Biopharmaceuticals, Financialization & Nationalism in the Age of COVID-19
Document Type
Editorial
Publication Date
2021
Keywords
Biopharmaceuticals, Pharmaceutical Industry, COVID-19 Treatments, Canada
Abstract
Touting it as Canada’s contribution to the global fight against SARS-CoV-2, last November the federal government bought US$32.5 million worth of bamlanivimab, a COVID-19 therapeutic. With only weak evidence of effectiveness, the therapeutic has been a “flop” thus far, raising the question of whether securing access to an effective treatment against COVID-19 was really the objective driving its development.
A deeper look into the deals and decisions suggests otherwise, illustrating the financialized state of drug development as well as the systemic failure of the nation-state, through publicly funded institutions, to counter that reality even at the height of COVID-19.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Matthew Herder, "Biopharmaceuticals, Financialization & Nationalism in the Age of COVID-19", Opinion Editorial, Healthy Debate (9 March 2021) online: < healthydebate.ca > [perma.cc/M4NG-9FKM].
