"In 1955 Dr. Jonas salk develpoed the Polio Vaccine.His sole focus had been to develop a safe and effective vaccine as rapidly as possible, with no interest in personal profit. When he was asked in a televised interview who owned the patent to the vaccine, Salk replied: "There is no patent. Could you patent the Sun? Sadly though I became a victim of Polio in the epidemic of 53-54. It took me years to shake off most of the damage done by this infection. This vaccine was given free by Dr. Salk as a gift to his fellow man.
In 2008 I had a viral infection caused by an infection contacted during a hospital procedure. I was treated with a drug called Vancomycin . Vanco is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial or viral infections in the bowel or blood. This drug costs many thousands a month to those that need it. Many insurance companies refuse to pay for treatment and many patients must use a less potent and effective drug.
Eli Lilly licensed this drug to Viro Pharma and a company from Australia and one from the UK in 2004. The patent expired in the early 1980s, but the FDA has not authorized the sale of any generic versions in the USA.
I want to know why! Who did Eli Lilly lobby to keep the patent on this drug in place. I believe that there is just too much money to be made on this drug because it saves lives. If you are poor or have no or bad insurance you are OUT OF LUCK.! We do not have the best health care system in the world. We have the most expensive.
There are not many men like Jonas Salk around today. So sad.
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