As companies face pressure to ensure access to medicines during the pandemic, Novartis (NVS) plans to sell more than a dozen older drugs at cost to nearly 80 mostly poor countries, a move that was met with mixed reaction from consumer advocates because pricing was not disclosed.
The drug maker is creating a nonprofit to sell 15 generic and over-the-counter medicines that treat various symptoms of Covid-19 to low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Among the medicine are several antibiotics as well as dexamethasone, a steroid that recent top-line study data suggests the steroid may improve the odds of survival in the sickest Covid-19 patients.
The project “is designed to support governments in treating Covid-19 symptoms before they lead to complications in patients,” said Richard Saynor, the chief executive of the Sandoz generic drug unit owned by Novartis, in a statement. A Novartis spokesman stressed the company will not make a profit from the sales and prices will be based on production costs.
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I can’t unlock the articles I want to read unless I buy a subscription to Stat plus and I’ve been able to log onto your site and access your articles from the beginning of March. What has changed? Do I now have to subscribe even though I have an account???? Pam Harrison
Per Matt Herper’s statement from another Stat article just published:
Hydroxychloroquine did not lead to faster symptom improvement among patients who had Covid-19 symptoms but were not hospitalized, according to a new study.
How does this initiative jive?
The drug maker (Novartis) is creating a nonprofit to sell 15 generic and over-the-counter medicines that treat various symptoms of Covid-19 to low-income and lower-middle-income countries.
Would this nonprofit prohibited to sell hyrroxychloroquine? I highly doubt it, especially with Trump not stopping to hype about taking it himself. We all know how many obstinate and uninformed people we have in the US who believe everything our USPTO says in public.