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An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

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Re: An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

#11

Post by wccrawford »

>Then he took another sip from a flute of Taittinger Champagne.

What?

>Swaggering, charismatic, and complex,

Gag me.

>Michael Laufer has become a fixture in the growing biohacker movement ever since he published plans last year for a do-it-yourself EpiPencil — a $35 alternative to the pricey EpiPen.

That couldn't possibly go wrong, eh?

>It’s not clear whether anyone has actually ever used a homemade EpiPencil to prevent anaphylactic shock.

So nobody's quite crazy enough to try?

>But that seems almost an afterthought to Laufer’s bigger goal — trying to build a DIY movement to attack high pharma pricing and empower patients.

Or, judging by the tone of this article, his attempt to build his own ego.

This is ridiculous and crazy. It's incredibly dangerous to claim to have produced something life saving but not have any actual testing to back it up.

Even lesser drugs that are just designed to lessen symptoms or relieve pain could go horribly wrong if they aren't prepared properly. We have such strict medical requirements because of that.

Re: An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

#12

Post by jchanimal »

fhood wrote: post #6

Honest question: What does it even mean to be an anarchist these days? What is the default "anarchist"? Because Wikipedia isn't really helping.

“”” Noam Chomsky: Well, anarchism is, in my view, basically a kind of tendency in human thought which shows up in different forms in different circumstances, and has some leading characteristics. Primarily it is a tendency that is suspicious and skeptical of domination, authority, and hierarchy. It seeks structures of hierarchy and domination in human life over the whole range, extending from, say, patriarchal families to, say, imperial systems, and it asks whether those systems are justified. It assumes that the burden of proof for anyone in a position of power and authority lies on them. Their authority is not self-justifying. They have to give a reason for it, a justification. And if they can’t justify that authority and power and control, which is the usual case, then the authority ought to be dismantled and replaced by something more free and just. And, as I understand it, anarchy is just that tendency. “””

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/noam-chomsky-kind-an...

Re: An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

#13

Post by wavefunction »

dannyw wrote: post #9
leggomylibro wrote: post #2

That seems both super dangerous, and super awesome. It's not something that we should have to consider. But this is the world we live in, now; legitimate supply lines of life-saving medicine have collapsed for a fair number of people. I understand why people might be troubled by someone actively going out and advocating this as opposed to simply making the information available, but if you're offered medicine with 95…

Agreed. When you actively advocate for this, do you face moral responsibility when someone prepares it wrong and dies? (I’m pretty sure the legal answer would be yes on so many fronts)

I don't know that the legal system necessarily cares about morality or moral responsibility. It seems like the only criteria that would matter would be legal responsibility, whatever that standard might be.

Re: An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

#14

Post by jfarlow »

Open Insulin @ Counter Culture Labs: https://experiment.com/projects/open-insulin

If you want to look at templates for your own immunotherapy, CRISPR, optogenetic tools etc.: https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/

Which, once built can be then be ordered as DNA, shapeways-style using: https://serotiny.bio/notes/pinecone/

The cure for certain kinds of blindness, just approved by the FDA yesterday is, in total, a well-delivered sequence of ~10,000 base pairs of DNA (mfg cost @ 7¢/bp = $700): http://www.businessinsider.com/spark-therapeutics-hereditary...

Re: An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

#15

Post by kemiller »

Overtonwindow wrote: post #8
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #4

Next up - DIY Lasik surgery.

I got LASIK at 21. It was a miracle. It wore off at 31. I must've gotten it too soon. Back to glasses.

Nah, it just does that sometimes. I got it at 35 and it started to wear off 6 years later.

Re: An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

#16

Post by [deleted] »

dannyw wrote: post #9
leggomylibro wrote: post #2

That seems both super dangerous, and super awesome. It's not something that we should have to consider. But this is the world we live in, now; legitimate supply lines of life-saving medicine have collapsed for a fair number of people. I understand why people might be troubled by someone actively going out and advocating this as opposed to simply making the information available, but if you're offered medicine with 95…

Agreed. When you actively advocate for this, do you face moral responsibility when someone prepares it wrong and dies? (I’m pretty sure the legal answer would be yes on so many fronts)

[deleted]

Re: An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

#18

Post by fhood »

jchanimal wrote: post #12
fhood wrote: post #6

Honest question: What does it even mean to be an anarchist these days? What is the default "anarchist"? Because Wikipedia isn't really helping.

“”” Noam Chomsky: Well, anarchism is, in my view, basically a kind of tendency in human thought which shows up in different forms in different circumstances, and has some leading characteristics. Primarily it is a tendency that is suspicious and skeptical of domination, authority, and hierarchy. It seeks structures of hierarchy and domination in human life over the whole range, extending from, say, patriarchal famili…

Thanks, that was an excellent answer.

Re: An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

#19

Post by kentosi »

wccrawford wrote: post #11

>Then he took another sip from a flute of Taittinger Champagne. What? >Swaggering, charismatic, and complex, Gag me. >Michael Laufer has become a fixture in the growing biohacker movement ever since he published plans last year for a do-it-yourself EpiPencil — a $35 alternative to the pricey EpiPen. That couldn't possibly go wrong, eh? >It’s not clear whether anyone has actually ever used a homemade EpiPencil to prev…

Agreed that the article is a little too flattering to his ego, but what about people desperate for medical aid, can't afford it, and would probably end up with pain/death without this as an alternative? What should they do?

Re: An anarchist takes on Big Pharma by teaching patients to make their own meds

#20

Post by eeZah7Ux »

fhood wrote: post #18
jchanimal wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“”” Noam Chomsky: Well, anarchism is, in my view, basically a kind of tendency in human thought which shows up in different forms in different circumstances, and has some leading characteristics. Primarily it is a tendency that is suspicious and skeptical of domination, authority, and hierarchy. It seeks structures of hierarchy and domination in human life over the whole range, extending from, say, patriarchal famili…

Thanks, that was an excellent answer.

Erich Fromm's quote about rational VS irrational authority is helpful: http://fromm-online.org/en/autoritaet/
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