PSoTD

This probably would be funnier if it wasn't so close to the freakin' truth:

(Originally posted in August, but Revere's recent post made it seem timely to repost)

From CBC News:

Formulas for new, inexpensive influenza drugs that could expand the world's tiny arsenal of weapons against pandemic flu are gathering dust because the pharmaceutical industry isn't interested in developing them, scientists say.

They believe governments should fund the testing and development of the drugs, side-stepping big pharma and bringing them to market as cheap generic medications.

And they point to the story of Relenza - one of only four flu drugs currently sold - as evidence public-sector involvement will be needed if crucial new flu drugs are ever going to hit pharmacy shelves.

Mark von Itzstein, who led the team that invented Relenza, says he has three compounds that are ready to be tested in animals and could be available on a commercial basis in three to five years for about $10 a treatment course. (Relenza and the more popular Tamiflu sell for about $55 in Canada.)

But under the existing profit-driven model of pharmaceutical production, where the next sexual dysfunction drug is more highly prized than a new life-saving antibiotic, cheap flu medications simply aren't on the priority list.

"What company would really be interested in developing another anti-influenza drug? Who's going to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to bring it to market?" von Itzstein asks with a shrug.

System's broken, and we have to wait until a pandemic to have government realize it needs fixed.

I'll post more about this next week, but I thought I'd pass along this note from fluwiki:

Continuing the public health experiment, Flu Wiki in association with the blogosphere will use October 3–9 as Pandemic Flu Awareness Week.

From Voice of America:

Indonesian health officials have closed the Jakarta Zoo after dozens of birds there tested positive for avian flu, and three children suspected of having the potentially fatal disease are in the capital city's hospital.

The authorities began testing workers at the Jakarta zoo after dozens of birds there, including peacocks and eagles, tested positive for the often-fatal H5N1 form of the virus.

Bird flu has also killed four humans in the Indonesian capital, three in July, and a woman earlier this month. Three children are in a Jakarta hospital suffering flu-like symptoms.

I have a related-thought about avian influenza - what are the wealthy and well-informed doing in preparations of a potential pandemic? Why doesn't the media ask those - those with financial resources - what they are doing? I'm not talking about scientists - I'm talking about consumers. Wealthy consumers, who want to consume after the pandemic as well - what are they doing?

Because the sooner we make individual preparations seem like a smart course of action for everyone, the better off we'll all be... if it isn't too late already.

The director of Thailand's Disease Control Department, Bureau of Epidemiology was quoted as saying the bird flu virus has changed in a way as to alter the pandemic disease status from WHO's phase 3 ("Human infection(s) with a new subtype, but no human-to-human spread, or at most rare instances of spread to a close contact") to phase 4 ("Small cluster(s) with limited human-to-human transmission but spread is highly localized, suggesting that the virus is not well adapted to humans").

Effect Measure has details.