Most of the world will not be able to make use of a modestly effective Covid-19 treatment for at least the next three months because the Trump administration this week bought up nearly the entire supply of the drug, a move critics said exposes the potentially deadly consequences of the U.S. president’s so-called “America First” approach in the context of a pandemic that has swept the globe.
The Trump administration’s decision to purchase almost all of California-based Gilead Sciences’ projected stock of remdesivir through September was also viewed by observers as a glaring example of the “dysfunctional character” of a patent system that gives pharmaceutical giants decades of monopoly control over a drug that could save lives in the near-term.
“This is what happens when the world relies on a broken system driven by greed and profit during a pandemic,” tweeted U.K.-based advocacy group Global Justice Now, which is urging governments to override Gilead’s patent through compulsory licensing. Continue reading.