdade, justiça e respeito, nós aprendemos a dizer ” não!” É essa consciência que ajuda você lutar por seus direitos e ser digna deles.

Marii Freire. Violência Contra a Mulher

https://Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

Imagem: Autoral

Santarém, Pá 20 de dezembro de 2023

#mariifreireescritora
#violenciacontraamulher

Source: Violência Contra a Mulher – Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

‘Ordeal is finally over’ for 10 Americans being freed by Venezuela, Joe Biden says – UPI.com

Biden said Wednesday in a statement, “Today, 10 Americans who have been detained in Venezuela have been released and are coming home, including all six wrongfully detained Americans. These individuals have lost far too much precious time with their loved ones, and their families have suffered every day in their absence. I am grateful that their ordeal is finally over, and that these families are being made whole once more.”

The released Americans included Eyvin Hernandez, Jerrel Kenemore, Joseph Cristella and Savoi Wright, along with former Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry. The other names of those freed have not yet being released.

Source: ‘Ordeal is finally over’ for 10 Americans being freed by Venezuela, Joe Biden says – UPI.com

Biden Wants to Lower Prices on Drugs Developed with Public Funding | Diane Ravitch’s blog

The White House plans to exercise its authority to lower the price of costly medications that were developed with public funding — a potentially powerful new tool in the battle against sky-high medication prices.

The Biden administration announced last week that it had concluded, after a months long review, that it had the authority to break the patents of drugs developed with public funding if their cost was too high. This authority — dubbed “march-in rights” — has never been used, and is likely to encounter major pushback from Big Pharma.

Take, for instance, the case of the drug Xtandi, which is used to treat prostate cancer. The drug was developed at the public University of California, Los Angeles, using federal funding from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army. The university then licensed the drug to a pharmaceutical company called Medivation, which is now owned by Pfizer, and the Japanese pharmaceutical behemoth Astellas. Pfizer and Astellas have made billions selling the drug worldwide. In the U.S., Xtandi costs on average $190,000 a year, more than five times higher than in Canada and Japan.

The Bayh-Dole Act, which was passed more than 30 years ago, allows the federal government to use march-in rights to intervene if drugs developed with public money are not being made accessible to the public. Despite Xtandi being more or less a perfect case for the use of this authority — a cancer drug developed with public money being sold at an egregious premium — the Biden administration declined to use march-in rights in March to seize the patent and allow a generic competitor to enter the market, forcing down the drug’s cost.

Since then, though, federal officials have been reviewing march-in authority. And now, the White House’s announcement signals that they may begin using it to fight drug profiteering.

While the announcement is a critical step forward, the White House’s framework has still drawn some blowback from some advocacy groups for being less aggressive than it could be. In this week’s announcement, the Biden administration implied it would exercise march-in rights only in the most extreme cases of price gouging by Big Pharma. “Where most drug prices already are egregious and force rationing, few drugs will seem ‘extremely’ priced by comparison,” argued the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.

But even the prospect of limited use of march-in rights has stoked fear in the pharmaceutical industry, which is spending more than ever to oppose drug pricing reforms. Industry groups have already declared their opposition to the measure. It’s a sign of how much is at stake for Big Pharma — and for those paying a premium for life-saving medication.

Source: Biden Wants to Lower Prices on Drugs Developed with Public Funding | Diane Ravitch’s blog