Follow the Money! - Pharmaceutical companies dictate health therapies
"Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have."
– Sir Winston Churchill
The medical profession only espouses what they have been taught by the pharmaceutical companies
Medical institutions are highly subsidized /sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies. This obviously influences curriculums towards treatment methods that are lucrative to themselves; as such, only drug-related treatments are likely to be pursued;
Pharmaceutical representatives in academic medical centers – Interaction with faculty and housestaff, Nicole Lurie et al, 1990, J. of General medicine. PubMed Association between physicians’ interaction with pharmaceutical companies and their clinical practices: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Brax H et al.PLoS One. 2017;12(4) e0175493. PubMed
Most post-med school education is given by drug representatives
Bad Results are Submitted as Good.
Big pharma spends mega $$$ on government lobbying.
Research sponsored by pharmaceutical companies is biased
Published studies overwhelmingly favor drugs funded by their own company and unwanted results are likely not published.
Obviously studies cost money, and the top funder is the most “invested”party for a drug trial – i.e. the company that makes it; E.g. all major statin studies are funded by the drug industry; the 2nd highest funder is the government’s supposedly “neutral”NIH, which itself accepts money from the drug industry; study results are skewed towards industry
Even if a study can’t make the “Results”section look good, the “Conclusions”can be twisted to make drug appear favorable;
FDA Corruption
In 1992, Congress put the “fox in the chicken coop”.
It passed the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, which authorizes drug companies to pay “user fees” to the FDA for each brand-name drug considered for approval. Nearly all the money generated by these fees has been earmarked to speed up the approval process. The real shocker is that it was not Congress or the FDA that requested the fees to be imposed, but rather “Big Pharma”itself! – obviously a mechanism to purchase support for their drugs. In effect, the user fee act put the FDA on the payroll of the industry it regulates. E.g.In 2010, the application fee for an application requiring clinical data was $1,401,500. The agency’s coziness with industry is underscored by the members of its advisory committees, many of whom work as consultants for drug companies. Although they are supposed to recluse themselves with conflict of interest, the FDA regularly grants waivers. E.g. In 1999, of a 6-member advisory committee approving Vioxx – 4 of them had received waivers. This arthritis drug was taken off the market in 2004 because it caused heart attacks. U.S. Government admits shortcomings of current cancer treatments in U.S. patent #5,605,930. Inventor, Dr. Dvorit Samid, and Assignee: The US Dept. of Health and Human Services actually admits that – “Current approaches to combat cancer rely primarily on the use of chemicals and radiation, which are themselves carcinogenic and may promote recurrences and the development of metastatic disease.”
Physicians – Pharmaceutical “Dealers”
Just to mention a couple of articles:
Drug companies spend billions to physicians to promote prescribing of their drugs.
Drug companies’ payments and gifts affect physicians’ prescribing.
Desire to make more money, not so much the fear of getting sued is why doctors order unnecessary tests that risk your health.
Physicians who have a financial interest in the testing procedures to which they are referring patients are up to seven times more likely to order X-rays. They are also twice as likely to order other tests and 40% more likely to order more complicated tests. Study released by Public Citizen, March 2011
