Big Pharma is our saviour, not our enemy
The Times
Every age needs a bogeyman, says Emma Duncan. Ours is “Big Pharma”. When John le Carré needed to find a new set of baddies to replace the defunct villains of his Cold War spy novels, where did he turn? The pharmaceutical industry. It’s an ideal fit for the role since it combines so many traits modernity deplores: it’s vast, it’s impersonal and it makes “unnatural” chemicals. And yes, the drug giants have at times done some pretty bad stuff: the opioid crisis in the US was fuelled by pharma companies urging doctors “to hand opioids out like sweets”. But against that must be set Big Pharma’s crucial role in making our lives longer, healthier and less painful. Look at the speed with which the drug giants delivered a Covid vaccine. And size matters. Pfizer’s trials were conducted at 150 sites on four continents, involving 44,000 people; and it plans to produce 1.3 billion doses of the drug by the end of next year. A small drug firm could never have done all that. Modern folklore champions the lone pioneer and the plucky start-up. But it’s the anonymous employees of the faceless, corporate giants that do the lion’s share of the heavy lifting. We should applaud them.
An Australian family returned home to find their Christmas tree adorned with a novel ornament: a wild koala. The McCormicks found the confused koala after it apparently entered through an open door of their home in Adelaide as they were leaving the house. “It was pretty tangled up in the lights,” said Taylah, 16. “It was a fake tree and very old, but she still tried eating the leaves off it... I saw her munch down on some, but she stopped when she realised it was plastic.” The family called animal rescue and the koala was untangled.
An Indian couple were so determined to tie the knot that they got married in full hazmat suits, visors and face masks hours after the bride tested positive for Covid-19. The unnamed couple went ahead with their wedding in a quarantine centre in Baran, Rajasthan, exchanging garlands while dressed in matching blue protective suits; the priest wore a white one. Attendance was, for an Indian wedding, very sparse: the ceremony was held in front of four guests, also in full hazmat gear.