“Vaccine efficacy is typically proved by large clinical trials over several
years. The pharmaceutical companies intend to do trials ranging from thirty thousand to sixty thousand participants. This scale of study would be sufficient for testing vaccine efficacy. The first surprise found upon a closer reading of the protocols reveals that each study intends to complete interim and primary analyses that at most include 164 participants. “
“For Moderna, the initial interim analysis will be based on the results of infection of only 53 people. “
“Johnson & Johnson is the only trial that requires the inclusion of severe Covid-19 cases, at least 5 for the 75 participant interim analysis.”
Our corrupt to the core kleptocracy is not going to protect your health. Especially under Donald Trump, who has gone to war with government oversight of hazardous industry practices.
Pence was behind the rape and gouging of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. That’s who these scumbags are, and they have elaborate plans to radically alter society as soon as Trump’s malfeasance pays off with real-world disasters.
An agreement that would free companies engaged in international trade from rules imposed by national governments to protect labor, environmental and other interests has cleared a key committee in the U.S. Congress.
Betrayer in Chief makes this crap his big policy legacy. Fucking piece of shit. I never voted for his sorry ass, and I am sickened by the fascistic turn this country has taken.
The former Monsanto boss said government regulatory agencies with which the company used to deal with in the 1980s simply depended on data supplied by the company while giving approvals to herbicides.
Monsanto has been committing fraud around the globe, according to former managing director of Monsanto India, Tiruvadi Jagadisan.
“The Central Insecticide Board was supposed to give these approvals based on the location and crop-specific data from India. But it simply accepted foreign data supplied by Monsanto. They did not even have a test tube to validate the data and, at times, the data itself was faked,” Jagadisan said.
“I retired from the company as I felt the management of Monsanto, USA, was exploiting our country,” Jagadisan, 84, said from his home in Bangalore.
“The main reason some multinationals prefer GM technologies over the many alternatives is that GM offers more lucrative ways to control intellectual property and global supply chains. To sideline open discussion of these issues, related interests are now trying to deny the many uncertainties and suppress scientific diversity. This undermines democratic debate – and science itself.” (see here)
This film won Matthew McConaughey the Oscar for best performance. The story is trueish, and concerns an eye-opening tale of a corrupt, rigged federal drug approval system.
But the actions on screen are about a Texas rodeo rider / oil rig electrician who finds out one day that he has AIDS. Ron Woodroof is an unlikable, homophobic jerk. His life consists of drugs, hookers and boozin’ with his crew. The news that he has been infected is such a shocker and a wake-up call that he literally doesn’t believe it for a while. When doctors give him 30 days to live, he suddenly has a mission and a purpose.
From here Ron enters the early days of HIV treatment, when doctors, drug companies, the feds and the desperate, dying patients of the world don’t know what works or what doesn’t. What’s been approved, AZT, has so many side effects that it could be said to help kill off the patients it purports to help. When Ron is unable to get this, the only treatment known, he heads down to Mexico to make it happen. That’s when his eyes are truly opened.
A doctor in a Mexican clinic has an assortment of other drugs, better drugs from around the world that are not approved in the US. Suddenly the opportunities are clear, and this is life or death.
Ron goes into business, a drug/supplement/treatment channel that would come to be known as the Dallas Buyer’s Club.
This serious drama touches many nerves, including homophobia, our shared humanity, corruption, the control of medicine, freedom and medical necessity. The entire story of AIDS is interwoven in the background, as one take no prisoners cowboy will not hear “no.” Ron ends up in Japan, in Europe, Israel, anywhere there is promise of a cure.
What’s more, the story presents Ron and his Mexican doctor as being on the forefront of understanding the disease, miles ahead of regulators and bureaucrats. Even doctors are shown as compromised and corrupted by the money changers.
How true the science is, one cannot say without more research. The drive and determination of the character, however, are done well enough to take that Oscar home. This is a character driven film, and Ron Woodroof shed his old self in pursuit of a better life where he made a difference in the world. The supporting cast are fantastic, believable and provide the humor and charm along the way.
Definitely a must-see.
4.5 / 5
PS
McConaughey and Jared Leto are in this actor’s roundtable:
