Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

[Bofferbrauer2]

Hiku said:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/18/italians-found-way-3-d-print-key-ventilator-piece-1-help-battle-coronavirus-so

"A medical devices company has decided to sue a bunch of Italian volunteers who 3D printed valves for $1 due to shortages in supply, which is usually sold by that company for $11,000."

This is a perfect example of how granting an intellectual monopoly in the form of a patent allows almost arbitrarily high prices to be charged, and quite legally. That would be bad enough in any situation, but when lives are at stake, and Italian hospitals struggle to buy even basic equipment like face masks, demanding such a sum is even worse. And when a pandemic is raging out of control, for a company to threaten those selflessly trying to save lives in this way is completely beyond the pale.

The valves he produced worked on 10 patients at the overstretched hospital, and the engineer is in the process of creating 100 more. But Fracassi says he is not sure how long the they will last or whether they are reusable, as it is possible sterilisation may damage them.

His team are testing out three different designs after failing to secure the original blueprints. The country is grappling with a medical equipment shortage as the number of coronavirus cases continue to surge and 3D printing could off a solution to broken supply chains.
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Some of these for profit patent hogging medical companies are run by the scummiest people on the planet.

I saw that news yesterday already.

While the 11k pricetag is way too high, more technical medical supplies are generally expensive for a reason, as it may not react in any way with the medical products and/or patients it comes into contact with, which means they need very specific materials and very tight standards, two things those 3D printed valves can't guarantee at all. In fact, the plastics used in private 3D printing are very sub-par for medical utilities. I can see it getting used as a stopgap in a pinch, but not any further than that.

But all this doesn't absolve the company for it's shitty maneuvers here. Like I said, the pricetag, even with the special materials needed, is most probably at least a zero too high, and trying to pull patent trolling in a medical crisis is the dumbest move they could do, even tough they are legally obliged to do it to keep their patent (you need to defend your patent, else it expires). Instead, they could have offered a time-limited licensing deal for during the crisis and everybody would have been happy without their patent getting in trouble. But that would have meant less income, something the shareholders certainly would have veto'ed if possible...