Clustertrump re-inventing the wheel with this COVID-19 Rx award

[underpants]

Trump to Tap New Company to Make Covid-19 Drugs in the U.S.


The Trump administration on Tuesday will announce one of the largest-ever contracts to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing from abroad to a new plant in Virginia.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will announce on Tuesday that it has signed a $354 million four-year contract with a new company in Richmond, Va., to manufacture generic medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients that are needed to treat Covid-19 but are now made overseas, mostly in India and China.

The contract, awarded to Phlow Corp. by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, meshes President Trump’s “America First” economic promises with concerns that coronavirus treatments be manufactured in the United States. It may be extended for a total of $812 million over 10 years, making it one of the largest awards in the authority’s history.

It was unclear why the administration decided to award such a large contract to a new company when an entire industry exists — known as contract manufacturing — that makes drugs for other companies. However, manufacturers that operate in the United States generally make finished products using raw ingredients imported from elsewhere. They do not make the raw ingredients.

Background on Phlow and it’s founder at link.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-drug-manufacturing.html

[flying_wahini]

1. Wait, let me guess. He and his family will make Lots of $$ from this. Am I right?

[Hugin]

2. Gee, wasn't Dr Bright in charge of this agency until a week or so ago? n/t

[crickets]

3. Intentional waste and grift, again.

No one this man hires actually produces anything. There will be lots of money floating around and into certain pockets, but no worthwhile final product. All show, no results. It's just another expensive nothing burger.

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. Having raw ingredients made in US can allow for better quality control

That said, I don’t doubt there is an element of grift involved.

[hedda_foil]

5. More ...

Dr. Edwards is also a founder of the pharmaceutical company Kaléo, which he created along with his twin brother, Evan Edwards, to sell the Auvi-Q, a competitor to the EpiPen, the emergency allergy treatment. The Auvi-Q, a talking auto-injectable pen, hit the market in 2013 as part of a partnership with the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, but Dr. Edwards’s company soon ran into roadblocks.

In 2015, the Auvi-Q was recalled after it turned out the product might not have been delivering the proper dosage of epinephrine, the medicine used to stop a dangerous allergic reaction. In 2016, Sanofi ended its relationship with Kaléo and returned the licensing rights. Kaléo relaunched the improved Auvi-Q in 2017.

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In 2016, Kaléo ran into a separate controversy with its other product, Evzio, which was similar to the Auvi-Q but delivered an injection of naloxone, which can stop a drug overdose. That year, Kaléo quintupled the price of Evzio, prompting letters from members from Congress who wanted to know why the company had raised the price in the middle of an opioid epidemic. (The company said it did so to cover the cost of a patient assistance program that lowered the out-of-pocket costs for people who could not afford it.)

A spokesman for Phlow said Monday night that “Dr. Edwards departed Kaléo on good terms over one year ago and had no oversight of drug pricing during the end of his tenure.”

[underpants]

6. Thanks.

The background is important

[Historic NY]

7. Really like there were no companies in the US making drug compounds...

that some ingredients are sourced outside the country. Full Stop..... If the ingredients are sourced from resources we don't have here, how is this company going to make them? Magic

China has to get the ingredients somewhere ?


[link:https://reason.com/2020/04/06/why-you-shouldnt-trust-anyone-who-claims-80-percent-of-americas-drugs-come-from-china/|]