Discussion on Generic Drug Repurposing for Cancer

Just, it's so, it's so important. So that's one of the,

the components of this

first round of grants that are going out.

And then the second portion of this, uh, and, and honestly,

I've had so many people come up to me and talk about this, and

that is the generic drug repurposing component of this grant.

And so that's specifically for things like ivermectin.

So I know that that's been in the news quite a bit and made a lot of news during

COVID. Mel Gibson was on Joe Rogan's podcast, and he

was talking

about people that he were f- was friends with, and they overcame

stage four cancer. And so here's, like, my perspective, and I've talked to the

surgeon general about this. Like, that's generic form.

I think it costs, like, 77 cents per pill.

Is there any incentive on the part of some to wanna

research this when you're not guaranteed to have a big ROI,

right? If you have a novel technology or a pharmaceutical, and

you have that monopoly and that competitive edge, well,

then you're probably gonna

make a lot more money. If you're researching like,

something like ivermectin

that's generic, are you gonna be able to, uh, A, find

a study that you can get the money to be able to fund it?

But are you guaranteed revenue for your company going down in the future?

I, I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that we

should look at it. We should look at the benefits of it.

We shouldn't just speculate and guess.

We should, as the state of Florida, with over a billion dollars

in funding since Ron DeSantis took office for cancer,

we should be looking into things that are in generic form.

And do they show outcomes? And do they show hope for people who

are suffering?

And we're uniquely positioned to do that because we're not in it for an ROI

from

a corporate standpoint. We're in it for an ROI on behalf of you,

the taxpayer, and you, who has a family member who's suffering

from cancer, and

God forbid that you suffer from cancer.

And so that's why I think we're uniquely positioned to be able to help people.

And I'm just... Honestly, I don't like talking about cancer

ever. I've told Dr. Panetta on more than one occasion,

I'd rather sit in my closet

and never s- say the cancer word again.

But I am so immensely proud of what this state has

done to really step up to try to provide hope to a lot of people,

to invest in meaningful things. It's one thing to

appropriate money, but it's another thing to drive outcomes,

to

hold yourself accountable, and to try to incentivize

prevention and better treatment.

So very proud of this guy for a lot of reasons, 'cause he put up with me while I

was battling cancer. But, um, very proud of, of what he's done to really

stand by me through the fight and to give hope to a lot of people across

the

state.

Joe?