Coronavirus update - NO MORE RESTRICTIONS

[Delbert]

In the interview Costello says 50,000 excess deaths have been caused so far by Johnson’s failure to lock down earlier. The initial plan to pursue herd immunity has been a catastrophe.

No-one knows what the exact level of population immunity is required to achieve herd immunity. But instead of attempting to eliminate the virus, as New Zealand and others have done and as even Scotland is attempting to do, Johnson continues to pursue policies which are causing unnacceptably high rates of community transmission and deaths.

[goats]

In the interview Costello says 50,000 excess deaths have been caused so far by Johnson’s failure to lock down earlier. The initial plan to pursue herd immunity has been a catastrophe.

No-one knows what the exact level of population immunity is required to achieve herd immunity. But instead of attempting to eliminate the virus, as New Zealand and others have done and as even Scotland is attempting to do, Johnson continues to pursue policies which are causing unnacceptably high rates of community transmission and deaths.

What she did in NZ is admirable but it’s not a long term solution if they want their economy that relies hugely in tourism to continue.
They have to let people in at some point. I really don’t know what Scotland is up to, How does she think they could be Covid free by September? They building a wall Mexico style to keep the English out are they?

[goats]

In the interview Costello says 50,000 excess deaths have been caused so far by Johnson’s failure to lock down earlier. The initial plan to pursue herd immunity has been a catastrophe.

No-one knows what the exact level of population immunity is required to achieve herd immunity. But instead of attempting to eliminate the virus, as New Zealand and others have done and as even Scotland is attempting to do, Johnson continues to pursue policies which are causing unnacceptably high rates of community transmission and deaths.

He also says Sage got stuff wrong early on, which I find surprising. Herd immunity doesn’t need as much % of population as I thought previous either.

[Rjk]

He also says Sage got stuff wrong early on, which I find surprising. Herd immunity doesn’t need as much % of population as I thought previous either.

I don't think they know for sure yet what %of the population being infected would give herd immunity

[Jordi Culé]

Man who never accepts responsibility or accountability for anything starts washing his hands.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...igh-death-toll

[the other bob wilson]

Brazil's Bolsonaro tests positive.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-53319517

[ToTaL ITK]

half way down page two of the forum....seems things are getting back to normal

[Rjk]

https://newsakmi.com/news/world/uk-n...ce-system/amp/

somehow we've spent 10 billion on a track and trace system that doesn't work.

Ireland have theirs up and running and cost a fraction of that.

I wonder where that 10bn is now.

[the other bob wilson]

https://newsakmi.com/news/world/uk-n...ce-system/amp/

somehow we've spent 10 billion on a track and trace system that doesn't work.

Ireland have theirs up and running and cost a fraction of that.

I wonder where that 10bn is now.

[the other bob wilson]

A triumph of dogma over common sense?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...me-sources-say

[lisvaneblue]

A triumph of dogma over common sense?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...me-sources-say

Probably a good decision as we would be last in the queue for distribution as an ex-member state. Also Germany, France and Holland have already committed to purchase 400m doses of the AZ vaccine and this will be folded into the EU numbers.

Knowing a bit about the European medicines supply chain and regulatory issues around licensing of new products I reckon we are better doing our own thing

[the other bob wilson]

Probably a good decision as we would be last in the queue for distribution as an ex-member state. Also Germany, France and Holland have already committed to purchase 400m doses of the AZ vaccine and this will be folded into the EU numbers.

Knowing a bit about the European medicines supply chain and regulatory issues around licensing of new products I reckon we are better doing our own thing

Fair enough, I can see that we could be low down the queue so to speak if any vaccine was effective - that's why I added the question mark, as it's hardly a subject I know much about.

[Rjk]

Probably a good decision as we would be last in the queue for distribution as an ex-member state. Also Germany, France and Holland have already committed to purchase 400m doses of the AZ vaccine and this will be folded into the EU numbers.

Knowing a bit about the European medicines supply chain and regulatory issues around licensing of new products I reckon we are better doing our own thing

I know a bit about the regulatory requirements as well, why do you think we are better doing our own thing?
if we had different regulatory requirements to the EU then nobody is going to target our market first, they would go for the EU first then look at what they would need to do to launch in the smaller markets afterwards

[lisvaneblue]

I know a bit about the regulatory requirements as well, why do you think we are better doing our own thing?
if we had different regulatory requirements to the EU then nobody is going to target our market first, they would go for the EU first then look at what they would need to do to launch in the smaller markets afterwards

Assuming no deal Brexit we will have different licensing and MHRA will be responsible for approval new medicines and issuing MAs. The UK gov is setting about streamlining the UK approval process so it may be that we give approval for Covid vaccines ahead of the EU. EMA will no longer be in control of UK.

Pharma will launch first in markets that give earliest approvals. They will also have a commitment to pre-orders as and when approval is granted. UK is an attractive market as it is a reference point for many countries for approvals and price.

Also the manufacture and distribution will be phased, it's not as if they will drop 400m doses off at a warehouse in Germany.

[Rjk]

Assuming no deal Brexit we will have different licensing and MHRA will be responsible for approval new medicines and issuing MAs. The UK gov is setting about streamlining the UK approval process so it may be that we give approval for Covid vaccines ahead of the EU. EMA will no longer be in control of UK.

Pharma will launch first in markets that give earliest approvals. They will also have a commitment to pre-orders as and when approval is granted. UK is an attractive market as it is a reference point for many countries for approvals and price.

Also the manufacture and distribution will be phased, it's not as if they will drop 400m doses off at a warehouse in Germany.

that's simply not true, every project I've ever worked on the launch markets have been EU or USA or both. any smaller markets no matter how easy their regulatory approvals always follow on after the biggest markets are launched.
next in priority would be Japan, China, Brazil etc.

[Jordi Culé]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...ut-open-tender

Good to see Boris, Gove, Cummings & co cutting out the bureaucracy of the civil service in order to combat Covid19.

Nothing to see here.

[xsnaggle]

Pubs in Wales not permitted to open until 08 August at the earliest. He is determined to destroy the hospitality industry completely.
Parochial methodist minded reactionary!!!!

[CCFCC3PO]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...ut-open-tender

Good to see Boris, Gove, Cummings & co cutting out the bureaucracy of the civil service in order to combat Covid19.

Nothing to see here.

Don't worry, they can pay for it out of taxing nurses to take covid tests. I sometimes wonder if the NHS did too good a job looking after some people.

[lisvaneblue]

that's simply not true, every project I've ever worked on the launch markets have been EU or USA or both. any smaller markets no matter how easy their regulatory approvals always follow on after the biggest markets are launched.
next in priority would be Japan, China, Brazil etc.

Well I ran the commercial side of the UK division of a large Pharma company and maybe I got it wrong for 30 years

[Jordi Culé]

Don't worry, they can pay for it out of taxing nurses to take covid tests. I sometimes wonder if the NHS did too good a job looking after some people.

Me too. Especially as I had Boris in our ‘Celebrity Dead Pool’ syndicate. I would’ve won the pot.

[Rjk]

Well I ran the commercial side of the UK division of a large Pharma company and maybe I got it wrong for 30 years

I'm just speaking from my experience, if the regulatory route for the UK diverges from the EU then it is more likely that it will delay launches here rather than accelerating them.

[Jordi Culé]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53361167

Can anyone else see a theme developing here?

[Hilts]

Pubs in Wales not permitted to open until 08 August at the earliest. He is determined to destroy the hospitality industry completely.
Parochial methodist minded reactionary!!!!

Where did you get this from?

Its the 13th outdoors. 3rd August indoors isnt it.

Good decision not to open 6am on a Saturday as well.

Saying that only a complete bufoon would do that.

[lisvaneblue]

I'm just speaking from my experience, if the regulatory route for the UK diverges from the EU then it is more likely that it will delay launches here rather than accelerating them.

Ok, but Im not sure your experience relates to new research based prescription medicines. They are generally not launched on an EU wide basis. Currently the EMA approves such medicines for EU. However, that is just the first hurdle.

The medicines then have to be authorised for use by individual countries.. in our case in UK by NICE. Other countries have their own methods of putting products on an approved list. Then there is the matter of pricing. Unlike non prescription medicines each EU country can set an acceptable price for prescription medicines through negotiation with the manufacturer. In UK this is done via a system agreed between Pharma industry and government.

There are a lot of other variables that I won't go into now. Suffice to say that there is currently free movement of prescription medicines across EU but not free pricing, and this can lead to supply issues as traders move goods from a lower price country to a higher price one.

So, in my experience prescription medicines are launched to each individual EU country at variable times. From discovery the patent clock is ticking and Pharma does not wait, as you implied, in order to launch in bigger markets first. So you are wrong in thinking we would delay launch in UK because EU is a bigger market

[Rjk]

Ok, but Im not sure your experience relates to new research based prescription medicines. They are generally not launched on an EU wide basis. Currently the EMA approves such medicines for EU. However, that is just the first hurdle.

The medicines then have to be authorised for use by individual countries.. in our case in UK by NICE. Other countries have their own methods of putting products on an approved list. Then there is the matter of pricing. Unlike non prescription medicines each EU country can set an acceptable price for prescription medicines through negotiation with the manufacturer. In UK this is done via a system agreed between Pharma industry and government.

There are a lot of other variables that I won't go into now. Suffice to say that there is currently free movement of prescription medicines across EU but not free pricing, and this can lead to supply issues as traders move goods from a lower price country to a higher price one.

So, in my experience prescription medicines are launched to each individual EU country at variable times. From discovery the patent clock is ticking and Pharma does not wait, as you implied, in order to launch in bigger markets first. So you are wrong in thinking we would delay launch in UK because EU is a bigger market

you are just talking about the commercial agreements, whereas I was talking about regulatory approvals which is where the biggest impact will be of divergence from Europe.