Lawmakers press for answers on remdesivir

The coronavirus pandemic is putting drug-pricing back in the spotlight.

With news that remdesivir, an antiviral from Gilead Sciences, is at least somewhat effective against Covid-19, a pair of Democratic lawmakers wants to know the extent to which U.S. taxpayer dollars may have been used to pay for the research and development of the drug — and what the federal government will do to prevent “price-gouging” on any sales.

“Taxpayers are often the angel investors in pharmaceutical research and development, yet this is not reflected in the prices they pay,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) wrote in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services. They noted that the National Institutes of Health spent nearly $700 million on coronavirus research overall.

Gilead has not yet said what it will charge for remdesivir but has pledged to ensure "access is not an issue."

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A tech transfer expert warns against march-in rights

Speaking of Covid-19 drugs, several activist groups, including Doctors Without Borders, are urging the government to take control of patents for coronavirus therapies that benefited from taxpayer-funded research. The government, after all, has the power to do so because of “march-in” rights established in the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980.

But exercising those rights, opines tech transfer expert Fred Reinhart, would be a mistake — and would damage the broader bioscience innovation ecosystem.

“If the government could arbitrarily march in and seize intellectual property, investors would hesitate to fund the research that has brought us so many innovations,” Reinhart writes.

This would have been a time for Theranos to thrive

A few years ago, a little company called Theranos became a household name and scooped up nearly a billion dollars in of venture capital in large because its determined (if not altogether truthful) founder. But the company also thrived because it was operating in an era of misinformation and relaxed regulations, when the potential to mint money was too hard to resist.

The pandemic may very well be creating those same kind of opportunities for other companies whose diagnostic tests and other products are too good to be true, Tyler Schultz writes. Schultz, one of the whistleblowers at Theranos, would know.

“While there is certainly value in moving as fast as possible during this crisis, I am worried that we are creating an environment that facilitates many of the same mistakes Theranos made,” he writes.

Covid-19 puts a generation of researchers at risk

Many biotech companies are hard at work, at least insofar as they can be, amid the pandemic. But to be a bench scientist, either at a company or in a university lab, is not easy these days.

Many labs are shuttered, and scientists are grappling with an overwhelming sense of uncertainty about how they’ll continue their work. The challenge is all the more overwhelming in the case of early-career scientists, who have limited financial support.

Justin Chen spoke with a handful of researchers about their experience — and, for many, a profound sense of loss.

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