Your Tax Dollars At Work

Posted byTed BlockPosted inCommentary

Commentary

U.S. agrees to pay Eli Lilly $375 million for 300,000 doses of coronavirus antibody drug, but…

CNBC reported that the “U.S. government will pay Eli Lilly $375 million to supply 300,00 doses of its experimental antibody drug to treat the coronavirus, the company announced Wednesday.”

“’Lilly has leveraged our deep scientific capability to fight this pandemic and we are proud of our efforts to develop potential medicines to combat COVID-19,’ Eli Lilly’s CEO David Ricks said in a statement.”

Wow! Great for Lilly and great for coronavirus patients!

But wait, didn’t I read earlier in the week that the drug doesn’t show any benefit in hospitalized patients?

I did see it. And, CNBC actually address that tiny, little problem in the sixth paragraph of its story:

“The agreement with the U.S. came days after the company said a trial of the drug failed to show a benefit in hospitalized patients. The company said it is confident the drug is helpful to those earlier in the course of Covid-19.”

Oh, now I feel better about that $375 million. Sure it won’t help people with Covid-19 who are in a hospital, like the really sick people. But Lilly, the manufacturer and apparently the only party to this deal that stands to benefit from this agreement, is “confident” that it might help un-hospitalized people in the early stages of the virus.

Question, Mr. Ricks. How will we identify people in the early stage of the virus if your patron, President Donald Trump, doesn’t want Americans to be tested because “if you don’t test, you won’t have cases?”

Now, I know we’ll be able to identify those nasty folks who are sick enough to be hospitalized, BECAUSE THEY’RE IN THE HOSPITAL! AND YOUR DRUG WON’T HELP THEM!

Tell me folks – is this really happening. Or did I wake up this morning in the middle of a new Philip K. Dick dystopian story?

What, you say? It’s got to be real because Philip K. Dick died in 1982?

Fake news!

I get calls from people all the time telling me that they see Dick wandering around Berkeley every day, hand-in-hand with Osama bin Laden.

Published by Ted Block

Ted Block is a veteran “Mad Man,” having spent 45+ years in the advertising industry. During his career, he was media director of several advertising agencies, including Benton & Bowles in New York and Foote, Cone and Belding in San Francisco; account management director on clients as varied as Clorox, Levi’s and the California Raisin Advisory Board (yes, Ted was responsible for the California Dancing Raisins campaign); and regional director for Asia based in Tokyo for Foote, Cone where he was also the founding president of FCB’s Japanese operations. Ted holds a Bachelor’s degree in communications from Queens College and, before starting in advertising, served on active duty as an officer on USS McCloy (DE-1038) in the U.S. Navy. Besides writing Around the Block, Ted is also a guest columnist for the Palm Beach Post.

2 thoughts on “Your Tax Dollars At Work”

  1. Unbelievable!!! Talk about draining the D.C. Swamp. I heard Trump has a large stake in the company that owns Remdesivir. I don’t know if that is a fact or even if I spelled it correctly.

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    1. Remdesivir, correct! Re: Trump stakes — he did, and took capital gains in 2017. Does he still? Not sure.

      From USA Today:
      “President Donald Trump previously reported he earned capital gains from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Gilead Sciences Inc., the manufacturers of two of the medicines he’s taken as part of his COVID-19 treatment plan.

      “According to a 2017 financial disclosure form filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in June 2017, Trump had a capital gain of $50,001 to $100,000 for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and $100,001 to $1 million for Gilead Sciences Inc. The form notes the information was of April 15, 2017.

      “Trump’s subsequent disclosure forms, including his 2020 form signed July 31, did not list Regeneron or Gilead.”

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