Be interested in what I'm missing here but removing the need for a partnership while your proposition is being de risked seems like a legitimate strategy.
To be honest I think you are missing something here. So to could be the posters on these threads who are of the opinion Imugene can continue to fly solo. The pharmaceutical industry, in my opinion, won’t allow that to happen. Big Pharma as it is often referred, had worldwide sales of more than $1,228.45 billion in 2020 (46% from North America). In a US Congress of 100 senators and 435 members of the House, the pharmaceutical industry has more than 1,800 well-paid lobbyists on Capitol Hill. The most recent study estimated that the median cost of getting a new drug to market was $985 million, and the average cost was $1.3 billion. Not many small biotechs, Imugene included, have this amount of coin to throw around on drug development. Even if they did, as may be the situation with Imugene’s azer cel and Vaxinia, Big Pharma shall still control supply, pricing and the ultimate recipients of their drugs. Big Pharma control supply at every turn, restricting copy cat drugs, extending product patents and even filing multiple patents on a single drug, making it difficult or impossible for generic versions of the drug to be developed and sold. These endeavours result in sky-high prices for essential medications, making them unaffordable for many people who need them. Its estimated two billion people worldwide are unable to access essential medicines and healthcare services as Big Pharma’s drugs are often just too expensive.
How do Big Pharma price their drugs? They do talk to insurance companies, but in essence they just figure out what people are prepared to pay for them.That’s the rationale that’s believed to have led to the $84,000 price tag Gilead Sciences put on a bottle of Sovaldi, the drug that can cure hepatitis C in most cases. dailyjstor.org notes given that new drugs receive 20 years of patent protection and 5-7 years of exclusivity, the only factor determining the price of new drugs is the ability of the market to bear it. Moreover, the US government is prohibited by law from negotiating drug prices on behalf of Medicare, Medicaid, and pension schemes, and foreign companies may not import drugs. As a result, they note, there have been several cases of pharmaceutical entrepreneurs buying drug patents and then increasing their price dramatically. Martin Shkreli obtained a license to produce antiparasitic drug Daraprim, and increased its price 56 times to $750 per pill.
Unfortunately its not a level playing field here. No matter how good Imugene’s drugs are, they are at the mercy of Big Pharma. Big Pharma are going to pay whatever it takes to acquire them, control supply and elevate prices. Its simply the way the system works. They justify it by continually honing in on research to gauge which specific indications are in most need of their drugs, through pre screening and extensive individual data. With research data in hand they then traverse the public landscape in search of hospitals, physicians and pharmacists, who they already have on their books, enticing them to sell their drugs. Paying them a pittance in return for their customers, I might add. Its simply the way the system works. Imugene is a mere pawn in the overall scheme of things. Great products, maybe, FDA approval, probably, but that’s as far as it goes for Imugene. Don’t expect them to be manufacturing and marketing any time soon. Big Pharma simply won’t allow it. Its not in their road map. The best Imugene can hope for is a partnership.
You are correct in suggesting it may be prudent for Imugene to de risk and prolong the inevitable. But from where I sit, its just a matter of time. Its simply the way the system works.
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