Hepatitis B vaccine - global shortage? Sounds like someone's cashing in...

[Werewolf]

Those figures sound like complete nonsense, a £1 billion r&d cost would mean they got revenues of £100 trillion which is 50 times the entire GDP of the UK.

not to mention they'd need to be making around 8 million tablets an hour just to cover the cost of one employee for that hour, at minimum wage (if my maths are right, which given the time may not be the case).
It wouldn't cover the cost of actually running the plant machinery and a single employee, let alone R&D and the full facility and I also doubt the UK gets through several hundred million antibiotics a day.

I suspect even something as common place, out of patent, simple to produce and used as widely as paracetamol doesn't cost that little to produce (at that sort of price the tablets would be cheaper to produce than a plain card box to put them in loosely).

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

They're also incredibly profitable. There used to be a company based near me that made antibiotics. They estimated (including R and D) that a single tablet cost 0.0001 pence to make. Retail price per pill was 10p.

This is a My Uncle Worked At Nintendo argument but even less believable.

 

[Thekwango]

This is a My Uncle Worked At Nintendo argument but even less believable.

I bet the Facebook told him.

 

[Entropy]

This is a vaccine and not a drug. They are cultured from generically modified yeast cells and simply cannot be made by Joe Bloggs chemist working from their garage. Even out of patent it would be incredibly difficult to begin to manufacture as big Pharma are not going to hand over their genetically engineered yeast cells or the specific processing and culturing conditions to actually get these things to grow correctly. As much as they are protected by patent, they are protected by trade secret and the capital expenditure required to entry into the market.

 

[Alan B'Stard MP]

...They are cultured from generically modified yeast cells and simply cannot be made by Joe Bloggs chemist working from their garage. Even out of patent it would be incredibly difficult to begin to manufacture as big Pharma are not going to hand over their genetically engineered yeast cells or the specific processing and culturing conditions to actually get these things to grow correctly...

It doesn't sound like even Merck and GSK were able to manufacture the vaccine correctly for a long period last year. There is still no non-emergency Hepatitis B vaccinations available round here. I sincerely doubt that is the case in the USA or other countries that charge far more for vaccinations...

 

[StriderX]

It's alright the beautiful people of Great Britain don't mind getting shafted right up the ol' sphincter and simply shrug.

(I am thankfully vaccinated against this naughty little thing)

 

[Skillmister]

This could cause me some trouble as I'm going to Indonesia in July.

Rang up the doctors today to book in an initial "consultation" that is required to discuss what vaccinations I need (which they suggest doing 6-8 weeks before travel to give enough time to fit the jabs in) Earliest they can see me is 5th June, and that's just for the consultation!!

My dad went last year and he found one random Superdrug that had Hep B whereas everywhere else was out of stock. Going to ring round on Monday and see what I can do. Might have to get Rabies done at Boots/Superdrug seeing as it takes about a month and I won't have time if I have to wait until mid June or something ridiculous to start...

Cutting it fine

 

[Destination]

Hep B is three doses over the course of six months, 6-8 weeks isn't sufficient for the full course anyway.

- eidt
in Norn Iron there are some stocks returning as occupational health seems to now be able to administer new courses

 

[Alan B'Stard MP]

Hep B is three doses over the course of six months, 6-8 weeks isn't sufficient for the full course anyway.

"Skillmister" could have the accelerated Hepatitis B vaccination course. That is the first dose followed by the second dose a week later and the third dose at 3 or 4 weeks after the first one. To maintain long-term protection against the virus it is necessary to have a booster dose 5 years later.

Superdrug would be able to give the accelerated course of injections if they have the stock: https://healthclinics.superdrug.com/services/hepatitis-b-vaccination

 

[Energize]

When I had the hep b vaccine it was 4 shots over around 10 months.

1 shot a month for the 1st three months and then another 7 to 8 months later.