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Hedge fund manager stands to profit on 'flip' of taxpayer-funded coronavirus drug
Source: Washington Post
Hedge fund manager stands to profit on ‘flip’ of taxpayer-funded coronavirus drug
Emory University’s coronavirus pill EIDD-2801 highlights financial speculation on drugs developed with public investment
By Christopher Rowland
6/11/2020, 7:21:31 p.m.
Ridgeback Biotherapeutics had no laboratories, no manufacturing facility of its own and a minimal track record when it struck a deal in March with Emory University to license an experimental coronavirus pill invented by university researchers with $16 million in grants from U.S. taxpayers.
But what the tiny Miami company did have was a willingness from its wealthy owners — hedge fund manager Wayne Holman and his wife, Wendy — to place a bet on the treatment in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. That wager paid off with extraordinary speed in May when, just two months after acquiring the antiviral therapy called EIDD-2801 from Emory, Ridgeback sold exclusive worldwide rights to drug giant Merck.
The rapid turnaround of rights to a publicly financed drug highlights the frenzy of financial speculation that has accompanied the spread of the coronavirus around the world. Congress and the Trump administration have authorized more than $7 billion for research and industry subsidies in a desperate hunt for therapies and vaccines.
The perception that companies are profiteering during a global medical crisis — especially in cases where inventions were funded by taxpayers — poses political dangers to the pharmaceutical industry.
Demands are increasing in Congress and around the world that drug companies set affordable prices on coronavirus treatments and vaccines and distribute them equitably. Yet the role of middlemen like Ridgeback puts pressure on companies to increase prices, by adding extra costs. It also raises questions about who is financially benefiting by securing monopoly licensing rights to publicly financed inventions.
-snip-
Emory University’s coronavirus pill EIDD-2801 highlights financial speculation on drugs developed with public investment
By Christopher Rowland
6/11/2020, 7:21:31 p.m.
Ridgeback Biotherapeutics had no laboratories, no manufacturing facility of its own and a minimal track record when it struck a deal in March with Emory University to license an experimental coronavirus pill invented by university researchers with $16 million in grants from U.S. taxpayers.
But what the tiny Miami company did have was a willingness from its wealthy owners — hedge fund manager Wayne Holman and his wife, Wendy — to place a bet on the treatment in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. That wager paid off with extraordinary speed in May when, just two months after acquiring the antiviral therapy called EIDD-2801 from Emory, Ridgeback sold exclusive worldwide rights to drug giant Merck.
The rapid turnaround of rights to a publicly financed drug highlights the frenzy of financial speculation that has accompanied the spread of the coronavirus around the world. Congress and the Trump administration have authorized more than $7 billion for research and industry subsidies in a desperate hunt for therapies and vaccines.
The perception that companies are profiteering during a global medical crisis — especially in cases where inventions were funded by taxpayers — poses political dangers to the pharmaceutical industry.
Demands are increasing in Congress and around the world that drug companies set affordable prices on coronavirus treatments and vaccines and distribute them equitably. Yet the role of middlemen like Ridgeback puts pressure on companies to increase prices, by adding extra costs. It also raises questions about who is financially benefiting by securing monopoly licensing rights to publicly financed inventions.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/11/coronavirus-drug-ridgeback-biotherapeutics/