Comments on: Pharmaceutical Drug Companies Marketing and Policy Making

By: learn to draw

learn to draw — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:26:08 +0000

do you sometimes get hot when its 105 degrees outside?
do you not like bumper to bumper traffic?
have you ever thought your boss was a jerk?
does a death of a loved one make you sad?
did you have toast more than 3 times this week?

You answered yes to ANY of these questions you probably have one of 3,000 made up mental disorders that are in the ever growing list of made of disorders that are not based on anything resembling science.

You should ask your doctor about Prozium.

Side effects may include;
Severe Anal Bleeding
Inability to balance any part of the left side of your body
Massive weight gain in your right love handle
Suicide
Being able to understand every word that Jesse Jackson says
And frequent delusions of being Captain Crunch and that the FBI is after you and
your latest secret decoder ring.

By: Bill Rogers

Bill Rogers — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:42:58 +0000

Natural good supplements can enhance the performance and wellness of us all.
Bonnie Stein at http://www.racewalker.com is a fitness guru, that has been featured on numerous TV programs including CNN, who introduced me to the benefits of “good” supplements. A healthy diet and exercise are the first steps to good health and improving your physical performance. But, we can’t eat enough of the right foods to get all the vitamins and minerals our bodies need for optimum performance. The wellness education page on http://www.docopolis.com is a valuable resource with links to independent research and government data from places like the NIH and The U.S. National Library of Medicine. Great information on what you need to perform at you maximum potential naturally.

As far as prescribed medications go make sure your doctor knows your complete history, is competent and not pushing products because a pharm rep gave him a boatload of samples. After that follow the prescribed routine precisely it very well could save your life.

By: Aarin

Aarin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:07:09 +0000

I do agree that a holistic approach to medicine is almost never even offered as an option. For example I was experiencing RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) and I almost started taking a prescription medication for my situation. However, because I was already taking so many other prescriptions, I hesitated. I decided instead, to start paying more attention to my own body. Well I found out that I stopped experiencing RLS when I stopped eating overly processed foods, mainly MSG. I found that when I had MSG (often found in Doritos, ranch dressing, and all fast food). I almost always experienced RLS like clock work. So long story short, instead of taking another prescription, all I had to do was to change my diet. It was that simple. I really avoid MSG and I don’t need more drugs.

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:23:52 +0000

You people who defend the Pharma companies – I get the crazy feeling you must work for one, or are in one of the thousands of industries that make their money directly from Pharma. I used to work for a Web and MUltimedia firm that made training materials for Pharmaceutical companies. They used to walk around justifying the millions of dollars they suckled from Pharma’s teet by saying, “just think – you’re helping an industry that helps others. At the end of the day you can go home feeling like you made a difference”.

Meanwhile, it was all BS. The training materials we were designing were Multimedia presentations that taught Sales Reps how to do whatever it took to get a doctor to prescribe their drug. The training materials were built to prepare Reps for almost any negative response or rejection they could get – and how to creatively counter the answer so they could give the doctor some samples.

In other words, it was sneaky and underhanded. So, I ask – why would any industry that was sincerely, honestly interested in helping the health of the world and doing so – have to lie or sneak their drugs into the hands of the public?

Do some research – the answers are out there. The facts, no matter how disputed or ill-reported, are there. If these drugs are so wonderful, and so much-needed, why not let the public seek them out on their own? Why spend billions advertising with billboards, TV commercials, cartoon characters, junkets, etc.

Just a notion, but your watchdog-like defense of the industry reeks a little too much like the “Pharma Cares about You,” lies that everyone in the industry tells themselves so they can sleep at night.

By: Kyle Bowles

Kyle Bowles — Fri, 23 May 2008 21:18:45 +0000

You know how unbelievably true this all is, me and my father discuss this issue constantly, because my mother was diagnosed as a phychosis paitent for something that happened 30-40 years ago and they forced her to start paying for all kinds of meds that just fucked with her head complettly, and to this day, she’s buying all these pills and going on doing what she does, for what? because some shmuck at a hospital thought that alchohol wasn’t the only reason she was depressed, that it stemmed “much deeper” and that the quack thought she needed more drugs to get rid of the problem.

Sadly, before the day she went to that hospital, she was a perfectly fine person and someone who i loved being around, my father left my mother soon after and me and my brothers no longer associate much with her, she’s changed, and not for the good they claimed.

And like me and my dad have said, the only reason they want her on those meds is for money, and lots of it.

By: Jim O'Connor

Jim O'Connor — Fri, 23 May 2008 06:32:26 +0000

Wow! I love that you took on this controversial issue. Yes, the drug companies are businesses, and are out to make a profit. It does seem that people health is the second objective. The companies have a lot of share holders to answer to if the earning are down.

By: Muscle Post

Muscle Post — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:02:01 +0000

This is my first visit to your site, but I like it! I can see that you post about some pretty controversial topics which is brave and motivational. And I enjoy reading this stuff so it will keep me coming back.

By: treatthecause

treatthecause — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:53:30 +0000

Have you guys heard of naturopathic medicine? Not only is naturopathic treatment considerably cheaper than the alternative, it’s also natural. The therapies are based on things like first do no harm, treat the cause, and prevention first. The problem with natural medicine? You can’t patent vitamins that occur in nature! It’s unfortunate that more people don’t know that Vitamin D helps prevent cancer – and you can get it for free! From the sun! This type of problem has created a huge battle between the MD’s and the NMD’s out there. The saddest thing is that the MD’s aren’t trained to know any better nowadays. I suppose going to traditional medical school today is something like allowing yourself to be brainwashed by pharmaceutical companies in order to make a pretty penny. It’s too bad what the world has come too. But I’m sure it won’t be long till there’s a turn around. The MD’s are realizing the importance of natural therapeutics and I’m sure it won’t be long before there’s a revolution!

“life in all it’s fullness is mother nature obeyed” – Weston Price

Also, I strongly believe that the advertising of drugs in mainstream media is absolutely and unquestionably wrong. In Canada it’s not even allowed right now. What does the average Joe know about their health? Nothing! The average Joe doesn’t even know that you should be shopping around the outside of grocery stores to get the majority of your foods from the fresh food section. Did you know that drugs are usually made based on their action within one pathway in the body, but are applied systemically. So just because a molecule has an antiinflammatory action in one pathway does not mean that it will act in the same way through out the whole body. The average Joe is not knowledgeable enough to make these types of decisions about what types of drugs to be on and therefore should be presented with options from their primary health care provider and not bombarded by the media in order to make people think they “need” that drug. Hopefully people are looking to a naturopath (some are licensed to prescribe drugs, like here in AZ) who is trained in a diverse range of health care options and can truly present you with your best bet!

A wise professor once told me, to never take a drug that had been on the market for less than 50 years. He said even then you were taking a huge risk.

Last thought – the body was designed to be healthy. If we obey mother nature, we will be healthy. Life is really that simple.

By: Gwen

Gwen — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:51:29 +0000

pharmacy should strictly kept under control of the state, and not to lead people to overdose with some meds, which are not so legal…

By: Mitch

Mitch — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:20:42 +0000

It’s hard to say whether these figures are out of line or not. It’s easy to throw up a bunch of numbers that on the surface seem very dramatic (they spent 2x on marketing than what they spent on R&D!!! OMG!!!!) but you would find with just the slightest amount of digging that those numbers are very much in line with other industries. For instance on almost the same amount of revenue, Microsoft spent almost the same amount on marketing and the same amount on R&D. It might not be an apples-to-apples comparison, but what else are we comparing it to then? Sixteen billion dollars is a lot of money for sure, and so is seven billion. But who are we to say how much is too much? It’s the same argument that people have about the oil companies. They make too much money is what everyone says. But their profit margins are even lower than drug companies and theirs are around the 20% mark. That’s pretty good but it’s hardly raping the general public.

We all want cheap gas and cheap drugs and so on, but someone has to foot the bill. It’s costs MAJOR money to bring a drug to market. And by major we’re talking billions of dollars in some cases. About twelve years ago it cost something like $500-800 million just to go through FDA clinical trials which can literally take years to complete. Drug companies have a lot of upfront costs that they have to recoup in a very short amount of time before their patents expire (7 years I think). After that, the generics take over the market.

But think about it: one drug company spent over seven BILLION dollars attempting to provide a better quality of life for people. And then they spent another sixteen BILLION dollars trying to tell you about what they’re doing. What’s the harm again?

Granted, the voracious lobbying effort has to stop. I have more of a problem with that than any amount of print or TV advertising they do.