Category Archives: Profiteering

Where’s Monty Hall when we need him? SoCal Researcher Launches Crowdfunded Effort To Find Cure For Ebola: LAist

{Is the race to find a vaccine or cure for ebola – which had more or less been ignored for 30 some years globally for lack of profit – becoming the new “Let’s Make a Deal!” for researchers and drug firms? The first to find a real advance will be able to trade on that for investments and support for other more profitable efforts in the future!}

Professor Saphire is leading the charge at Scripps to find a cure for Ebola, having already led in the development of the experimental ZMapp serum has cured five patients this past summer of the virus. In order to find the antibodies that will fight the virus effectively, her work requires samples being shipped in from around the globe. Unfortunately, her lab is limited in resources, and has started a CrowdRise fundraiser in order to get the money for personnel and equipment. So far, we’re at $14,000 of her $100,000 goal.

Saphire was on KPCC’s Take Two this morning to talk about her efforts, and addressed the concerns that research for a cure isn’t what the current epidemic needs right at this moment:

It’s true that none of these experimental therapies are going to be available in enough doses to treat everybody; it’s just not possible. To contain this outbreak the focus really needs to be on medical supplies and medical care. We just can’t have people dying in the streets and infecting their families at home. They need to be cared for by doctors and nurses that have supplies to protect themselves, but the contain and control isn’t enough. One of the things about crowdfunding is it gives people the control. They can choose what they want to invest in and maybe they want to put some of their resources toward supplies like medical gloves and bleach and maybe they want to put some of their resources toward getting a cure ready to treat this thing.

via SoCal Researcher Launches Crowdfunded Effort To Find Cure For Ebola: LAist.

Race for Status May or May Not Help Stop Ebola… Chinese firm pushes Ebola drug it says can cure deadly virus | South China Morning Post

{Russia says it has a cure, Canada and US have a cure, UK has a treatment, India and Japan will be next to claim they are working on a cure and/or vaccine – and those dying of Ebola are really not as important as status to be won in eyes of world – and hoped for profit in other drugs later}

A Chinese drug maker with close military ties is seeking fast-track approval for a drug that it says can cure Ebola, as China joins the race to help treat a deadly outbreak of a disease that has spread from Africa to the United States and Europe.

Sihuan Pharmaceutical has signed a tie-up with China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) last week to help push the drug called JK-05 through the approval process in China and bring it to market. The drug, developed by the academy, is currently approved for emergency military use only.

“We believe that we can file to the Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) before the end of the year,” Sihuan’s chairman Che Fengsheng said during an investor call last week.

“They are looking at this very seriously … and we could get on the ‘green light’ track,” he added.

Sihuan’s drug is only one contender among a number of experimental cures worldwide to treat Ebola, although if successful it would be a huge boon for China’s developing pharmaceutical sector and the country’s soft power in Africa, an increasingly important partner for the world’s No.2 economy.

via Chinese firm pushes Ebola drug it says can cure deadly virus | South China Morning Post.

Liars for profit! Not the nurses but the headline writers! U.S. Nurses Say They Are Unprepared To Handle Ebola Patients

{Really!?! – all the nurses in the United States told “un-news” reporters that they are unprepared! Bull! But meant to sell ads, scare people and shame on them for such lies! There are 2,724,570 Registered Nurses in US and they all said this? Not! http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-registered-nurses/}

Nurses, the frontline care providers in U.S. hospitals, say they are untrained and unprepared to handle patients arriving in their hospital emergency departments infected with Ebola.

via U.S. Nurses Say They Are Unprepared To Handle Ebola Patients.

Why healthcare is so expensive? Look here for starters! Press release: CMS makes first wave of drug & device company payments to teaching hospitals and physicians public

consulting fees, research grants, travel reimbursements, and other gifts the health care industry – such as medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies – provided to physicians and teaching hospitals during the last five months of 2013. The data contains 4.4 million payments valued at nearly $3.5 billion attributable to 546,000 individual physicians and almost 1,360 teaching hospitals. Future reports will be published annually and will include a full 12 months of payment data, beginning in June 2015.

via Press release: CMS makes first wave of drug & device company payments to teaching hospitals and physicians public.

Regeneron, AngioDynamics among drug and medical device makers paying doctors and teaching hospitals – Albany Business Review

Just during the last five months of 2013, about $3.5 billion worth of total payments were made nationally. That money went to 546,000 individual physicians and almost 1,360 teaching hospitals.

via Regeneron, AngioDynamics among drug and medical device makers paying doctors and teaching hospitals – Albany Business Review.

FDA warns three companies against marketing their products as Ebola treatments or cures – The Washington Post

theoildropper.com

Written by a paid consultant (referred to as a “member”) for Young Living, the post goes on to tout the possible benefits of a few oils sold by the company: “The Higley Essential Oil Reference guide mentions that the Ebola Virus can not live in the presence of cinnamon bark (this is in Thieves) nor Oregano. I would definitely add those two oils to whatever I was using.”

It adds: “I pray we don’t have to hear about this virus coming to the U.S. but if you travel outside of our country or know someone who goes to Africa or lives in Africa, maybe you could send them a care package of Young Living essential oils!”

via FDA warns three companies against marketing their products as Ebola treatments or cures – The Washington Post.

Why our brains are wired to ignore climate change and what to do about it | George Marshall | Comment is free | The Guardian

So if we are to really mobilise action on climate change it is vital that we recognise that it exists in two forms: the scientific facts and the far more potent social facts of constructed narratives or deliberate silence. It is the latter that provide the basis on which we accept, deny or ignore the issue, reinforced by our innate need to conform to the norm within our social group.

However, seen in this light, the situation is far from hopeless. Like the cycles that govern global energy and carbon systems, public attitudes are subject to positive feedback effects that can amplify small changes and result in rapid shifts. Strong visible protest and increased media coverage can break the climate silence and create wider engagement. Above all, though, we need to recognise that the narrative we choose will shape what happens from now on. We may continue to fall back on our need for an enemy. But the very best story would be a one of common purpose, based around our shared humanity.

via Why our brains are wired to ignore climate change and what to do about it | George Marshall | Comment is free | The Guardian.

Japanese regulator caves to the nuclear industry and government pressure – but still no restart for Sendai | Greenpeace International

The Abe government is desperate to prevent people from grasping that the world’s third largest nuclear reactor program has failed to generate any electricity for 12 months. In that year, there have been no blackouts or brownouts, the trains still run, the lights still turn on, and smart phones are still charged.

Most people in Japan understand that the declared government policy, that nuclear power is an essential and a stable source of energy, is a myth. They will not be fooled.

via Japanese regulator caves to the nuclear industry and government pressure – but still no restart for Sendai | Greenpeace International.

Israeli company says it can produce experimental Ebola drug | The Times of Israel

No one knows if ZMapp drug is actually effective but everyone is in publicity high gear and profits dancing in their eyes wants to cash in on current attention to ebola – and news folks looking for same is happy to play along with them so they can seem to be up to date too. 

In the end it just fuels distrust of everything – think twice, three times before adding to cynicism…

With ZMapp vaccine depleted, a Carmiel-based biopharmaceutical firm says it can extract medication from tobacco plants quickly and effectively

via Israeli company says it can produce experimental Ebola drug | The Times of Israel.

Imperial researcher to lead Ebola vaccine trial in the Gambia

{The university ought to think about changing its name but beyond that – this confirms pretty well that pharmaceutical firms are not really interested in helping humanity, just in making a profit – even though nearly all of them get funds from governments/taxes, as well as foundations and investors}

The incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop a product are therefore very low, as product development, testing and in particular the licensure procedures are expensive and the profit will be small, if any at all.

via Imperial researcher to lead Ebola vaccine trial in the Gambia.