Thought of the Day - May 10 2021 - Hope for the World

After last week's article concerning making vaccines globally available ( Thought of the Day - May 6 2021 - It's a Start ) and the discussion around patent waivers, I was asked if I think that vaccines will be available to everyone by the end of 2020. The short answer is: No. Optimistic projections talk about the end of 2022. It will take time for big companies and big governments to work out prerequisite trade deals. By the end of 2021 vaccines will still largely be for the rich and famous. You and I will be lining up for our third shot while none has been made available to the vast majority of the world's population.

So in the meantime what is the hope for the "rest" of the world? Yes, therapeutics of course. Remember the potential development of a malaria vaccine was predicated by years of the use of "malaria pills" ( Thought of the Day - April 28 2021 - A New Vaccine ).

It is sad to read about what is happening in India, shortages of hospital beds, oxygen and Remdesivir. Wow, the drug companies don't miss an opportunity, do they! Optimistic studies show that Remdesivir has an efficacy of between 5 and 10 pecent, if taken before the onset of severe symptoms. Remdesivir costs about $3,000 a treatment, so there is no chance (ahead of patent waivers) that it can be broadly applied in the first place, it is just way too expensive for the potential benefit. Even Canada gave up on the stuff some time ago, and I hear we are now supplying our stockpile of 25,000 doses to India.

On the other hand, as we talked about six months ago there are a number of prophylactic (fancy term for proactive) treatments for COVID-19 ( Thought of the day December 9 - Great News ). A report in the May-June issue of the American Journal of Therapeutics talks about the benefits of one such prophylactic therapeutic: Ivermectin. A study from India's own All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar talks about Invemectin's effectiveness in health care workers. The study concluded that there was an 83% decrease in COVID-19 infection in frontline workers. Wow, this is in the same ballpark as vaccines!

Remember that $3k Remdesivir treatment? Well, Invermetin is generic and in bulk the active ingredient costs about 0.03 cents. Thus for the same investment as one person on Remdesivir, ten million doses of Ivermectin could be procured. Indeed, for the same cost as the 25,000 doses of Remdesivir, that we are kindly sending to India, India could supply its entire population with an Invermetin treatment for six months. And how many lives would this save? Conservative estimates say 100,000, and probably five times that number in symptomatic cases.

So, yes I do think there is hope. The hope that this current discussion on vaccines might shine a spotlight on big pharma's motives, and bring to light some real options. Options that will not only address the physical effects of COVID-19, but that will bring hope to people and communities that up until now, through no fault of their own, have received nothing.

Cheers

Cliff