Word: azt
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Burroughs Wellcome refuses to disclose its profit on AZT, but industry analysts believe it could range from a low of $25 million to a high of $100 million on this year's sales of $200 million. When the costs of overhead and continuing research are factored in, "the average operating profit from all the sales of Burroughs Wellcome is 20%. Though they have a 30% operating profit margin on AZT, it's still within the bounds of the pharmaceutical industry," says Jo Walton, who follows the industry for Shearson Lehman Hutton in London...
Critics argue, however, that AZT should not be subject to the usual practices of the pharmaceutical industry. The drug was first synthesized in 1964 by a Government-funded scientist in Michigan who was searching for a cancer treatment. Although that application never panned out, investigators at the National Cancer Institute, along with scientists from Burroughs Wellcome, discovered in 1984 that the drug blocks the AIDS virus from reproducing. By some estimates, the help provided by the Government scientists eventually allowed Burroughs to hold its development costs to less than $100 million, in contrast to $125 million for the average drug...
...manufacturing AZT, in part because of the colossal expense of producing a drug that would be helpful only to a relatively small group of people. Scientists believed at the time that AZT would be effective only for those suffering from full-blown AIDS, and they were confident that more effective AIDS drugs would soon supplant AZT. As a result, the Government invoked the Orphan Drug Act, a law passed in 1983 to give pharmaceuticals makers financial incentives to develop treatments for rare diseases. The law allowed the Government to give Burroughs Wellcome an exclusive seven-year license, to commence when...
...part, Burroughs Wellcome made some crucial breakthroughs in developing AZT. The company designed and executed a six-step manufacturing process to convert a key ingredient, thymidine, a biological chemical first harvested from herring sperm, into AZT. Contends company spokeswoman Kathy Bartlett: "We're the ones who turned this useless chemical into useful medicine...
Even if Burroughs refuses to reduce its price further, some patients may begin paying less for AZT treatment. Doctors are discovering that combining the potent antiviral drug with such other formulas as interferon (an immune- system booster) or probenecid (an antigout drug) lowers the dose of AZT necessary for effective treatment. In addition, people who are infected with the AIDS virus but show no symptoms need only about half the full-strength dose to slow the course of the disease...