Tired, Hurt or Huddled

Roche's Avastin-for-all versus Henry Dawson's Penicillin-for-all , what's the difference ?

Avastin is not in short supply and Roche sells it to all, regardless of race gender et al.

Penicillin G : ditto,ditto .

But Avastin costs $100,000 a year and only extends life an average of 4 months.

In bulk, Penicillin G is only about $1 for a two week long life-saving treatment.

And that should permanently stop a life-threatening bacterial infection cold in its tracks .

In addition, Penicillin G's wide use due to its extremely low, low cost helps prevent reserve pools of virulent strains from remaining in patients ordinarily too poor to purchase necessary but expensive medicine.

Ah, the twin miracle of The Miracle Drug.

First, its continuing non-toxicity and efficiency, 85 years after it was first discovered .

Secondly, its extremely low cost which allows it to provide a sort of quasi-Herd Immunity for the rest of us from age-old contagious bacterial infections.

If Gordon Gekko was a drugs salesman, he'd sell Avastin at a big mark-up; if Emma Lazarus was a drugs salesman , she'd sell bulk Penicillin G, at cost ....