It has become quite trendy to knock the pharmaceutical
industry. Everyone from the President of
the United States to individual patients seem to have nothing but complaints
about pharmaceutical companies and things like the cost of medicine, how much
executives make, and how much profit there is in the pharmaceutical
industry. However, few people realize
how often pharmaceutical companies give away their medicines, especially in the
undeveloped world.
Parasites are a scourge in the developing world. Onchocerciasis was once responsible for
blinding literally hundreds of thousands of people every year. Elephantiasis caused gross thickening of the
lower extremities, especially the legs, which resulted in chronic, unstoppable
pain in the victims. Both of these
diseases are caused by a parasite called microfilaria.
The giant pharmaceutical company Merck makes a medicine
called Ivermectin which was developed for other reasons, but works very well
against microfilaria. The people who are
affected by onchocerciasis and elephantiasis were not able to afford this
medicine, and their governments were either unable or unwilling to buy it for
them. So Roy Vagelos, at the time the
CEO of Merck, decided that Merck would provide the drug free to the poor people
who needed it. Today, an incredible 200
million people on our planet, roughly 3% of the world’s population, take
Ivermectin for free every year!
Did you know this wonderful story? With all of the complaints about the makers
of medicine it is highly likely that you didn’t.
This is hardly the only example of drug companies giving
away expensive medicine for free to the poor undeveloped countries. For example, the manufacturer of azithromycin
provides millions of doses of this antibiotic to poor Africans who are either
afflicted with or at risk for trachoma, another potentially blinding medical
problem.
We at Skyvision would like to congratulate Dr. Vagelos
and other executives like him who have done, and continue to do the right
thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment