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Comment by somurzakov | Hacker News Reader

1. remdesivir is not a cure for COVID and not as valuable to the rest of the world. We need vaccine 2. there is plenty of generic remdesivir in India

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Until recently people were buying it from India to treat FIV (a previously fatal disease in housecats). There was a whole network of people supplying it through Facebook groups and mailing it to the US.

To fill in slightly more detail, that's GS-441524 instead of remdesivir. It's closely related but a lot easier to manufacture. Here's a good article on that:

https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/14/gilead-should-ditch-remd...

And a fascinating tale how cat owners are buying the black market version to treat FIP:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/remdesiv...

Last I read, the trial results for Remdesvir were disappointing. Much less encouraging that the trials using steroids. Is remdesvir actually that valuable?

2. there is plenty of generic remdesivir in India

How does this go together with the claim that "Remdesivir is patented by California-based Gilead"?

https://www.gilead.com/purpose/advancing-global-health/covid...

> How does this go together with the claim that "Remdesivir is patented by California-based Gilead"?

India does not recognize patents on medicine.

See, for example: India: Patents And The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry [1]

> With regard to pharmaceuticals, in the case of substances intended for use or capable of being used as food, drugs or medicines or substances produced by chemical processes, patents are granted only for the processes of manufacture of such substances and not for the substances themselves. Hence, pharmaceutical products are currently not granted patent protection under Indian law.

(And note that the "process of manufacture of such substances" is in practice interpreted so tightly that it covers very little.)

[1] https://www.mondaq.com/india/patent/865888/patents-and-the-i...

I think that law was changed in 2005 to allow product patents.

The law might have been changed, but the practice of the law has not. India still does not honor practically any foreign patents on medicine.

this practice helped so many people from low-income countries survive form life-threatening conditions by just importing drugs from India. A relative of mine from a very low income country got Hepatitis C treatment, thanks to India.

They basically gave away licenses to generics manufacturers- gilead has been very reasonable.

Also, not all countries respect patents.

This is exceptionally important to mention, too.

Imagine "doing the right thing", and then people lamblasting you, upset at you, and even actively working against you.

I expected the backlash from pharma publications going on about how the incredibly low price gilead set for the drug is going to set a precedent that might force the entire industry to cut prices and destroy profits[1]. I didnt expect the backlash from the public. The message that gilead and friends would be getting is that people will hate pharma for the sake of hating pharma, amd that the hate they get has nothing to do with their behavior, so might as well charge high prices since the anti-pharma crowd is not acting in good faith.

[1]https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/29/gilead-remdesivir-price-...

https://www.expresspharma.in/covid19-updates/remdesivir-in-i... > To expand the supply of remdesivir across the globe, Gilead Sciences has signed non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements with four Indian generic pharma manufacturers, namely; Cipla, Hetero Labs, Jubilant Lifesciences and Mylan as well as a Pakistani firm, Ferozsons Laboratories to manufacture and distribute remdesivir in 127 countries.

Fun Fact: it's perfectly legal to photocopy a textbook for educational purposes in India. Supreme Court threw away the court case when somebody tried to sue them.

If it helps patients to recover faster, it does make a huge difference by having more beds available in the hospital.

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