pogoism

If you’ve ever spoken to me about big pharma, you’ll know that I’m very passionate about the dodgy ethics of some of the industry. However, some recent announcements from GlaxoSmithKline suggest that this might be about to change…

Last week GSK, the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company, announced that they were setting up a voluntary patent pool in order to encourage third parties to develop drugs for often neglected diseases that affect the world’s poorest countries, such as malaria and cholera.

In my mind, this is a big step forward. Pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer, GSK, Bayer and Sanofi-Aventis are often accused of putting profits before patients. For instance, big pharma will often be deterred from developing treatments that cure diseases, opting instead to create drugs that treat symptoms over the long-term. Once a disease is eradicated in a patient, they have no need for a drug, and the company stops getting money. It’s encouraging to see companies such as GSK trying to address these big issues.

Another big criticism is that drug companies will focus on drugs that are barely changed from original treatments for common ailments such as heart disease and ignore diseases that have few treatments. The patent pool will stimulate universities and other labs to develop new treatments.

This wasn’t the only announcement to come from GSK last week:

• An end to experimentation on great apes. Said CEO Andrew Witty in an interview with The Guardian:

Society will accept a degree of experimentation with animals provided it has a purpose, provided there are no alternatives and provided it is done compassionately and humanely, but they trust us to shut the door behind us when we don’t need to do it any more.

• GSK will give 20% of their profits made in the 60 least developed countries back to invest in clinics and other infrastructure… though it’s worth noting that GSK only has operations in 18 of these and earns around £30 million from them.
• A willingness to negotiate on drug prices, such as in the UK with organizations such as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence who determine whether a drug is cost-effective for the NHS.
• Transparency in publishing clinical trial data - whether good or bad, GSK will publish it all.

The news has generally been hailed as a step in the right direction, but one disease that Witty ruled out from the patent pool is HIV, which, in 2007,  33.2 million people were estimated to be living with, and killed 2.1 million people [pdf]. Michelle Childs, director of policy and advocacy at Médecins sans Frontières said:

I recognise the fact that GSK is seeking to meet concerns… He is saying there is no need for a patent pool for HIV. Our position is that there is an urgent need for a patent pool for HIV because of the rising prices of new first and second line drugs for patients who develop resistance.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your comments on this subject.

You can read highlights of Andrew Witty’s speech to Harvard Medical School here [pdf].

Today is Pancake Day - the day where rich foodstuffs (such as eggs, sugar and milk) are used up before Lent by making, funnily enough, pancakes.

I’m reliably informed that Pancake Day is not an American tradition, so allow me to educate you…

Pancake Day is celebrated in the UK, Ireland and Australia and marks the day before the first day of Lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter).

It’s also known as Shrove Tuesday, from the English verb shrive, which means to “obtain absolution from ones sins by way of Confession and doing penance”.

In counties where Pancake Day is not celebrated, Mardi Gras is more common.

So, without further ado, here’s a recipe for making pancakes, the non-American way.

You’re going to need:

• 4 oz plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 7 fl oz milk mixed with 3 fl oz water
• 2 oz butter
• pinch of salt

And to serve:

• lemon juice
• caster sugar

Here’s how to make them:

• Sift the flour into a bowl
• Break the eggs into the flour, whisk
• Add the milk and water slowly until it feels like thin cream
• Melt the butter in the pan
• Add 2 tbsp of the butter into the batter
• With the heat on medium, add about 2 tbsp of the batter to the centre of the pan and tip to get the batter around the pan
• Wait about 30 seconds, and flip the pancake
• Cook for a few more seconds
• Serve!

That’s it! That’s all there is to it. Easy, huh?

Also, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can top it with loads of different things, such as maple syrup and bananas, Nutella, fruit, ice-cream and so on.

Photo via Flickr user nicolajw.

via CauseCast

My last post began with the line “I try not to blog about anything too personal“. As I was sitting at my desk today, correcting the many spelling and grammar errors in that post, I wondered why I never blog about anything personal. It’s not as if anyone I know in real-life reads this (with the exception of my mum and possibly my brother).

As of today, I’m going to post about whatever I damn well please. I’m done worrying about what people think about me, or if they know too much about me. Obviously, I’m still going to self-censor myself to some degree, just in case I ever wish to run for public office – but generally I’m going to write what I want, when I want. It’s my blog dammit.

I’m even going to create a new category for it called “Life”. I know, right?

My boyfriend has a blackboard in his kitchen which he scribbles random drawings and phrases on. It’s cute. At the minute it simply says “happiness is a choice” with an picture of a stick man (his artistic skills leave something to be desired) jumping on a hill. Every time I see it, I’m reminded that I’m happy.

It’s an odd feeling – but it’s a feeling I’ve felt for the past few months. I can’t remember ever feeling truly happy before. High school was spent coming to terms with the fact I was gay, then desperately trying to keep it from my parents (I’d managed to convince myself that they’d freak out if I ever told them). During the last few years of high school I was counting down the days until I could leave for University and get out of where I was. I certainly don’t blame my parents for this – they did a great job bringing my brother and I up, and who I am today is because of them. I seriously underestimated them, and for that I’m sorry. But the fact remains, I was unhappy and I felt trapped. I needed out.

In September 2006, days after my 18th birthday, I moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland to go to Queen’s. My first semester was incredible – I was living on my own, I felt independent, I was doing a course I thoroughly enjoyed, I had made some amazing new friends and I came out (more about that in a future blog post…). But most importantly, I met my first boyfriend.

Before I met Sean, I had persuaded myself that I’d never meet anyone. I knew what the gay scene was like – superficial and full of narcissistic eejits. As I nearly always am, I was wrong. Sean was the best thing to happen to me in a long time. We met on the same night as I came out, in Kremlin. Read the rest of this entry »

Though this website is fairly anonymous, as a rule, I try not to blog about anything too personal. I’ve spent a lot of the last 2 months with the guy I’m dating, and as a result I haven’t blogged much.

A few weeks ago I went snowboarding. I’m still rubbish at it – I think I expect myself to be really good at it after a few goes, even though the instructors say that it took them years to even master the basics. Still doesn’t make me feel much better though. Anyway, this time I went a little better prepared – had proper gloves and new snowboarding pants (rather than the idiotic choice of jeans last time) which made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable. I did the First Timer lesson again, mainly because I went with people who had never been snowboarding at all before. I’m glad I did the lesson again, as we were taught different things than last time, and it made me feel a whole lot more confident – so much so that I went up the next slope (although, I only half way down before deciding that hefty medical bills from breaking various limbs wasn’t really worth it). Unfortunately, we went the day of the Superbowl, so I missed out on that whole part of the American experience, though we did manage to catch a bit of it when we went to eat in Tahoe City.

—

Work for the past few weeks has been slow, with little tissue to work on for various reasons. Having been utterly bored of reading papers all day, I decided to learn some new techniques – that is, after all, why I’m here. So with the help of my colleagues I’m now fairly proficient in calcium imaging (my next project), immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy. I’m pleased – this week felt like the first week where I’ve actually learnt some new things.

—

Finally, as I’m sure it probably hadn’t escaped your notice, yesterday was Valentine’s Day.

The day started off a bit awkward, as I was reminded of my ex, who I’d dated for almost 2 years before coming to Reno. It’s hard being forced to break up with someone, because it never really feels like it’s over, especially when you feel like you might never get to meet someone like that person again. But anyway… I spent the day with Alonso, and after finding that a lot of restaurants shut early in Reno on the weekends, we went to Kyoto Restaurant. It was delicious – we had cooked soy beans (yum), a few sushi rolls (yum) and I had salmon teryaki (very yum) and green tea ice cream, all washed down with a bottle of sake. Then we went home to chill out for a bit, and headed out to Tronix. Now, I’ve been to some pretty horrid gay bars, but Tronix wins the prize of being the worst. It’s seedy, it’s dirty, it’s cheap – but yet I had a really fun night. When Tronix began to die down, Alonso and I headed across the road to Neutron, which is essentially a gay bar for Latinos. I’ve haven’t enjoyed myself so much in a club before – despite it being a gay bar it didn’t have that same pretentious, fake feel to it. We only intended to stay there for one song, but we stayed for much more than an hour, getting drawn in to dancing to the Mexican music (and the one American song, which cleared the dance floor in a way I’ve not seen before). At one point I found myself line dancing with 50 people, certainly a moment I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.

Although you think I cope,
My head is filled with hope…
Of some place other than here.

Although you think I smile,
Inside all the while…
I’m wondering about my destiny.

I’m thinking about,
All the things,
I’d like to do in my life.

I’m a dreamer,
A distant dreamer,
Dreaming for hope, from today.

Even when you see me frown,
My heart won’t let me down,
Because I know there’s better things to come.

And when life gets tough,
I feel I’ve had enough,
I hold on to a distant star,

I’m thinking about,
All the things,
I’d like to do in my life…

I’m a dreamer,
A distant dreamer,
Dreaming for hope from today.

Yeah, I’m a dreamer. Read the rest of this entry »

via Towleroad

Courage Campaign, the campaign to overturn Prop 8 in California have released a new video. It’s good, you should watch it. Then click here to sign the letter :)