Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
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Re: Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
#2My first thought was how dangerous this is. Then after thinking some more, I was left questioning how a developed country can mess up so badly that some people feel this is their only option.
Re: Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
#3My first thought was how dangerous this is. Then after thinking some more, I was left questioning how a developed country can mess up so badly that some people feel this is their only option.
If you send your compounds off for proper testing it shouldn't be that dangerous, but that will increase the cost a few 100% most likely
Testing usually doesn't come cheap, but you also might be able to drop by a well equipped Chem department at a university for testing as well
Re: Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
#4My first thought was how dangerous this is. Then after thinking some more, I was left questioning how a developed country can mess up so badly that some people feel this is their only option.
Also, the article mentions an MIT professor's safety concerns, but, upon reflection, given the conditions some of these drugs are meant to treat, the error rate would have to be very high to make it worse than no treatment.
Re: Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
#5Not an Anachist but I wonder how much of the danger here is due to the law. Ideally they would simply be selling the epipencils and doing testing etc but there is no way they would be able to do this. So instead the best they can do is create DIY kits.
I wonder how far they can legally push the DIY kit. Can they ship you supplies with the kit? Can they ship you expresso-like packs for your DIY machine?
Re: Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
#6This is pretty interesting, but skimming the article I didn't see any mention of lab testing the purity and quantity of drugs produced. There's a lot of fiery talk but how do we know that the results are usable?
Re: Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
#7> After a few minutes of gloating about pharma bro Martin Shkreli “rotting at Fort Dix” for raising the price of Daraprim, a lifesaving HIV medicine, from $13 to $750, Laufer grew serious. “It’s been two years, but despite everything that’s happened, the price of Daraprim hasn’t changed,” he said.
Shkreli went to jail for securities fraud- not raising the price of a drug. I think Shkreli was a convenient scapegoat for the pharmaceutical industry though. All the time and energy people spent angry at Shkreli was time spent not directing their anger at the industry that allowed it.
Re: Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
#8My first thought was how dangerous this is. Then after thinking some more, I was left questioning how a developed country can mess up so badly that some people feel this is their only option.
> I was left questioning how a developed country can mess up so badly that some people feel this is their only option.
Regulatory capture.
Re: Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
#9My first thought was how dangerous this is. Then after thinking some more, I was left questioning how a developed country can mess up so badly that some people feel this is their only option.
If you send your compounds off for proper testing it shouldn't be that dangerous, but that will increase the cost a few 100% most likely Testing usually doesn't come cheap, but you also might be able to drop by a well equipped Chem department at a university for testing as well
> If you send your compounds off for proper testing it shouldn't be that dangerous, but that will increase the cost a few 100% most likely
> Testing usually doesn't come cheap, but you also might be able to drop by a well equipped Chem department at a university for testing as well
I don't think it's that easy. Even if you successfully synthesize the right chemical, you also have to get dosage and delivery right (consistently!).
From the OP:
> In response, Four Thieves published the instructions for a DIY epipen online that can be made for $30 in off-the-shelf parts and reloaded for $3.
If I had to depend on an epipen to save my life, I don't think I'd want a DIY version that may not work when I need it (e.g. mechanism fails, storage stability issues, dosage issues, etc.). Sure I guess it's better than nothing, but it's also proof this clearly isn't the solution to the $600 epipen problem.
> Shkreli drove the price of the lifesaving HIV medicine Daraprim sells up to $750 per pill. So Four Thieves developed an open source portable chemistry lab that allows anyone to manufacture their own Daraprim for just 25 cents apiece.
The article calls Daraprim and "HIV medicine" throughout, but isn't that misleading? I thought it was an anti-parasitic (that may be used by HIV patients to treat secondary infections).
Re: Anarchists making their own medicine (2018)
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you send your compounds off for proper testing it shouldn't be that dangerous, but that will increase the cost a few 100% most likely Testing usually doesn't come cheap, but you also might be able to drop by a well equipped Chem department at a university for testing as well
> If you send your compounds off for proper testing it shouldn't be that dangerous, but that will increase the cost a few 100% most likely > Testing usually doesn't come cheap, but you also might be able to drop by a well equipped Chem department at a university for testing as well I don't think it's that easy. Even if you successfully synthesize the right chemical, you also have to get dosage and delivery right (con…
> If I had to depend on an epipen to save my life, I don't think I'd want a DIY version that may not work when I need it. Sure I guess it's better than nothing, but it's also proof this clearly isn't the solution to the $600 epipen problem.
DIY versions are normally more expensive than mass-produced equivalents. So either this DIY version has atrocious quality, or $600 is far too expensive. (Judging by the prices in normal countries, $600 is far too expensive!)