In 2003, Dr Allen Roses, the Vice President of Genetics in the UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) confessed that “the vast majority of drugs (more than 90%) only work in 30 – 50% of the people.” In other words, most prescription drugs out there DO NOT work on MOST people who take them. To make matter worse, they KILL !
Examples cited as follows:
+ Drugs for Alzheimer’s disease work in fewer than one in three patients,
+ Drugs for Cancer are only effective in a quarter of patients,
+ Drugs for migraines, for osteoporosis and arthritis work in about half the patients.
| FACT: In the U.S., the odds of being killed by conventional medicine are almost 20 times (2,000%) greater than being killed in an automobile accident and almost 30 times (3,000%) greater than being killed by a gun. |
- Aggressive marketing of the anti-depressant Paxil drug for pediatric usage without approval and can cause suicide risks if taken by children (US$11.6 billion);
- Drug Wellbutrin for sexual dysfunction and weight loss, though it was approved for depression only (US$5.9 billion);
- Avandia for treating diabetic condition when its own clinical trails showed adverse results which can lead to deaths from heart attacks (US$US$10.4 billion).
What is in play?
Majority of doctors are disillusioned and getting more frustrated. The initial intention to enter the medical profession is to cure people but only to find out that method in treating patients are drugs and surgery. This growing sentiment among doctors is that they want to offer their patients more treatment choices for curing disease than the medical system currently offers. One member of that growing number of doctors is Dr. Paul Beal.
“I want to do more for my patients than what’s offered by the pharmaceutical industry because I realized earlier on that modern medicine has become, unfortunately, more of a big business than a healing science.” — Paul Beals, M.D., C.C.N. Georgetown University School of Medicine (Course Instructor 1996-2004: Introduction to Complimentary and Alternative Medicine)
Doctors have been immersed into a marketing culture that relies on selling as many drugs as possible to the widest number of patients. The US authorities noted that GSK’s sales force literally bribed physicians to prescribe its products by giving out in kinds eg. gifts, holidays, leisure trips, shows etc. In more outrageous cases, some of the top doctors are willing to let their names go down as lead authors of ghostwritten studies for GSK drugs to gain lucrative rewards. An article published in a top journal was found to contain misrepresenting research data.
It is a common practice to engage some medical agencies to look at data from clinical trials funded by the drugmakers, discuss the findings of a drug and relates it to the treatment of a specific condition.
Following that other drugmakers fined include-
+ May 2012 – Abbot US$1.6 billion for its anti-psychotic Depakote;
+ 2011 - Merck paid US$950 million for illegal marketing of the painkiller Vioxx, which caused heart attacks;
+ 2010 – AstraZeneca paid US$520 million for illegal marketing of its anti-psychotic Seroquel;
+ 2009 – Eli Lilly was fined US1.42 billion for its anti-psychotic Zyprexa;
+ 2009 – Pfizer was fined US2.3 billion for illegal marketing of painkiller Bextra, anti-psychotic Geodon, antibiotic Zyvox and anti-epileptic Lyrica.
The fines imposed paled off compared to the revenue raked in, making Big Pharma the most profitable industry in the world. Now we know why the top 10 pharmaceutical companies’ combined profits exceeded the combined profits of all the 490 remaining companies in the Fortune 500 list!
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The real money (for drug companies) is in TREATMENT. To an extent, there also is money in diagnosis, for example, mammography and blood tests for prostate cancer. To expand this lucrative industry, there is a need to convert ‘HEALTH‘ into ‘DISEASE‘. Revenues are generated when unhealthy people are paying more to be treated of disease and chronic illness and extend to addicting people to lifetime requirements for prescription drugs.
Three potential areas commonly explored:
– Creative marketers are roped in to engage the media with new, absurd ways to reach out to end-users through direct-to-consumer advertising for their drugs.
– A ‘detail representative’ from the pharmaceutical industry goes round to hand out free samples and handsome rewards for the products dished out by his company to medical practitioners.
– Drug companies have experts on their payroll who are part of the FDA’s drug safety decision panels, and who do not disclose their conflicts of interest. They are making decisions that expand the definition of disease. A classic case of this was when cholesterol numbers were lowered from 130 to 100 to instantly make 10 million more Americans diagnosable with high cholesterol so they could be treated with statin drugs. No wonder in the United States, the top 10 pharmaceutical companies raked in $1 trillion revenue which is more than the remaining 490 Fortune 500 companies!
It is a sad fact that the medical approaches that get the most attention tend to be those that are the most lucrative. When things are cheap, there often is not the commercial will and push that can be instrumental in their popularization. Hence, even though most of the costly drugs have serious side effects, doctors keep this secret away from their patients and are not keen to recommend the lower-margin natural nutrition or even cheaper/latest generic brand products.
In recent times, when more people are turning to nutrition for health maintenance purpose, some big-time pharma are not missing the chance to share this voluminous market. An example is the popular Vitamin C largely sourced from China (produced for 80% of global demand) by them at fraction of a cost! Check the effectiveness of your Vitamin C pills the next time your doctor dispenses to you.
Source: Straits Times dated Jul 14, 2012 – Big Pharma fraud: JAIL time could be the cure!!!
If you are still doubtful of the above text, tune in to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOW8LNU2hFE&feature=relmfu
COUNTERFEIT DRUGS
Effects
As the products can contain hazardous, adulterants and substituted ingredients, such low-quality counterfeit medication may cause any of several dangerous health consequences including side effects, allergic reactions and fatality in the worst scenario.
Take for instance fake antibiotic where its low concentration of the active ingredients can cause bodily harm as it can stimulate the development of drug resistance in surviving bacteria. Even completion of a course of treatment is unlikely to be fully effective.
In 2007, a cough syrup made in China killed more than 500 kids who took the syrup. Apparently the producer substituted the costly active ingredient glycerine for antifreeze diethylene glycol.
Country of origin
Counterfeiting occurs throughout the world and more seen in some developing countries with weak regulatory or enforcement controls. The range is in the region of 10% – 50% worldwide for counterfeit drugs. Many of the fake drugs came from the same countries that make normal drugs, in particular China, India and some substandard facilities in Eastern Europe. Is illegal to sell fake drugs for domestic use in India, but there is no prohibition on export of counterfeit drugs. Likewise the biggest drug exporter in the world – China is not responsible for regulating pharmaceutical ingredients manufactured and exported by chemical companies. Irresponsible act right?
Circulation
An estimate of faked drugs circulating around the world is an astronomical sum of US$75 billion in 2010, rising steadily by 90% over the last 5 years. No wonder illegal syndicates are switching to selling counterfeit drugs than narcotics. Given the low manufacturing costs involved and high selling prices, the profit margins can be as high as 200% as compared to only 25% for the real stuffs and risk of being slapped with a death sentence in some countries like Singapore.
How lucrative can unscrupulous businessmen make? In 2006, a US-based firm called Albers Medical Distributors pleaded guilty to making US42 million on counterfeit Lipitor and other medications.
Tracking system
There are several technologies that may prove helpful in combating the counterfeit drug problem. An example is radio frequency identification which uses electronic devices to track and identify items, such as pharmaceutical products, by assigning individual serial numbers to the containers holding each product. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wanted to develop an electronic device system to track drugs from factory to pharmacy.
In response to the stringent control by some Health Regulatory Authorities, counterfeiters devised subtle ways to escape being caught. Faked drugs are mixed up with genuine ingredients already passed expiry date in the event a molecular test is conducted. Hidden behind the flags of western nations makes it plausible for unknown clients to order direct online with good discounts thrown in. A 2005 FDA Study of 11000 Canadian online pharmacies found that only 214 were registered to a Canadian entity.
Our comments:
+ If the need arises -
Do not buy from unauthorised dealers any drug as they can be counterfeited. Even an original drug should be taken with care and may require prescription. Not only drugs can be counterfeited, supplements and foods are no exception. In the world of deception, many producers are sacrificing the health and lives of others to enrich themselves.
Avoid them completely and stay safe in the world free of drugs. Both counterfeit and medicated drugs are destroying our bodies. Do not let our lives be ruined by products churned out by counterfeiters or pharmas for their ulterior motive.
CAVEAT EMPTOR ! !!
Source: The Straits Times, Jun 16, 2011
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