I hate the drug industry !! Why people hate the drug industry...
1. They are only interested in making money and are using us a guinea pigs !
Well as a public company they are in business to make money but when they put making money above patients then I agree something is dreadfully wrong. The recent revelations around Seroquel clearly show what can happen when salespeople put sales ahead of customers (patients) and when this happens all the parties involved should be terminated but one has to also understand that data does not always tell a whole story about medicine and or medications. As for the drug industry using patients as guinea pigs it’s important to understand that when a new class of drugs is introduced it continues to go through long-term clinical trials to monitor the long term effects of using the compound. The FDA evaluates the risk of new drugs and approves drugs when the benefits outweigh the risks. Also remember that because of patent issues drug companies need to get the drug on the market ASAP to recoup costs.
2. If they didn’t advertise drugs on TV than drugs would be cheaper.
Not true. Direct to consumer costs are a relative small part of overall marketing costs. In general the drug industry has invested more and more in R&D. As this graph below shows, over the last thirty years expenditures in the Sales, General, and Administrative area have risen only slightly as a percent of sales. The Cost of Goods Sold category (materials, physical plant, manufacturing facilities, etc.) has gone proportionally down, with an interesting excursion in the mid-1990s. (Note also that this used to be the leading category). And R&D expenditures (again, as a percent of sales) rose in the 1980s, were flat in the 1990s, and have risen since then. Overall, since 1975, the proportion of money spent on R&D has more than tripled, from 5% to 17%
3.
Drugs are too damn expensive !
It now costs over $1 billion to develop and
launch new drugs and only 1 in 5 make it market.
That’s a lot of R&D costs that have to be
recouped and the costs to develop drugs is
increasing every month. Drug companies offer a
variety of programs for patients who cannot
afford medications and on the home page of this
BLOG is a link to an organization that can help
patients get the drugs they need when they cannot
afford them.
4.
Drug companies lie to us and don’t tell us the
truth about drug side effects
Well according to the FDA they have to report all
side effects and do so via Fair Balance. However
that being said there have been times when people
within the drug industry have made very bad
decisions and decided not to alert patients as to
potential new side effects. When this happens the
FDA needs to come down on the violators a lot
harder and increase the level of fines so that
it’s just not “an expense of doing business”.
Good medicine is good business ! Ask yourself
this question; if your were rushed to a hospital
and needed a drug to stabilize your condition
would you want it or would you let nature take
its course? Most people of course would do what
they needed to do to stay alive and in fact some
cancer patients would tell you that because of
new drugs they are now living longer and
healthier lives. Lance Armstrong is a prime
example of the promise of new cancer treatments.
The reality is that if the drug industry develops
new drugs that help us and benefit patients then
the profits will follow. However, people do not
always do the right thing and they can make
really stupid decisions. It’s up to drug industry
executives to lead by example and ensure that
patients always come first because when that
happens good things happen for both the patient
and the company !
