Pharmaceutical

Trump’s new pharma tariffs will punish Americans

Donald Trump has punished European pharmaceutical companies by imposing 100 percent tariffs on their branded products unless they are prepared to set up a manufacturing plants in the US. That is one way of putting it, but why is the issue of tariffs so often seen from the point of view of the producers and so rarely seen from the position of the consumers? Besides punishing drugs companies, the President has also whacked the American public – or at least that section of the population which relies on patented medicines made outside the US. The cost of treatment for many of these patients will soar as a result. Does Trump think that people will somehow fail to realize this?

The ethical minefield of crowdfunding for medicine

In an historical crowdsourcing effort, more than 23,000 people put together more than $2.2 million in just four short days to help a little girl that very few of them even knew, so she might have a decent quality of life. Now her family can finally afford one of the world’s most expensive medicines ever, it’s perhaps now appropriate to reflect on how we got here. At first, I assumed it was just another scam. Another email and WhatsApp message trying to raise money for a family in a difficult situation that nobody really knows, whose situation nobody could really verify, looking for a medical therapy or financial solution unlikely to actually help resolve their situation.

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