[FC-discuss] pharma & (non)-free culture

[Jonah Bossewitch]

Powerful op-ed on the intersection between free culture and the 
political economy underlying Big Pharma.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-hidden-truth-behind-drug-company-profits-1767257.html

"This is the story of one of the great unspoken scandals of our times. 
Today, the people across the world who most need life-saving medicine 
are being prevented from producing it. Here's the latest example: 
factories across the poor world are desperate to start producing their 
own cheaper Tamiflu to protect their populations – but they are being 
sternly told not to. Why? So rich drug companies can protect their 
patents – and profits. There is an alternative to this sick system, but
we are choosing to ignore it.

...

The idea of ring-fencing life-saving medical knowledge so a few people 
can profit from it is one of the great grotesqueries of our age. We have 
to tear down this sick system – so the sick can live. Only then we can 
globalise the spirit of Jonas Salk, the great scientist who invented the 
polio vaccine, but refused to patent it, saying simply: "It would be 
like patenting the sun."