THE SICKENING FACE OF BIG PHARMA

Type 1 diabetics been screwed for decades...

A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH FOR TYPE 1 DIABETICS

In 1921, on a shoestring budget at the University of Toronto, several young scientists began investigating a possible treatment for Type 1 diabetes. They found that by grinding up and purifying animal pancreases and then regularly injecting the material, they could treat Type 1 diabetes in dogs.

After first testing the drug for safety by injecting themselves, the scientists treated a 14-year-old boy with Type 1 diabetes. His recovery was almost miraculous, going from death’s door to good health in a matter of weeks.

By 1923, the scientists had won the Nobel prize and the treatment had entered mass production in collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company and the Swedish organisation Nordisk.

The scientists patented the drug and sold it to the University of Toronto for three dollars, (one dollar for each researcher), thinking that this was the best way to ensure that affordable treatment would be available to everyone who needed it.

TYPE 1 DIABETICS TAKEN HOSTAGE BY BIG PHARMA

With a fast forward to the future, fast-acting ‘analog’ insulins were pioneered with Lilly’s ‘HumaLog’ in 1996, but when Novo Nordisk entered the market four years later with its own analog insulin, ‘NovoLog’ prices did not decrease due to competition.

Instead, Lilly and Nordisk followed each other closely in an exponential price increase. When HumaLog was first introduced, it cost $21.

At the time of writing (2019), HumaLog cost [$295.35] per vial and NovoLog costs [$296.27].

The older ‘human’ insulins like ‘Humalin’ are less expensive, but far less effective in treating Type 1 diabetes—yet even these primitive insulins have increased dramatically in price since their introduction in 1982.

THE TRAGIC CASE OF ALEC RAESHAWN SMITH

The HPR article ‘How Insulin Became Unaffordable’ recounted the tragic case of Alec Raeshawn Smith whose body stopped producing insulin when he was 24—he had become a Type 1 diabetic.

The article goes on: ‘For two years, Smith managed his condition relatively well. But it wasn’t easy financially. On May 20, 2017, Smith turned 26, ageing out of his parents’ insurance.’

He didn’t qualify for government assistance with his insulin payments, and when he went to pick up his insulin in early June, the bill was over $1300 without insurance. He couldn’t afford the medicine that day and decided to ration his remaining insulin until he was paid. He didn’t tell his family.

On June 25, Smith went to dinner with his girlfriend where he complained about stomach pains. It was the last time anyone saw him alive. He called in sick to work the next day. On June 27, Smith was found dead in his apartment.

RIP Alec Raeshawn Smith.

Our hearts go out to his mother, Nicole Smith-Holt, his family, and all those who knew and loved him. Impossible not to shed a tear over this sickening tragedy, nor wonder how the executive boards within those companies sleep at night.

SARS-CoV-2 INJECTIONS JUST PART OF THE GAME

This is stark evidence of the game big pharma companies have been playing for decades. The game is holding patient populations hostage to their essential medications, then price-gouging.

If they are not essential, they create that perception with sales & marketing muscle, and price-gouge again.

The counter is to stop ‘easy to get’ patents that create the monopolies to price-gouge.

#PatientsNotPatents

Hedley