As money-making medicationslike Prozac, Lipitor, Viagra, Zyprexa, Symbicort and Nexium come off patent the pharmaceutical industry is facing a downturn. Over the past few years Pfizer merged with Wyeth, Merck merged with Schering-Plough and Roche merged with Genentech. Now Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly are pursuing protective financial partnerships. During the highly profitable times, very little money was allocated (as a proportion of revenues) for R&D for newer drugs. Without new drugs, there's nothing to advertise so to speak. That and they won't take risks for new medicines that they don't see as profitable.
Another profitable strategy is of course to invent a health problem and provide a new drug treatment for it. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an inflammatory disease that affects the bones and joints. But like depression, bipolar disorder, attention deficit and other lucrative diseases, the diagnosis of AS is a judgment call with no clearcut test. If it is AS, back pain sufferers may just need Humira, a genetically modified, injected drug that costs $15,000 to $20,000 a year per patient. Drugs like Humira are "monoclonal antibodies" that suppress the body's immune system by blocking tumor necrosis factor (TNF). They are valuable for serious autoimmune diseases but increasingly marketed for less serious conditions. Patients treated with Humira are at increased risk for developing serious infections that may lead to hospitalization or death. These include invasive fungal infections, including histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosi, and Bacterial, viral and other infections due to opportunistic pathogens, including Legionella and Listeria. In 2008, 45 people died from opportunistic fungal diseases associated with such TNF blockers. The same year, the FDA investigated Humira for 30 reports of childhood cancers and its links to lymphoma, leukemia and melanoma in children. In 2011, the FDA also warned that Humira can cause, "a rare cancer of white blood cells," in young people. Five patients died during Humira trials in Italy that year. Reasonable risks for treating a sore back that may or not be caused by Ankylosing spondylitis?
Then there is the medical threat being highlighted by the drug industry of Non-24 Hour Sleep Wake Disorder. How common is Non-24? How rare is Non-24? There are only 146 citations for the disorder in the entire U.S. National Library of Medicine and invariably associated with blind people. By comparison, there are 8,463 citations for the plague. Not sleeping through the night? Feel sleepy during the day? You might have it. There is a pill called Hetlioz being advertised and sold for it.
Rising suicide rates are being blamed upon a lower prescriptions for a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The reason for reduced use is because they are known to cause suicide. Charles Nemeroff, said in 2008, "The concerns about antidepressant use in children and adolescents have paradoxically resulted in a reduction in their use, and this has contributed to increased suicide rates." Such warnings "unnecessarily frighten families away from seeking treatment," he warned. Nemeroff was investigated by Congress for undeclared Pharma income and admits to at least nine Pharma financial links. He was echoed in the warnings as a "barrier" to treatment, by David Shern, president of Mental Health Americaa group that was also investigated by Congress for its industry funding. Even the New York Times carried the initial story about people dying from antidepressant deficiencies. The research on which the Times article was based was funded by a $30,000 Pfizer grant. An article by the same author in the British Medical Jouranl, who had financial links to Wyeth and Pfizer, attributed veterans' suicides to SSRI deficiencies. While the statistics of rising suicides were indeed correct, the drop in SSRI prescriptions that "caused" them had occurred the following year and the number of prescriptions in the cited year showed no change.
The Iraq and Afghanistan wars were a cash cow to Big Pharma with one in six troops on its drugs. A veritable pharma battlefield was created with troops marching on SSRIs, benzos like Xanax, anti-seizure drugs, anti-psychotics, pain pills and sleeping pills and receiving more of the same for PTSD. Prescriptions for Seroquel (an anti-psychotic which also raised the suicide risk) went up 700 percent and the SSRI antidepressant Paxil was the drug of choice during the Iraq war. The military press itself reported on the over-medication and likelihood it was correlated with suicide. Military Times observed that the graphs of increased suicides in the military and increased drug prescriptions would fit exactly over each other.
It appears that the medical ethic “first do no harm" has changed to "first make profits". The medical system is all about money. Capitalism does not lead to the best opportunities no matter what free market neo-liberals say.
from here
Another profitable strategy is of course to invent a health problem and provide a new drug treatment for it. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an inflammatory disease that affects the bones and joints. But like depression, bipolar disorder, attention deficit and other lucrative diseases, the diagnosis of AS is a judgment call with no clearcut test. If it is AS, back pain sufferers may just need Humira, a genetically modified, injected drug that costs $15,000 to $20,000 a year per patient. Drugs like Humira are "monoclonal antibodies" that suppress the body's immune system by blocking tumor necrosis factor (TNF). They are valuable for serious autoimmune diseases but increasingly marketed for less serious conditions. Patients treated with Humira are at increased risk for developing serious infections that may lead to hospitalization or death. These include invasive fungal infections, including histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosi, and Bacterial, viral and other infections due to opportunistic pathogens, including Legionella and Listeria. In 2008, 45 people died from opportunistic fungal diseases associated with such TNF blockers. The same year, the FDA investigated Humira for 30 reports of childhood cancers and its links to lymphoma, leukemia and melanoma in children. In 2011, the FDA also warned that Humira can cause, "a rare cancer of white blood cells," in young people. Five patients died during Humira trials in Italy that year. Reasonable risks for treating a sore back that may or not be caused by Ankylosing spondylitis?
Then there is the medical threat being highlighted by the drug industry of Non-24 Hour Sleep Wake Disorder. How common is Non-24? How rare is Non-24? There are only 146 citations for the disorder in the entire U.S. National Library of Medicine and invariably associated with blind people. By comparison, there are 8,463 citations for the plague. Not sleeping through the night? Feel sleepy during the day? You might have it. There is a pill called Hetlioz being advertised and sold for it.
Rising suicide rates are being blamed upon a lower prescriptions for a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The reason for reduced use is because they are known to cause suicide. Charles Nemeroff, said in 2008, "The concerns about antidepressant use in children and adolescents have paradoxically resulted in a reduction in their use, and this has contributed to increased suicide rates." Such warnings "unnecessarily frighten families away from seeking treatment," he warned. Nemeroff was investigated by Congress for undeclared Pharma income and admits to at least nine Pharma financial links. He was echoed in the warnings as a "barrier" to treatment, by David Shern, president of Mental Health Americaa group that was also investigated by Congress for its industry funding. Even the New York Times carried the initial story about people dying from antidepressant deficiencies. The research on which the Times article was based was funded by a $30,000 Pfizer grant. An article by the same author in the British Medical Jouranl, who had financial links to Wyeth and Pfizer, attributed veterans' suicides to SSRI deficiencies. While the statistics of rising suicides were indeed correct, the drop in SSRI prescriptions that "caused" them had occurred the following year and the number of prescriptions in the cited year showed no change.
The Iraq and Afghanistan wars were a cash cow to Big Pharma with one in six troops on its drugs. A veritable pharma battlefield was created with troops marching on SSRIs, benzos like Xanax, anti-seizure drugs, anti-psychotics, pain pills and sleeping pills and receiving more of the same for PTSD. Prescriptions for Seroquel (an anti-psychotic which also raised the suicide risk) went up 700 percent and the SSRI antidepressant Paxil was the drug of choice during the Iraq war. The military press itself reported on the over-medication and likelihood it was correlated with suicide. Military Times observed that the graphs of increased suicides in the military and increased drug prescriptions would fit exactly over each other.
It appears that the medical ethic “first do no harm" has changed to "first make profits". The medical system is all about money. Capitalism does not lead to the best opportunities no matter what free market neo-liberals say.
from here
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