In 2004, Gilead Sciences decided to stop pursuing a new H.I.V. drug. The public explanation was that it wasn’t sufficiently different from an existing treatment to warrant further development.
In private, though, something else was at play. Gilead had devised a plan to delay the new drug’s release to maximize profits, even though executives had reason to believe it might turn out to be safer for patients, according to a trove of internal documents made public in litigation against the company.
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Gilead ended up introducing a version of the new treatment in 2015, nearly a decade after it might have become available if the company had not paused development in 2004. Its patents now extend until at least 2031.
"Product hopping" is their term for basiclly maximizing profits at the expense of people's health and well-being.
In that regard, they are no different from the tobacco companies and the fossil fuel companies.
If you take anything away from this, it should be that all corporations are psychopathic and, unlike human pyschopaths, corporations are not really restrained by societal norms and the law.
It takes care of the shareholders and IT OWNS DA LIBS!! I'll gladly die needlessly as long as IT OWNS DA LIBS
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