| The drug industry takes a lot of heat: high prices for brand name drugs, quality problems with low-cost generic heart pills, manipulated data for a breakthrough gene therapy. But this week, the U.S. government announced that a biotechnology company, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, had developed a highly effective treatment for Ebola. For patients who get it early enough, more than 90% of them lived. Merck, the New Jersey drug giant, is also producing what appears to be an effective vaccine to prevent the virus—a crucial protection for health workers and at-risk populations. As a disease, Ebola is the stuff of horror films: it sends organs into failure while the body hemorrhages toward death. As a moneymaker for drug companies, it likely won't be much to speak of. It affects the poorest parts of the world, places that won't be paying blockbuster prices for a breakthrough medicine, even one that saves lives. The greatest beneficiary of a drug and vaccine for Ebola is humanity, not a bottom line. The tension of chasing corporate profits and the science of saving lives isn't going away. But the industry appears to have made substantial progress against one of the world's worst diseases. That's worth remembering—by the industry's critics, and by its leaders.
—Drew Armstrong Here's what else we're watching: Obstruction probe. Congressional Democrats are looking into whether Mylan, Teva and other generic drugmakers coordinated to stall inquiries into price-fixing, after Bloomberg reported that a U.S. investigation stalled. Canada conundrum. President Trump wants to import cheaper drugs from Canada. There's a problem with that: Drugmakers, the very industry under attack from the policy, would have to cooperate to make it happen. DNA doubts. The FDA is looking anew at a test made by Myriad Genetics that uses DNA to match patients with antidepressant drugs. The company said it can't predict the outcome, causing its shares to drop. Swine squeeze. The worsening global outbreak of African swine fever is taking its toll on animal-health companies. Elanco this week reined in its sales outlook after China culled millions of ailing animals. Listen up. Season two of our podcast explored what happens when we hand over our health data to companies and governments. Download it here on Apple devices, and here on Android.  Got this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up to get it every Thursday by clicking here.
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