Hi,

Big Pharma companies are already trying to profit from drugs to treat or
prevent coronavirus infection -- and we need your help to stop them.

Last week Gilead Sciences was caught attempting to get exclusive rights to
one drug that has shown promise in treating covid-19. Under intense public
pressure they backed off, but they still have the ability to raise the
price high and gouge everyone for desperately needed medicine -- just like
they have with insulin.^1

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition: Stop Big Pharma from getting rich from and gouging
the public for coronavirus medicine!

The Intercept discovered that Gilead had applied for, and the FDA had
given them, exclusive marketing rights for remdesivir, an anti-viral drug
that early studies have shown may help fight covid-19.

That means Gilead could have had a monopoly on an essential drug in the
fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Even now that they've backed off
on the exclusive rights, they still can charge a huge sum for the drug.

But there's a solution, one that the federal government regularly used in
the 1960s and 1970s. Under a federal law known as Section 1498, the
government can override a patent at any time as long as the company
receives "reasonable compensation."

This gives the government critical leverage to negotiate lower prices. And
the government could even start producing lifesaving treatments itself
under the Defense Production Act.

Will you help use that leverage to save lives and stop Big Pharma from
gouging people?

[ [link removed] ]Add your name now: Stop Big Pharma from getting rich from and gouging
the public for coronavirus medicine!

Thanks for taking action,

Robert and the team at Demand Progress

 

[ [link removed] ]DONATE

Sources:
1. The Intercept, "Gildead Sciences Backs Off Monopoly Claim for Promising
Coronavirus Drug," [ [link removed] ]March 25, 2020.
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