Yep. And I agree with that original intent. I'm sorry if you failed to
understand that is my point of view.

I think that corporations have misused patent law and utterly
distorted it. Henry Ford, prick though he was in many ways, had
patents on cars: they didn't cost a lot once economies of scale ramped
up. Soft drink vendors have trademark recipes, though why anyone would
care--but the garbage they sell is inexpensive.

Pharma uses its power and the threat of ending research to jack up
prices higher and higher, while hiding behind patent law in a gross
distortion of its original intent. A prime example is Abbott's recent
breathtakingly murderous increase in the price of ritonavir for no
legitimate reason than sheer greed and to force people to use Kaletra.

Billions??? LOL...horseshit. You just make this crap up to support
your trollery!

Anyway,  yes, it often IS a team effort. One that is NOT just coming
from companies per se, but often from university labs. You should
check out the history--and litigation--around the discovery of
stavudine as a lovely case in point. Very often, pharma expends little
in the way of R&D.

And to the extent they bother too, they then slap patents on every
little process, discovery, diagnostic, tool and so forth to the point
where the dense thicket of patents is actually INHIBITING research as
ever-increasing licensing fees are sought for every aspect of
research.

LOL...a team effort! Wow! Sounds like neo-Marxism!!

The idea of paying back on the research is also belied by your naive
and utterly unnuanced view of drug development. Another excellent
resource is K. Greider's The Big Fix: How The Pharmaceutical Industry
Rips off American Consumers. This underscores how they vastly inflate
costs of trials in order to lamely justify killer pricing schemes that
are having an affect on the "team" of U.S. citizens by horribly
destabilizing the pathwork,miserable mess they call "healthcare" which
results in vastly increased premiums, FEWER new inventions (while they
also wait for patents to expire before changing the formula to extend
the patent life), increased co-pays and more people rushing off to
Canada to get drugs that the big companies are beginning to shut off.

What we should HAVE is a control on the industry that is out of
control in the form of PRICE CONTROLS.

Bravo!

Damn right, dude. Indeed, check out your lovely Bush administration
Medicare act--golly, based on lies to boot.

Well, this is so full of sh.t that it hardly bears comment. Waving
around the threat of "Marxism" is remarkably lame and utterly
irrelevant. What many of us are suggesting is that there are many ways
to address the distortions in the market place created by pharma (and
its purchase of government votes).

First, the pernicious notion and "colonization of the mind" that you
reflect here is the hostage mentality that pharma has successfully
foisted on people globally. It goes something like this:

"If you don't pay our prices, we'll not be able to 'afford' the
research. If you argue with our prices, we will stop making the drugs
available. If you interfere with our profits, you will die."

And that simple, ugly message of the hostage takers has completely
warped the PRIMARY reason I think most folks go into healthcare. To
find ways to ease other people's suffering. THIS is the motivation
that should be fostered and encouraged. THIS motivation allows more
open and honest SCIENCE to be conducted, not sullied by data dredging
maniacs that turn clinical science into a vile marketing tool.

And guess what? That primary motivation of helping others can be amply
rewarded. The amounts that pharma is generating is at the cost of
millions of lives the world over. Where diseases remain
uninvestigated, access to generics is blocked.

What is needed is a comprehensive solution that reins in these worst
excesses. I'm not like a knee-jerk repugnican that says, gee if a
social net has a tear, let's throw it out. I believe that these extant
systems can be corrected. But there has to be the political will to do
so. Which I know full well won't come from the likes of people like
you! That's fine. It's supposedly still a plurality in the United
States.

See below for another resource.

        George M. Carter

***

"Me Too!", a chapter from the new book _The $800 Million Pill: The
Truth behind the Cost of New Drugs_, by Merrill Goozner, is online at

http://go.ucpress.edu/metoo

"This book does for drugs what _Fast Food Nation_ did for fast food,
peeling back the layers of science, clever accounting, and hype to
expose the dark side of the nation's most profitable industry."-<I>The
Washington Monthly</I>.

To read the chapter or view more information about the book, visit
http://go.ucpress.edu/metoo

--

Americans have never been known for finesse.

B/

Yeah, and Americans top-post like total re-dorks too.

More to the pointless, off-topic point.

Operation Ivy

Ivy King
Test:    King
Time:    23:30 15 November 1952 (GMT)
.       11:30 16 November 1952 (local)
Location: Runit ("Yvonne") Island, Enewetak Atoll
Test Height and Type: 1480 Foot Airburst
Yield:    500 kt

The device detonated in the King ("k" for "kiloton") test was dropped
by a B-36H bomber flying out of Kwajalein Island. The detonation
occured 20 feet lower than planned, with a circular bombing error of
570 feet +/- 35 feet. While perhaps not the largest deliverable
fission bomb possible at the time, it was certainly pushing close to
the practical limit.

--------------------------------------------------

See Ivy Mike was the H-bomb while just in case it didn't work Ivy King
was being developed as the ultimate A-bomb.

Just for the hell of it, I'll put in some on-topic news:

Senators ask FTC official to testify at Norvir hearing

Eight Democratic senators this week wrote to National Institutes of
Health director Elias Zerhouni to ask the Federal Trade Commission to
send a representative to an upcoming hearing on the possible
production of a generic version of the HIV protease inhibitor Norvir,
The Wall Street Journal reports. In December Abbott Laboratories
raised the price of Norvir by more than 400%, from about $54 per month
to $265 per month. Norvir is commonly used to boost the effects of
other protease inhibitors and is one of the most commonly prescribed
anti-HIV medications. Essential Innovations, a nonprofit consumer
advocacy group, is requesting a license to produce a generic version
of patented Norvir because the organization claims Norvir is subject
to a law that allows drugmakers to make generic copies of patented
drugs that were developed wholly or partially with taxpayer dollars.
The letter calls for an FTC representative to discuss "competitive
issues" raised by Norvir's price increase. FTC officials declined to
comment on the request. Three state attorneys general are
investigating the price increase, and Abbott is facing several
lawsuits in state and federal courts over the price increase.

--------------------------------------------

AHF Applauds Bill Lockyer for Actions Against Abbott, Others on
Prescription Drug Pricing
Monday May 10, 3:39 pm ET
Nation's Largest AIDS Group Salutes California AG's Legal Efforts to
Increase the Availability of Affordable, Safe Medicines in the U.S.

# LOS ANGELES, May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation
(AHF), the US' largest AIDS organization with clinics in the US,
Africa and Central America, today applauded California Attorney
General Bill Lockyer for his ongoing efforts to try and reign in
runaway prescription drug pricing in California and the US. In an
op-ed piece by Lockyer in today's San Francisco Chronicle, the
attorney general reiterated his intentions to "work with legislators
to achieve our common goal: increasing the availability of affordable,
safe medicine.

"Over the past several years, Mr. Lockyer has shown real leadership on
the issue of prescription drug pricing and availability here in the
US," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
"Last week, he joined together with 19 other attorneys general to
press Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to take
immediate and specific steps to allow the 'safe importation of
prescription drugs.' He recently opened an investigation into Abbott
over its recent 400% price hike on the AIDS drug Norvir, and he has
joined a multistate investigation of possible collusion by drug
companies to limit the supply of drugs to Canada. As drug prices
continue an out-of-control spiral upward, we salute Lockyer for being
unafraid to use the power of his office and speak out against
wrongdoing by the powerful pharmaceutical industry."

Lockyer's office sued Abbott Laboratories and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
for defrauding California's Medi-Cal program of millions of dollars on
drug purchases. He has also been vigilant in pursuit of price-fixing
and other anti-competitive behavior by pharmaceutical companies, and
has vowed to work with California lawmakers who are considering a
group of bills that would legalize and streamline the importation of
prescription drugs from Canada.

neat, lots of answers to Dia-blow's question.

First artificial satellite of the Earth (Sputnik 1, 1957)

First animal in space (Sputnik 2, 1957)

First spacecraft to escape Earth's gravity (Luna 1, 1959)

First artificial planet of the Sun (Luna 1, 1959)

First spacecraft to impact another world (Luna 2, 1959)

First spacecraft to photograph the far side on the Moon (Luna 3, 1959)

First human in space (Vostok 1, 1961)

First human to orbit the Earth (Vostok 1, 1961)

First spacecraft to fly to other planets (Venera 1, 1961, Mars 1, 1962)

First woman in space (Vostok 6, 1963)

First multiperson space mission (Voskhod 1, 1964)

First spacewalk (Voskhod 2, 1965)

First entry into the atmosphere of another planet (Venera 3, 1966)

First spacecraft to orbit another world (Luna 9, 1966)

First robotic mission to return a sample from another world (Luna 16, 1970)

First roving vehicle on another world (Luna 17, 1970)

First soft landing on another planet (Mars 3, 1971)

First scientifically successful landing on another planet (Venera 15, 1983)

Then longest duration spaceflight, three cosmonauts for 237 days (Salyut 7, 1984)

First balloon payload to another world (Vega 1, 1985)

First cometary encounter (Vega 1, 1986)

First permanently inhabited spacestation (Mir, 1986)