By Natalie Rahhal For Dailymail. As the flu pandemic is killing and sickening scores of Americans, Big Pharma companies’ profits are soaring. The flu is costing Americans their lives and the country billions in productivity, but Big Pharma is raking in profits on cheap-to-make flu drugs and vaccines. Vaccine-makers are monfy millions in the last few months. The largest out of those five companies, Sanofi Pasteur and GlaxoSmithKline made some very serious bucks on their vaccines inespecially in the fourth financial quarter of the year, as the flu was really ramping up in the US. GlaxoSmithKline GSK saw an 18 percent increase in its vaccine sales over the course of the year, but the business grew by 76 percent in the last quarter of the year. Pharmacies mark up already-over-priced medicines. Stock prices for CVS spiked in January as stores faced vaccine shortages. This has been a banner maie for pharmacy companies like international retailer CVS.
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Getting your flu shot seems exceedingly simple. But the path to its existence is anything but: Your vaccine may go through several countries and a chicken egg before it gets to your arm, all in a six-month race to be ready for influenza season. That time of year is upon us, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said manufacturers are distributing more flu vaccine in the U. That’s up from Tom Frieden said at a news conference last month. The market’s been growing along with a public health push for vaccination; rates in the U. That’s even as the vaccine proves to be just about 50 to 60 percent effective most years; still, public health experts emphasize flu can be a serious illness, and the vaccine cuts down on infections and complications. Each year, millions of people get flu, more than , Americans are hospitalized with complications, and the virus kills thousands of people. Now, an estimated 44 percent of American adults get vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among kids, the rate is even higher, at 59 percent. There are a few major makers of the vaccine in the U. And competition can be fierce — which is why that six-month manufacturing window is so crucial.
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Flu vaccines are unique because they change every year based on which strains are in heaviest circulation, making the process more complicated and imposing a time crunch on manufacturing. Last year’s vaccine wasn’t as well matched to the strain that turned out to be heaviest in circulation, making that vaccine much less effective.
Big Pharma is thriving off the flu: Business is booming as thousands Americans die each WEEK from this year’s historic pandemic
The effectiveness of the vaccine depends on the strains used and whether those specific strains are active during that particular flu season. The flu vaccine is created using specific strains of the flu virus. Usually, several flu strains are combined in varying amounts in an attempt to provide increased protection from several flu viruses. A new vaccine is made each year using different strains of the virus. The specific viral strains in the vaccine are chosen based on how active the stains are expected to be during the upcoming year. This guessing game means that the shot provides virtually no protection again the flu if Big Pharma guesses the active viruses incorrectly. As a result, the initial vaccine was ineffective, resulting in a staggering number of flu cases reported by people who were vaccinated. In fact, the effectiveness of the flu vaccine is both questionable and controversial, even when the strains in the vaccine match the active strains. This mean that when you, or anyone else, gets a flu shot, there is only a 30 percent chance that the vaccine is going to prevent the virus. During the flu season, the flu shot has an estimated effectiveness of only 10 percent. According to Big Pharma, the flu shot is so ineffective only because it was made with the wrong strains. The flu is largely caused by the H3N2 virus, a virus that is noted for causing severe symptoms. The severe symptoms of H3N2 may contribute to the overall response of both citizens and Big Pharma.
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Business Insider January 24, Danielle Ogilve. Low and behold, I am down for the count with the flu. But as the vaccination rates increase or decrease, childhood asthma, diabetes, and autism rates increase regardless.
The fickle flu virus
This is largely a preventable problem. Some reporter at the LA Times seemed to think that cost might be a factor Why does a flu shot cost so much? However, as the reporter found out, given the supply chain challenges of producing and distributing influenza vaccines, the real question is why flu shots cost so little.
The influenza vaccine must be made anew each year, beginning in February. Researchers determine what strains to put in the vaccine after looking closely at what types of flu are most prevalent in the Southern Hemisphere throughout compwnies winter, which is our summer.
Influenza vaccines are really only used September through January and then go in the trash. This year, companies have produced about million doses, he said. Only about million have been distributed. Last year, companies lost even more on the flu vaccine because it was such a light flu season and fewer people decided to get the shot.
So vaccine makers face a newsvendor problem — a dhot inventory model in which excess demand is lost while excess inventory is useless. It is worth noting that comparing the price of a flu shot to other vaccines is a little unfair. Many vaccines provide protection for many years or even a life time. A flu shot will only get you through this winter. They have their own inventory problem to manage at each location. There is the further complication of managing the capacity to sgot the shots.
That capacity could be sitting around under-utilized much of the day. Said another moneg, the personnel cost of administering shots through shof outlets as opposed to a county health department run clinic at a senior center is possibly night and day. The county might have to send four or five people to the senior center but moneyy are going to be very busy.
Your local Walgreens might have mke one person handling vaccines but they might not give a single flu shot today. IndeedI suspect that they are in the grand scheme of things a companiez cost-effective way of distributing mwke. Yes, large clinics would have lower labor costs per vaccine administered if they can draw a big crowd.
But drawing a big crowd means relatively few locations and likely long waits. Pharmacies provide greater convenience in both travel time and waiting at what in the grand scheme of things is a reasonable price. More From Business Insider. No matching results for ». Tip: Try a valid symbol or a specific company name for relevant results. Finance Home. Markets open in 30 mins. Marty Lariviere. Business Insider January 24, Recently Viewed Your list is. What to Read Next. Yahoo Finance UK.
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Where to Get a Free Flu Shot
Latest Issue. Past Issues. By now, the numbers on the recent U. InAmerica had more than cases of measles—the highest number in 20 years.
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In the month of January alone, 84 people in 14 states reported having measles, with most cases linked to an mohey at Disneyland. The reason for the resurgence? More and more people are opting to not vaccinate their kids. While the main fixation of anti-vaccine companiies is an old, discredited study linking vaccination to autism do companies make money off flu shot, another is a conspiracy theory circulated online that both doctors and pharmaceutical companies stand to profit financially from vaccination—which supposedly leads to perverse incentives in advocating for the public to vaccinate. But that argument is historically unfounded. Not only do pediatricians and doctors often cmpanies money on vaccine administrationit wasn’t too long ago that the vaccine industry was struggling with slim profit margins and shortages. The Economist wrote that «for decades vaccines were a neglected corner of the drugs business, with old technology, little investment and abysmal profit margins. Makr firms sold their vaccine divisions to concentrate on more profitable drugs.
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