How many more luxuries should we buy for ourselves and our children when others are dying for lack of bread?” ― Ron Sider
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| VETERANS |
| Q & A: Big Pharma’s C-grade |
| Cancer used to be considered a rich-country problem. You’ve got to live long enough to get most cancers. But nowadays, more than two-thirds of cancer deaths take place in the developing world. The Access to Medicines Index is an annual ranking of how Big Pharma’s research priorities and sales models address global health needs. Usually, it looks at drugs to treat things like HIV and so-called neglected tropical diseases, often spread by bugs and worms. This year, it added oncology drugs. It turns out cancer research is anything but neglected! The analysis, published Tuesday, found drugmakers are zeroing in on plenty of new meds for cancers, causing outsize burden in developing countries. The problem is that we need more creative thinking about how to get the drugs to these poorer countries, beyond inventing the drugs in the first place. Predictably, the problem is in large part how to pay for it. But as Access to Medicine Foundation Director Jayasree K. Iyer and Research Lead Danny Edwards told me, it’s even more complicated than that. Our conversation is edited for length and clarity. Why is oncology becoming a priority in low- and middle-income countries? Jayasree Iyer: The demand is really growing. By 2030, there’s going to be about 21.5 million cases of cancer in Africa. When North Americans are diagnosed with cancer, about 40 percent of them will die because of that particular cancer. In Africa, 78 percent of people who are diagnosed with cancer will die. How are companies doing when it comes to getting the latest drugs to patients in less developed countries? Danny Edwards: About 5 percent [of the cancer drugs in the R&D pipeline factored into the Index] had some sort of evidence that the company was considering how to make the product available and affordable in the countries that we look at. To give you a bit of a benchmark, if you look at communicable [infectious] diseases that we measure, 54 percent of those have some sort of plan in place to consider access. What is driving that gap? DE: [Communicable disease R&D] has been heavily influenced by donor activity and global health priorities, but developing drugs for cancer care is very commercially oriented. When companies are developing HIV products, they’re really thinking about access in low- and middle-income countries, in a way that they might not necessarily be thinking about cancer yet. The other challenge is the health systems. We know that it’s not necessarily fair to expect companies to be making these comparatively complex products available in low- and middle-income countries right off the bat when their health systems [aren’t prepared]. So we’re also looking at the degree to which companies are supporting those health systems. For example, AstraZeneca has an initiative in South Africa, Phakamiza, that’s aimed at early detection and diagnosis of breast and prostate cancer. It’s aiming to screen 5 million by 2025. JI: What’s special about it: It has screening, it has treatment, it covers a wide range of the continuum of care, which goes beyond just the need for products themselves. If you just start selling products on their own, they don’t necessarily reach patients in need. [Global Policy Lab, November 22, 2018] |
Trump’s Child Separation Policy Has Cost $80 Million So Far
The U.S. has spent about $80 million to care for children separated from their parents at the border with Mexico, The Hill reported Tuesday. The child separations occurred in the wake of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy initiated in April 2018, under which any immigrant who crossed the border illegally was prosecuted.
According to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services, 2,667 children were separated from their parents and cared for by the federal government. The average time in custody was 83 days per child, the report said, with an average cost of $30,000 each. The cost of shelter, which includes food and education, was the largest component overall at $59 million.
With 140 children still in custody, the cost will continue to rise, although the child separation policy was officially halted in June. [The Fiscal Times, November 21, 2018]
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| HEALTHCARE |
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| EDUCATION |
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| MICHELLE OBAMA |
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| PUBLIC LANDS & NATURAL AREAS |
Tell the Park Service to keep with its mission as steward of this national treasure and prioritize the protection of native wildlife at Point Reyes over agriculture and ranching.
When Congress established Point Reyes National Seashore in 1962, it made it very clear that the continued operation of commercial ranching was temporary. And yet right now the Park Service's preferred alternative would extend cattle ranching leases for 20 years and evict tule elk from all lease areas — by either shooting elk or relocating them out of the park.
The agency is also considering allowing ranchers to grow crops in the park and introduce new livestock animals such as chickens, goats and sheep. This could create even more conflicts with native predators and end with the tragic killing of the park's bobcats, foxes and birds.
Join us in supporting the option to phase out dairy ranching in the park while allowing some beef ranching to continue. And importantly, urge the Park Service not to remove or kill any elk.
Center for Biological Diversity, November 22, 2018 https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/
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| SCREEN |
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| HIDDEN IN THE ATTIC |
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| WHIMSEY |
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| THE NETHERLANDS |
A small Dutch foundation called Dreaming of Syria has brought refugees and locals closer together. As its founder, Iris Loos, told us: “What if we all just grab the hand of the person next to us, no matter what age or cultural background. That would be a great start.” [The Guardian, November 9, 2018]
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| BAHAMAS |
NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as a "community service" announcement. These again are shared for their varying perspectives.
Any commercial or business interest information shared is purely informational, not an endorsement. I have no connection with any such commercial or business interest.
Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post. Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse. They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended.
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