Posted on 11/29/2004 11:51:02 AM PST by softengine
America's pharmaceutical industry is under attack. Critics have pejoratively nicknamed the industry "Big Pharma" (to conjure up an image of it being in a line-up next to "Big Tobacco") and characterize it as uncaring, duplicitous, profit-hungry and manipulative. The resentment of the industry is palpable -- whether in my own conversations with relatives and friends (particularly elderly and/or infirm ones) or in Congress, where advocates are demanding the legalization of drug importation from Canada and elsewhere in a desperate (and in the long run, futile) attempt to bring prices down.
Perhaps nowhere does the strident criticism of the industry come together in a "perfect storm" as it does in Dr. Marcia Angell's new book, The Truth About Drug Companies.
Angell comes to this attack with impeccable credentials. She spent years as editor of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, and for that reason alone, she is a force to be reckoned with. Her take-home message is that Big Pharma is depriving poor and middle-class citizens of the life-saving, life-enhancing drugs that they deserve by charging exorbitant fees and making people choose between having food in the refrigerator or medicine in the cabinet.
Further, she argues that the industry, which describes itself as innovative and research and development oriented, actually produces few new drugs, only pumping out "me too" or copycat versions. Dr. Angell recommends radical measures such as the government taking over the industry and treating it as a public utility.
Her arguments, however, are contradictory, inconsistent and often in error. For example:
She claims in the same breath that a) essential life-saving medications are withheld from needy people by greedy companies, and b) people are unnecessarily medicated, that drugs do not work and there are no truly innovative drugs out there. Which way is it? Are Rx companies saving lives with spectacular new drugs or are they not?
She (like most consumers) thinks drugs are different from any other consumer product. They are an "entitlement," because they are essential to life and health.
But why are pharmaceuticals not like other consumer products? Housing and food are essential for life -- is it the right of everyone to have these at below-market prices? Certainly, our society has a "safety net" for people who truly cannot afford these basics. What entitles people to expensive pharmaceuticals? How many older Americans would not think twice about discretionary spending annually at the rate of $10,000, $20,000 or more for cruises, golf, clothes, dining out or other non-essential fare but are outraged when they have to spend $5,000 per year on drugs that keep them alive and healthy?
Dr Angell argues that drug company profits are too high and drugs cost too much.
But in making this argument, she overlooks the importance of economic incentives for innovation. The "pot of gold" prospect is what fuels research and development. What is wrong with big profits if companies are producing drugs that prolong and enhance our lives? It is a win-win scenario.
When she states drugs are too expensive, the logical follow-up is, "Too expensive compared to what?" Premature death? Weeks or months of hospitalization? Pain and suffering, say from osteoarthritis?
She claims that there are no new drugs coming to market -- that they are all copycat drugs.
This simply is not true. In the past 10 years, over 300 new drugs have been approved by FDA, including vaccines, medicines to treat AIDS, modest steps toward treating Alzheimer's, a spectrum of anti-depressants and of course miraculous cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Most incredible perhaps is the fact that Dr. Angell maintains that importing drugs from Canada and elsewhere poses no health risks. At best this is just plain naïve. Earlier this month, there was a warning from acting FDA Director Lester Crawford about the possibility of terrorists using contaminated pharmaceuticals as a weapon against us. That should cause everyone to reflect on the real risks associated with importing less expensive prescription drugs, which claim to be “from Canada" but could be from anywhere.
Her final rallying call is that we would be all better off if pharmaceutical research and development were taken over by the government, or if we at least put in national price controls to keep prices down. I wonder if Dr. Angell knows how many new drugs countries with price controls like Canada put on the market each year. The answer is none.
Price controls or nationalization of the industry would be equivalent to morphing the current energetic, innovative, productive private-sector drug industry (think FedEx) into the Rx equivalent of the U.S. Post Office.
Random House, the publisher, has declared this to be a "deeply unsettling book."
I agree. It has great potential for destroying the goose laying the golden Rx eggs.
The Truth About the Drug Companies is available on Amazon.com.
Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan is president of the American Council on Science and Health.
Union bosses like Feldman and screeching harpies like Weingarten and HRC soak up all of the publicity, while truly innovative, brilliant thinkers like Heather McDonald and Peter Brimelow are almost universally ignored by the liberal, mainstream press corps.
Thanks..I thought my attempt at satire was self-evident..obvious not.. I shall endeavour to work on it....
Sorry...I guess I missed it. LOL
Now that you mention it, it's pretty obvious.
THWACK!! (smacking myself upside the head)
Also, when they can get away with it, they tell the manufacturer that they're going to sell at a set price or the Canadian government will open a factory and make the drug themselves.
It's not just Canada...there are several countries that are pulling this same blackmail. Consequently, the price Americans pay for many drugs is artificially high: essentially we subsidize the drug costs of socialized medicine countries that are underselling drugs to their own populace.
bump!
I didn't catch the authors name, but if you want the phone# Freepmail me.
What we have in medicine is a duplicate of what we have in the school systems; the union is in charge of the system (AMA) and the AMA is run by the pharmaceutical companies for the parmaceutical companies as is the FDA.
Wake up and prove truth whether it comes from a gutter (Moore) or a castle. Even God used a jackass to turn a bigot into a treasure.
The one sure way to make sure drugs don't get to the people who truly need them is for the government to impose price controls.
I might actually feel sorry for the pharmaceutical industry if it was not for the fact that they charge us U.S. citizens triple the price for their drugs that they charge the rest of the world for.
Examples:
Rent control -----> Greedy landlords.
Gas price control -----> "Big Oil" "Seven Sisters"
The drug companies also get into bed with and use the government. if they want to stop dying by the sword, they should stop living by the sword.
Hmm...
I wonder when it's going to expire.
Dr. John Abramson has written a new book, "Overdosed America". He's a family doc who has seen plenty. He covers the cozy relationship between drug cos. and the FDA and docs and drug cos. He says 70% of our medical problems are preventable by diet, exercise and other lifestyle choices. I know a lady who was on 14 prescription medications (28 pills daily). She was a zombie. I helped her get on a nutrition program and she is now drug-free and living a full life again. Drugs are wonderful in some limited circumstances, but they are way over-prescribed and causing many problems.
And price controls ALWAYS hurt the poor. Just how many poor people can afford to live in NYC or SF?
Yeah--have heard this before. EEEEEvil pharmaceudicals. EEEEEvil hospitals. EEEEvil doctors. Vitamins, etc. Granny Goodwitch. Earth Mommies. Brother Moon. Take a vitamin or wholesome unstandardized herbs when the chest pains start? Well, that's your business. When the chest pains start, I'm hightailing it to the ER, and when a simple med saves me both from death and crippling--I'll kiss the feet of the pharm industry. You can have your vitamins....
Some of the commie stuff I read about pharma is nuts. Pharma is 15% of the healthcare dollar. The rest is hospitals, doctors, services, etc. The US gov't needs to get off it's ass and get on the backs of these socialist countries not paying their share of the drug bill. It amounts to an unfair subsidy to them and its being put on the backs of US citizens. Otherwise, the commies in the USA are going to try get the gov't into the pharma business. If people think things are bad now, just wait 'til that happens. We'll go from expensive drugs to no drugs at all. We'll have drugs for AIDS or drugs for hispanics or blacks or whichever political group the politicians want votes from. Or, the gov't can just put us all on drugs and we won't need to vote since we'll be too stoned to make decisions. The suggestion that gov't should take over developement of drugs is moronic.
Not only are pharms a small % of healthcare, so are docs. Yet, everyone refers to their hospital bills as "doctors' bills."
What costs is that infrastructure and its maintenance--that fragile thing called a hospital. All that junk and its upkeep and its technicians.
I had 2 surgeries last year. I don't know what I would have done without the medication and everything from IVs to in-line tubing, medicine pumps, blood transfusions. All of it. I was only in the hospital for a couple days. I had a wonderful doctor, the hospital took good care of me and they didn't kill me, and if it weren't for the technology, I would have been in the hospital a lot longer than I was. Now I'm healthier than I've been in years.
What % of medical costs come from lawsuit protection - like insurance premiums and "defensive medicine"?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.