SAN FRANCISCO — Northern California is in for torrential rains this week, but water won’t be the only thing flooding the streets here.
The annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference starts today, a four-day crush of crowded hallway conversations, hotel lobby meetings, and open-bar parties that will bring more than 9,000 biotech insiders to Union Square — though more than a few were delayed by the winter storms that socked the East Coast.
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” Whether any of it will meaningfully impact the market – much less impact patients – remains to be seen ” . Big Pharma always puts the $ ahead of the patient. Look how little compassionate use they give – even for drugs they are so sure of that they have asked for early approval from the FDA. They see dying pt.’s as ” investment risks ” . As they throw even ” subdued ” parties ( no private Cirque du Soleil performance this yr. ?) ; They should be reminded that they chose to be in the field of developing potentially life – saving medicines – not some jazzy new smart phone. I am a Pt. Rights Activist and we want respect – without our sacrifice – none of these drugs get developed. We want compassionate use reform – the 21st Century Cures Act hardly mentions it . It requires co.’s to ” post a policy ” , while 3 of the original 4 compassionate use reform initiatives were dropped from the final bill . Because no one speaks for the ” terminally ill “