Thread by @DrEricDing

Who created the PAXLOVID miracle #COVID19 drug? Pfizer makes you think they did alone. But it was created only with the critical help of advanced photon machines from taxpayer-funded US Dept of @Energy’s @argonne Lab. ➡️Make sure you remember that next time paying sky high drug $

https://twitter.com/alinouriphd/status/1474085735561142275

2) Seriously— don’t give Pfizer all the glory for this Paxlovid drug. It was funded by you the taxpayer that made it all possible. Never let big pharma take advantage and claim they built it all. anl.gov/article/advanc…

3) “Work to determine the structure of the antiviral candidate was done at the (IMCA-CAT) beamline at the APS, operated by the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) on behalf of a collaboration of pharmaceutical companies, of which Pfizer is a member.”

4) “As a member of IMCA-CAT, Pfizer routinely conducts drug development experiments at the APS, and the process of narrowing down and zeroing in on this drug candidate was performed over many months.

5) “IMCA-CAT, she said, delivers quality results in a timely manner, much faster than the home laboratories of the companies themselves can do.
Access like this to a DOE facility such as the APS, she said, is vitally important for a breakthrough like Paxlovid to happen.

6) ““This is an important illustration of how valuable the national laboratories are to advancing the work of U.S. industries, and that has a hugely beneficial impact on society. When the results have a global impact, as in the case of COVID-19, they motivate us and inspire us.”

7) “IMCA-CAT uses the X-rays to probe the atomic structures of proteins, like those that make up SARS-CoV-2. Scientists use this information to see how potential drug compounds may interact with virus. This lays the groundwork for the creation of new treatments, such as Paxlovid.