Big Pharma wants us to be ill because our sickened misery means an increase for their bottomline. Now that Ebola has reached the first world, companies and stockholders view the disease as potential big business, writes Giles Fraser of The Guardian.
Fraser points to drug giant GlaxoSmithKline’s lax approach to developing a vaccine for Ebola, which was discovered back in 1976. Fraser believes the answer to Glaxo’s slacking lies within current stock market trends. Canadian drug firm Tekmira Pharmaceuticals is thought to be leading in Ebola research, and when the Ebola scare gained traction, company shares increased 180 percent. Most share-price action came when Ebola got to Europe and America.
No major drug company has made efforts to develop an Ebola vaccine since the disease was first discovered nearly 40 years ago. Those usually affected by the disease, mostly found in poor, underdeveloped countries, weren’t seen as a solid customer base for a vaccine.
However, only when Ebola lands in first world countries do the stock prices skyrocket and drug companies pay more attention, asserts Fraser. Now that there’s a danger of affluent people getting sick, the companies have incentive.
“What business case is there for developing drugs to save the lives of poor Africans when they don’t have the money to pay for them?” writes Fraser. “Especially when there is so much more profit to be had in – for instance – giving rich white men erections.”
Companies don’t want to cure Ebola, but they sure as hell wanted to use it for war. Russia was rumored to have created an aerosol Ebola spray. Since there’s alway money in war, companies will profit off of that instead of encouraging human well-being.
What’s worse, the media had gotten into a frenzy over one single American contracting the Ebola virus that people were panicking to the point of closing schools. The drug companies love it, though. As long as people think they are sick or will get sick, the drug companies will profit.
