Zane Selvans

Man, if you thought HP's price-gouging and anti-circumvention racket on printer-ink cartridges was bad, here's the #Danaher CEO on how awesome it is to do exactly the same thing but with fast, accurate #tuberculosis tests that identify antibiotic resistance:

"These are razor-blade business models in mission-critical applications."

https://tbfighters.org/

@pluralistic's new book "The Internet Con" is a great backgrounder on the laws that enable this kind of business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSC06P9A5W4

TB Ed Talks | TBFighters

TBFighters
Sep 12, 2023 at 4:33pmWeb
Show threadZane SelvansSep 12, 2023

They charge a ~500% markup over manufacturing costs on the cartridges that test for extremely drug resistant TB.

Oh, but R&D cost recovery you say!

They also got a quarter of billion dollars in grant funding, mostly from US public agencies, to develop the testing system.

Show threadZane SelvansSep 12, 2023
There should really be a worldwide distributed effort to pirate this shit.
Show threadAndreaTvilling🙃🏳️‍⚧️🌈🌻🇺🇦🇪🇺Sep 12, 2023
@ZaneSelvans you are so kind, I'd choose more bloodletting option. Lets skip it for while.
Show threadKypedsnpSep 12, 2023
@ZaneSelvans @pluralistic I've worked in healthcare nearly 40 years and the greed is worse than it's ever been. It's not just pharma and medical device manufacturers. The corporate raiders are also in non-profit hospitals and healthcare system. It's unbelievable.