.@Public_Citizen revealed this inventorship dispute between NIH & Moderna in 2021, urging NIH to publicly reclaim its foundational role in some of the most important medical tools against the Covid pandemic.
Even before SARS-CoV2, public money supported Moderna developing tech later used in NIH-Moderna. @DeptofDefense, @BARDA and NIH each funded Moderna to support vax development for Zika & MERS, which is caused by another kind of coronavirus.
In 2020, @Public_Citizen showed that @moderna_tx & others also relied on a separate technique discovered by federal scientists and academic researchers to stabilize spike proteins and elicit an immune response.
In an offensive display of hubris and disregard for the public and the pandemic, @GileadSciences has priced at thousands of dollars a drug that should be in the public domain. Gilead’s price is 10x the cost-effective price ($310) suggested by ICER (no mortality benefit) (1/4)
For $1 per day, remdesivir can be manufactured at scale with a reasonable profit. According to ICER, at $310 per course, remdesivir would be cost effective. Gilead has rejected both prices and has yet to show why the price should be higher. (2/4) icer-review.org/announcements/…
Gilead initially developed remdesivir as one of several candidate treatments for hep C and has made tens of billions off its successful hep C drugs. What's relevant now are Gilead’s unpublished costs & the public’s many investments repurposing remdesivir for COVID-19. (3/4)
Today @GileadSciences announced a deal with five other firms to facilitate remdesivir international manufacture and distribution. The more than 70 countries excluded would have to buy remdesivir from Gilead at its monopoly price, or overcome Gilead’s claimed patents. (2/6)
Federal scientists led the team that found that #remdesivir was active against coronaviruses. Public investment supported and continues to support every stage of remdesivir’s development. The public has contributed a minimum of $70.5 million to remdesivir’s development. (3/6)