Davos Man

by Peter S. Goodman

“This is an unconscionable abuse5 of a program designed to incentivize research and development of treatments for rare diseases,” declared a letter sent to O’Day from fifty-one consumer advocacy groups led by Public Citizen. “Calling COVID-19 a rare disease mocks people’s suffering and exploits a loophole in the law to profiteer off a deadly pandemic.” Taxpayers had already paid for the drug through “at least $60 million in grants6 and innumerable contributions from federal scientists,” Public Citizen noted. A broader study identified $6.5 billion’s worth7 of federally funded projects that had contributed to remdesivir. This was standard Davos Man operating procedure. The taxpayer had long served as the ultimate angel investor8 for blockbuster drugs. Between 2010 and 2019, the Food and Drug Administration approved 356 new drugs. Each was aided by public research, including $230 billion in grants from the National Institutes of Health.