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: How 5 Capitalist Democracies actually tackle health care - Page 5 - Political Forum

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:06:34 +0000

[…] The Bad and the Profitable � Pushing the Big Pharma Agenda I believe in capitalism and free markets. I don�t think health care and medicine should be in the hands of government. Not a very liberal point of view, but that�s just my opinion. For the record, I�ve never seen Sicko, not that it should matter. But somewhere medicine stopped being about the common good. The �free market� of medicine is not free at all. It can�t be free when the there are more than 2 pharmaceutical lobbyists for every 1 member of Congress. It can�t be free when the pharmaceutical industry spends more than any other industry on its lobbying efforts. ($758 million since 1998 as of 2005)(1) And this is my problem with the pharmaceutical industry, and it should be yours. This is the point I was trying to make in the previous article. There is plenty of good work being done in medicine, but it is being exploited and abused by those in control. Like when a drug to treat severe depression is marketed to the general public, so it can hook those with low self-esteem or those going through a rough patch in their lives to a habit forming pill. Promoting the common good has taken a backseat promoting a company�s bottom line. From USA Today(2): Over the years those lobbyists have been very successful, demonstrating that the industry knows politics as well as it knows chemistry. Drug companies won coverage for prescription drugs under Medicare in 2003 while blocking the government from negotiating prices downward. They have so far kept out imports of cheaper medicines from Canada and other countries. And they have protected a system that uses company fees to speed the drug-approval process. �They win more than they should,� says James Love, an industry critic who is director of the non-profit Consumer Project on Technology. �The one thing they have going for them is money.� __________________ _________________ When a true genius appears in the world, you may know them by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against them. -Jonathan Swift —"Thoughts On Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting." […]

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: Randy

Randy — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:51:06 +0000

Randy…

Just wanted to drop you a quick note to say thank you for a great resource.There is nothing else like your site on the net today. My friends are just going to love this site once I let them know about it….

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.