The tragic part of the Ebola crisis is not over yet, but the comic sequel has already begun.

And it stars Congressman Henry Waxman, who represents the west side of Los Angeles.

Six months ago, Waxman set off a stink bomb in biotech research labs around the country: He sent a letter to the president of Gilead Sciences Inc., questioning the cost of a new drug that basically cures hepatitis C.

The drug costs $1,000 a day for about 85 days, and Waxman decided that was too expensive. Even if it is an enormous improvement over competing drugs. Even if it creates even greater savings than the only other alternative: a liver transplant.

Waxman was nowhere to be found when the people behind Gilead came up with the idea, raised the money, hired the doctors, built the labs, tested the drugs and finally figured out how to sell it once they learned their drug cured 90-plus percent of the cases of Hepatitis C.

Waxman-come-lately could not have cared less.

Investors saw his letter for what it was: an opening shot in a war to set price controls on new drugs. Waxman’s allies were ready with talking heads, op-eds and threats of congressional action.

Gilead shares lost 20 percent of their value over the next six weeks. Other biotechs followed it into the abyss.

Biotech investors were not overly worried about what kind of laws Waxman would push to hurt their ability to make a profit on their drugs. But they knew Waxman could make life miserable for them at the Food and Drug Administration if he so chose.

Investors trusted in Waxman’s arbitrary and capricious reputation. So they took their money out of the biotech stocks.

Make no mistake about this: Driving investors away from biotech companies is a bigger threat to world health than Ebola or whatever happens to be our next disease of the month.

Dependent on cures

The world depends on American biotech companies to cure things like Ebola. The world also depends on people like Waxman staying out of the way and taking his silly political games somewhere else.

Drying up their biotech investment money hurts. That is what Waxman did.

Biotech began to recover a few months later, no thanks to Waxman. And just in time: The same people who were begging for price controls on the drug profiteers are now begging the same companies to do more and go faster in finding a cure for Ebola. And don’t worry about the cost.

Waxman has not yet gotten around to killing the chances for a cure for Ebola by setting price controls on the one drug that offers hope of a solution. But he has been busy creating chaos in other places.

He tried to blame Republicans for the Ebola crisis, saying they cut funding to the Centers for Disease Control and other public health agencies.

Not true.

He is fighting a travel ban to and from regions where Ebola is rampant.

Not smart.

He refuses to draw the connection between controlling our borders and preventing Ebola and other diseases from strolling into this country, unchecked.

That is dangerous.

Not all comedies are funny.

Bill Gunderson is president of Gunderson Capital Management in San Diego.