Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Links — 5 Oct 2021

Sputnik International (inside story)
The Other Side: Beijing Reportedly Feared Trump Might Goad PLA Into Attack As Early As October 2020

Michael Roberts Blog — blogging from a Marxist economist
China at a turning point?
Michael Roberts

The Intercept
How the U.S. Derailed an Effort to Prosecute Its Crimes in Afghanistan
Alice Speri

Sputnik International (putting the cart before the horse)
Putin: 'Hysteria, Confusion' in Europe's Gas Markets Caused by Premature Shift to Alternative Energy

Oriental Review
US Meddling In Nicaraguan Affairs
Leonard Savin

Counterpunch (why the US is underrepresented)
Inside the Pandora Papers
Chuck Collins

The Nation
The Pandora Papers Reveal How the Super-Rich Shaft the Rest of Us
Chuck Collins

Jacobin (the one thing elites fear most)
The French Revolution Was the Beginning of the Modern World
Jeremy Popki

Sputnik International (what could go wrong with a speculative vehicle that has no intrinsic worth?)
Cryptocurrency Sees Massive Surge in India, Propels Growth in Asian Market, Says Report

India Punchline
Reflections on Events in Afghanistan-24
M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service

Calculated Risk
Update: Framing Lumber Prices Up Year-over-year
Bill McBride

The Intercept (the bezzle)
Merck Sells Federally Financed Covid Pill to U.S. for 40 Times What It Costs to Make
Sharon Lerner


1 comment:

Ahmed Fares said...

Merck Sells Federally Financed Covid Pill to U.S. for 40 Times What It Costs to Make

The article is misleading because it assumes that Merck shareholders should be happy with a 10% return on a single successful drug when the shareholder return is across all drugs Merck is working on, including the failed ones that never make it to market.

As for returns for pharma companies:

I know we're all supposed to be cheery going into the holidays, but I have some bad news: Legacy biopharma companies are still in a rut.

Or at least that's what the experts over at Deloitte have to say in a new report finding that, for the top 12 biopharma companies, the return on investment for R&D has fallen to a dismal 1.8%.

That's a decade-long low, and somehow even lower than last year's 1.9% ROI (for comparison, the number stood at 10.1% in 2010).

The reasons are plentiful. Among them: A tougher regulatory environment and an ever-shifting R&D picture which now favors smaller, leaner firms over the giants of old. And even within that narrative, things are complicated, according to Deloitte's Neil Lesser.

"The current model is not a sustainable one for success," Lesser told Fortune in an interview.


source: Big Pharma’s Return on Investment Plummets to a Dismal 10-Year Low

The link to the Deloitte study is here: Seeds of change - Measuring the return from pharmaceutical innovation 2020