The president-elect has appointed the Indianorigin pharma investor, along with Elon Musk, as the head of an initiative to slash the federal bureaucracy. For Ramaswamy, heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is the perfect reward: he does not like federal agencies and wants to shut down the Department of Education and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and drastically restructure the Federal Reserve. But his main target is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal pharmaceutical regulator which has been in his cross hairs since the time he set up his drug manufacturing company Roivant Sciences and its much hyped drug failed to make the cut.
The story of Ramaswamy and his visceral antipathy to FDA is tied up with his business approach to pharma manufacture. He is given to projecting himself as a scientist from the biotechnology sphere, although he is no scientist, and has just an undergraduate degree in biology.
His graduate degree is in law and he started his career with a hedge fund company where he specialised in biotech investments. That appears to have fuelled the idea of setting up his own pharma ventures. His model was simple: scour the patent web for drugs that had been abandoned by pharma majors, buy out the patents-these could be had for a song-and develop and bring them to market to make a killing. The model was very much that of Martin Shkreli's, which we wrote about five years ago (see 'Encouraging orphan drugs', Down To Earth, November 1-15, 2019).
Shkreli was also a hedge fund manager who co-founded drug companies Retrophin and Turing Pharmaceuticals and became notorious for his rapacious pricing of pyrimethamine, a drug to treat parasitic infections. Shkreli had bought the rights to the drug at a throwaway price and hiked its price by 5,000 per cent.
この記事は Down To Earth の January 16, 2025 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は Down To Earth の January 16, 2025 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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On shaky ground
Despite reporting net gains in green cover, the latest forest survey shows degradation of natural forests, particularly in ecologically sensitive hotspots
Burden of proof
The government's drive for e-KYC verification to ensure rightful targeting of beneficiaries has proved exclusionary for many
Rupee slide impacts agricultural trade
THE UNION Cabinet on January 1, 2025, approved the extension of a subsidy package of ₹3,500 per tonne on di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) for companies.
THE 500 GW SWITCH OVER
Coal is the king of energy at present. India needs to dislodge it with clean energy for an equitable green transition
MANIFESTING 500 GW
Ensure that renewable energy is available round the clock.Establish a viable market and reward those who take lead
Lifting a curse
How Gangabai Rajput helped her water-scarce village in Madhya Pradesh let go of superstition and revive an ancient waterbody
HOLD THEM SACRED
The Supreme Court has recommended that the Union government create a comprehensive policy for the governance and management of sacred groves across the country
REPORT CARD 2024
Coal is still the king in terms of electricity generation. But new renewables, mainly solar power, have shown an impressive growth
'India a laboratory for seismologists'
India is no stranger to earthquakes. In recent memory, Latur and Bhuj districts in Maharashtra and Gujarat witnessed devastating tremors in 2003 and 2001 respectively. Such quakes leave clues that can aid preparations for future events, say seismologists KUSALA RAJENDRAN, professor, Indian Institute of Science, and CP RAJENDRAN, adjunct professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies. The Rumbling Earth-The Story of Indian Earthquakes, captures their work on historical as well as recent quakes. In an interview with ROHINI KRISHNAMURTHY, they discuss the science of earthquakes, why the Himalayas are due for a huge event and why prediction remains a challenge. Excerpts:
Capturing Siang
As India pushes for a mega-dam on the Siang river to counter China's upstream projects, the Adi tribal community of Arunachal Pradesh fears losing ancestral land
