Who's Bluffing? Who'll Blink First?
Sen. Chuck Schumer yesterday blasted a major international drug company for "putting profits ahead of world safety" – demanding it suspend its patent on a drug that has proved successful in fighting deadly bird flu. . .
"Roche is putting its profits ahead of world safety and I think that is disgraceful," Schumer declared at a press conference at New York Hospital.
In unusually harsh terms, he thundered, "When there is a potential worldwide pandemic, no company can put itself above the safety of the entire world. . .
The senator wants Roche to temporarily suspend its patent on Tamiflu – since it cannot keep up with world demand – and license generic drugmakers to mass-produce it.
He gave the company one month to comply, threatening to change the law to give the federal government special powers over pharmaceutical firms in times of world health emergencies.
Roche took a hard line.
"We asked governments several years ago to make Tamiflu orders for pandemic purposes well in advance," said company spokesman Alexander Klausers.
"We explained the procedure to them, how it works and that we had to start production well in advance or we wouldn't be able to produce Tamiflu in the required amounts on time."
Some think the bird flu threat--not to mention the pandemic flu threat in general--is exaggerated. Do we wait until it starts ravaging our countries? Or do we pay Roche to reward them for their effort and for our apparent delinquency in ordering the requisite doses? I'm not an intellectual law attorney, but this all comes down to money and there must be a way to pay Roche fair consideration (or ransom, depending on your slant) to allow generic drug companies to produce the vaccine.
