According to the source, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, owns the intellectual property rights for an effective drug against cystic fibrosis.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that causes severe damage to the lungs, digestive system, and other vital organs in the body.
This disease affects the cells responsible for the production of mucus, sweat and digestive juices in the human body.
The disease appears through very disturbing symptoms such as mucous cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea, loss of appetite and inability to gain weight.
In India, for example, Seshagiri Budana, a father of a sick child, was full of hope when he heard that there was an effective medicine against the disease in America and Europe. He thought that his son’s suffering would be relieved, but his optimism was misplaced.
The Indian man suffered a lot while taking his baby son to the hospital from time to time, while the family could not obtain medicine because they live in India.
The company does not allow the drug to be sold in India and the rest of the developing countries, nor is it taking any step to facilitate this matter by allowing local companies to produce it abroad.
Flat out
The company refuses that any pharmaceutical company develop a “generic” drug, that is, similar to it in terms of composition and effectiveness, while many companies are trying to obtain a license in several countries, but to no avail.
And last December, the Indian child with the disease, Hemanth, died a day before the completion of his ninth year, while the course of his life would have changed if he had taken the drug called “Tricafta”, but the company preferred to continue to make the big money.
Many families in Africa and Latin America say they mourn the condition of their children with cystic fibrosis, while watching how other parents in rich countries manage to treat their children.
This treatment is taken in the form of three pills a day, and it is very effective, but it is also expensive, because it costs the patient $ 322,000 a year, and the lifetime bill may reach millions of dollars.
This drug is being sold at an exorbitant price, while British researchers revealed that it could be manufactured at a cost not exceeding $5,700.
The company’s data indicates that the drug has generated $17 billion since its sale, after obtaining the approval of the competent health authorities in the United States in 2019.
