Sanofi has supposedly spent over $1.7B on a dengue vaccine. There are reportedly 2 or 3 other firms coming out with a vaccine soon. Good news?
Actually, the $64B question after all this time is, why doesn't anyone seem to be interested in a cure for dengue? Why is there not a single major pharmaceutical trying to develop a CURE for an age-old ailment? Is it because it is impossible to cure?
The thing is, dengue is not really that dangerous. if there was a medicinal cure, an over-the-counter drug for dengue that would prevent it from becoming severe or simply prevent those affected from dying, dengue would not really be that big a deal. If 200,000 cases could be cured by a drug or treatment that cost P500, That would only cost P100M a year! The government could simply provide it for free to those affected for the next 35 years before it would spend P3.5B!
The thing is, if hospitalization for the 10.000 people out of the 200,000 who might get severe dengue cost, say, P15,000 on the average, that would already be a loss of P150M if a cure could at least prevent hospitalization. What more the lost consultation fees of the 190,000 @ P400 per visit? At least another P100M or more down the drain.
On the other hand, if a vaccine could be created, like the ones for polio, measles, mumps etc., why that would be quite a fortune compared to finding a simple cure, wouldn't it? Imagine if 3M Filipinos yearly until the end of time were induced to be vaccinated for a disease that has no "official" cure, what profit could be made!
P10.5B would certainly be so much more "ethically" desirable than P100M, wouldn't it? And if the actual cost of making it was just several hundred million, why, there would be quite more than enough to spread around to make it happen, wouldn't it?
And yet, many testimonials on the internet avow that their dengue was cured by a simple wild plant, "tawa-tawa" or papaya leaves. Now, if it were just a simple matter of boiling papaya leaves or wild grass, that would be a real bummer wouldn't it?
The fact is, then DOH Sec. Enrique Ona did try to help a company offering a herbal cure do the proper research demanded by the Western Medical establishment to be recognized as a "legitimate" cure but was set-up, discredited, branded unethical and unceremoniously booted out of office by ... guess who? The very same gang who then proceeded to do even more unethical and downright criminal things than they had (falsely) accused Ona of the moment they got rid of him!
If Senator Gordon is able to expose the whole dirty scheme and make the ones truly responsible answer for their misdeeds, then perhaps he could be the next leader of this country. But maybe that is asking for too much.