It comes in liquid form. If it were a powder we could make pills out of it. Maybe it’s possible for it to come in a solid form, but they don’t because of dangers of overdose by ingestion if it were more available? A liquid can be integrated into a patch.
The patch form works because fentanyl is fat-soluble. Fat-soluble drugs are able to cross barriers, like the skin and cell membranes. Druggies don’t want the patch form, per se, they want the rush. So they have to put a hot pack over a patch or something like that to get the drug out faster. Injection satisfies the rush much faster, so liquid is going to be much more valuable on the street. The only thing going for patches is availability. You can steel them from grandma rather than from a pharmacy.
33 lb of fentanyl = 15 kg = 100 mcg (standard injection vial size) x 150 million doses.
Let’s say someone staged an attack using fentanyl. The standard treatment for known opiate overdose is Narcan (naltrexone). If it’s an unknown cause, a ‘coma cocktail’ would include Narcan anyway because opiates are such a likely cause for someone to come in unconscious. If they’re breathing alright on their own, you don’t have to give Narcan, you could just support them (probably need fluids too for blood pressure support) and wait it out, but respiratory depression would definitely push for Narcan. If you ran out of Narcan, another option would be Intralipid or the fat component of transparental nutrition (when you feed someone through an IV). Injecting fat rapidly increases the volume of distribution for the drug. The hospitalists at my training program had rapid results for all sorts of drug toxicities using that.
I think Q is incorrect on some of this big pharma stuff. Look at post 690.
Make sure the list of resignations remains updated.
Important.
When does big pharma make money?
Curing or containing?
Cancer/AIDS/etc.
Mind will be blown by chain of command.
Q
The answer is neither curing nor containing. The answer is that they make their money while the patent is still good! They have 20 years from the time a drug is invented or patented before other companies can start making generics. This time is shortened by spending 8 years getting FDA approval before the medication even reaches the market. Sometimes a drug company gets around this by reformulating a drug (this happened with the change of the insulin Lantus to Toujeo, which is just a higher concentration form). Sometimes a drug company avoids the competition simply because manufacturing the drug is too difficult. Sometimes generics just aren’t reliable (they are supposed to have at least 90% efficacy compared to the parent). Sometimes a drug is used so little that no one bothers making a generic (they won’t make any money either) and there’s a risk that a valuable medication might be discontinued by the original manufacturer. Etc. But for the most part, they make their money in that window.
That’s why assertions that the drug companies are hiding cures for things are bogus. They are under high pressure to research things quickly and get them to market before the opportunity is lost. Someone coming up with a cure for cancer or AIDS or whatever would stand to make a huge amount of money AND would destroy the income their competitors derive from selling drugs that only contain a disease.
Trump’s proposal during the SOTU speech, that patients be able to use experimental drugs more easily when nothing else works, actually widens the window drug companies have to sell their new medications under patent. They stand to benefit from this financially and wouldn’t have anything against Trump here.
Wow, you said a mouthful. Thanks for that. Very educational. Yu did leave out one thing. Can personal people on the street manufacture fentanyl? Like they can for meth? Or does it ONLY come from legit drug manufacturers. I’m looking to understand Q’s statement about an “attack on big pharma.” Does he mean an attack on fentynol distribution like some are saying or is it something else. Something bigger. Some legislation or something.
You're overlooking the world market, Styria. The EU only takes about two to three years to get a drug to market and other nations less. They profit there long before the eight years in the US.