Good morning Synners1 Nov 2020 11:08
Thanks pmjh for finding the sharesoc webinar, will definitely register
As to why the government hasn't just financed the whole thing - there are many theories but they boil down to the following...
1. Governemnt know better than Prof. Sir Stephen Holgate and they have judged that nothing will come out of SNG. Considering they have just knighted prof. Holgate for his part in SNG's Covid19 research - the above doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Are they just completely disaorganised and chaos reigns supreme? Maybe, hopefully not.
2. Various lobbies and interest groups are actively working on preventing SNG from getting things done faster. Key people in the decision making chain (deciding on nationwide trials prioritisation etc.) are very closely linked with some of the key organisation pushing their products. There is a lot of money in play so you decide whether you think this is plausible or a conspiracy theory.
3. Government wanted to wait till preliminary Phase III results start coming in before fully endorsing SNG so it would not seem like SNG is receiving preferential treatment to many other phase II trials in place. Considering how much this new lockdown is going to cost the treasury - is this theory plausible? I.e. that they would care whether they are seen as biased to SNG? Not sure.
4. Government has asked for certain conditions SNG were not happy to aaccept (i.e. fixed price, IP rights, etc.). Again, as all of the above it is pure speculation and we will never know.
5. Vanity. Scientific community advising the governemnt were not happy to let small SNG (headed by prof. Holgate and Monk) take all the credit and would rather the credit for 'saving the world' went to someone else. Very far fetched and certainly hoping it would never come to this.
6. Government are helping as much as they can without forking out the 80m GBP ,but keeping a lid on this as they don't want gen pop to believe that the cure is around the corner (as nobody would be taking these lockdowns seriously and in the short term NHS would completely collapse).
The above are theories that have been discussed on this forum and elsewhere... am I missing anything?