Vaccines, Govt funds startup 1/3 billion!

[OldShooter]

Phlow Corporation (https://www.phlow-usa.com/), a startup that has apparently never shipped a product of any kind (https://richmondbizsense.com/2020/0...tup-aims-to-shore-up-u-s-generic-drug-supply/) is now the US' lifeline for COVAD-19 vaccine. To the tune of a third of a billion $$! The Phlow web site is nothing but marketing BS. Nothing even close to substantive.

Solyndra was an example of government genius in selecting and managing subcontractors, hopefully Phlow will not be another.

 

[USGrant1962]

Interesting. It looks like they are partnered with 4 existing drug manufacturers and have already delivered generic drugs.

It said it had already started making pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dosage forms for over a dozen essential medicines to treat hospitalized patients with COVID-19-related illnesses. It has delivered over 1.6 million doses of five essential generic medicines used to treat COVID-19 patients to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile.

Many of these medicines are in shortage and have previously been imported. India and China account for a vast majority of active pharmaceutical ingredients used to make drugs in the United States.

Phlow has partnered with other groups including Civica Rx, Ampac Fine Chemicals and the Medicines for All Institute to manufacture the medicines.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-phlow-idUSKBN22V0LF

FWIW, Solyndra was a loan not a contract, leaving the USG on the hook. Presumably if Phlow doesn't deliver drugs they don't get paid.

 

[OldShooter]

Interesting. It looks like they are partnered with 4 existing drug manufacturers and have already delivered generic drugs. ...

They have "partners" that have delivered but I can't see that they themselves have actually made anything. It's not clear either what their value-added is. If it's the partners' capability that the government is buying then why run the money through Phlow? I would have much less of a bad feeling about this if there were two or three suppliers selected, suppliers who had real track records and were not startups. The fact that all the public information I found about Phlow is pure marketing babble doesn't not assuage my concern either.

 

[explanade]

There have been stories about a company given contract for N95 masks. Again, the company has no record of making masks and they didn't deliver.

Another case is some guy in Silicon Valley tweeted at the president that he can produce ventilators so the federal govt. directed the state of NY to make a deal with him. They sent him something like $69 million and he hasn't delivered.

 

[OldShooter]

Well, now it immediately starts to come out that the company is not run by white hats: https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2020/05/19/trump-generics-covid19-drug-shortages-phlow/ :

" ... Eric Edwards maintains his business is a public benefit corporation. Besides generating a profit, Phlow is supposed to serve a greater good. But in his last role in the pharmaceutical industry, Edwards fell short of benefiting the public, at least according to a U.S. Senate subcommittee report released in 2018. Kaleo, a company Edwards founded with his twin brother, jacked up the price of its Evzio opioid overdose antidote by more than 600% between 2014 and 2017, which cost U.S. taxpayers more than $142 million. ... "
​

You never know for sure, but my guess is that this deal is going to get stinky and, more critically, interfere with the availability of vaccine. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[bolt]

Looting .gov coffers, minimally by obfuscation, has been happening since the beginning of time going back to both Greece & Rome w/every administration. Afaik......

I might be wrong.
I'd bet otherwise though.

Good luck & best wishes....

 

[OldShooter]

The difference here is that missed deliveries and substandard product will kill people. And, so far, it appears that these guys are sole source.

 

[USGrant1962]

Per the Reuters article - "The contract - which is for generic drugs, not more complicated products like vaccines"

 

[OldShooter]

Per the Reuters article - "The contract - which is for generic drugs, not more complicated products like vaccines"

Thanks. I read the press release/not carefully enough: " ... to deliver over 1.6 million doses of five essential generic medicines used to treat COVID-19 patients ... " and jumped to the conclusion that the vaccine was included in the deal. This is better, but my guess is that it will still turn out to be a stinky deal with missed deliveries and quality problems. I really don't care much if the CEO gets rich as @bolt implies. But the drugs availability has to be important.

Interesting numbers, though. $354M divided by 1.6M doses = $221/dose.