Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent
Some interesting points on the nature of our pharmaceutical patent system... (and while the cohort in this study does seem a bit small, the conclusions appear to be fairly valid):> "Molnupiravir was invented at Drug Innovations at Emory (DRIVE), LLC, a not-for-profit biotechnology company wholly owned by Emory University, and is being developed by Merck & Co., Inc. in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics."> "In fiscal year 2019, more than half of Emory's total $689.1 million in research funding came from the federal government, the university's largest sponsor."Clearly, this patent should be assigned to the federal government, not to Merck, and anyone who wants to manufacture and distribute it should be able to do so under an non-exclusive federal licensing program.  The transfer of intellectual property created by the public funds to private entities is simply a criminal ripoff of the taxpayer.[edit] Wait, was this a three-week clinical phase III trial? Seems massively expedited relative to other phase III trials?> "Phase 3: Just 33% of drugs make it past Phase 2 and into Phase 3, which tests the potential treatment in the largest number of people. This phase measures both safety and effectiveness with many volunteers, sometimes thousands. Phase 3 trials last from one to four years."Trial began on Sept 2 2021 apparently?1. https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/merck-ridgeback-mol...