I think the links I followed showed that the FDA was willing to “streamline” the process of antivenin approval so it would only take 3 years and x million dollars instead of 5 years and x+y milllion dollars, but that no company was willing to go through even the speedy approval process because they were incredibly unlikely to ever make back the investment of money through the sale of antivenin.

My health seems to be steadily improving, thanks! It looks like there might be more surgery in my future but for now I am enjoying the return to health.

First, I hope you are feeling better!

To answer your question regarding Coral Snake antivenom.

We do not have a capitalist system in the United States, we have a mixed economy. This is often overlooked. In these days of the new depression we hear how the free market ran too free an unregulated, and look what happened, but this clever piece of disinforamtion ignores the roots of the problem, which was government control. I recommend listening to the “planet money” podcast on NPR where you’ll find out how the Federal Reserve and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the roots of the current economic down-turn.

As an example of the above “the only antivenom approved by the Food and Drug Administration for coral snake bites.” What’s up with that? If I wanted to produce an antivenom to replace the one from Wyeth/Pfizer how much is it going to cost me to make it? How many regulatory hoops will I be forced to jump through. Will the government then force me to produce it at a loss?

Regards,

Ethan