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April 19 2008
Shocking Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry

dangerous drugs, drug companies, pharmaceutical, big pharma, drugsBig drug companies have been accused of putting profits above patients, spinning false PR campaigns and more. Here are some of the most shocking facts about the pharmaceutical industry.

The price of drugs is increasing faster than anything else a patient pays for: The prices of the most heavily prescribed drugs are routinely jacked up, sometimes several times a year. Some medications have a mark-up of 1,000 percent over the cost of their ingredients.

Your doctor may have an ulterior motive behind your prescription: Drug reps often give gifts to convince doctors to prescribe the medications that they represent. These drug reps usually have no medical or science education.

Pharmaceutical companies spend more on marketing than research: Almost twice as much!

Guilty of Medicare fraud: Pharmaceutical companies are being tried in federal courts as a result of their exploitation of Medicare. AstraZeneca had to pay more than $340 million in penalties for coaching doctors to cheat Medicare.

The combined wealth of the top 5 pharmaceutical companies outweigh GNP of sub-Saharan Africa: In fact, the combined worth of the world’s top five drug companies is twice the combined GNP of that entire region.

Americans pay more for prescription meds than anyone else in the world: $200 billion in 2002 alone.

"New" Drugs aren't really new: Two-thirds of “new” prescription drugs are identical to existing drugs or modified versions of them.

Drug companies are taking advantage of underdeveloped countries to perform clinical trials: In developing countries, government oversight is more lax.

For more shocking facts, click the link below.



Dr. MercolaDr. Mercola's Comments:

According to Corporate Watch, Fortune magazine has declared the world’s biggest drug company, Pfizer the “fifth-best wealth-creator” in America.  

The question is: who benefits from this “creation of wealth”? It’s certainly not the Americans who pay a thousand percent markup for the drugs Pfizer pumps out. 

Americans pay far more for their drugs than any other nation. Take this, for example: according to PricewaterhouseCoopers fascinating report, Pharma 2020: The Vision, India spends $420 per diabetic patient per year. The U.S., in comparison, spends an average of $10,844 per year per patient.Their report also states:

“The current pharmaceutical industry business model is both economically unsustainable and operationally incapable of acting quickly enough to produce the types of innovative treatments demanded by global markets. In order to make the most of these future growth opportunities, the industry must fundamentally change the way it operates.

Some of the major changes PwC anticipates for the industry are:

  • Health care will shift in focus from treatment to prevention.
  • Pharmaceutical companies will provide total health care packages.
  • The current linear phase research & development process will give way to in-life testing and live licensing, in collaboration with regulators and health care providers.
  • The traditional blockbuster sales model will disappear.
  • The supply chain function will become revenue generating as it becomes integral to the health care package and enables access to new channels.
  • More sophisticated direct-to-consumer distribution channels will diminish the role of wholesalers.

Now, some of this has an encouraging ring to it, such as shifting the focus from treatment to prevention. Other “predictions” are far more menacing, including the development of more sophisticated direct-to-consumer distribution channels for drugs.  

People are Waking Up to the Truth About Health

Fortunately, more people are waking up to the illusion and deception of the drug industry as a whole, and starting to clearly see the truth. Last year’s PricewaterhouseCoopers' report cited a declining trust in the reputation of the mega-pharmaceuticals.

The main reason is because the public is absolutely right in their estimation that drug companies manipulate or suppress negative clinical trials, promote their toxic products for unapproved uses, and focus on developing drugs that are no better than older ones.

This is yet another indication that my vision to reconfigure and reform the deadly state of conventional health care in America is getting closer to becoming a reality. So keep up the good work folks. But please be aware, the battle has merely begun… Each of the 25 facts listed in the article above constitutes a problem within the system that needs to be changed or abolished.

Physicians must also, en masse, come to the realization that what they are doing is going nowhere. This may be one of the most difficult areas to change, as the pharmaceutical industry has devised a highly effective system of indoctrination and very specific psychological techniques to bamboozle physicians. Doctors usually believe they are immune to persuasion tactics, and drug reps know just how important it is to maintain that illusion – which is why it works so well. 

Consider for a moment the in-depth report published in both The New England Journal of Medicine and PLoS Medicine, which admitted that pharmaceutical sales reps are trained in tactics that are on par with some of the most potent brainwashing techniques used throughout the world!

The idea that reps provide some kind of valuable, informative service to physicians is total fiction, created and perpetuated by the drug industry, to keep this deadly, but profitable, scheme going.

Poison For Profit

Another shocking fact that few consider is that virtually every major pharmaceutical company has a corresponding branch that creates the toxins and poisons that contribute to the chronic diseases their drugs and medical devices treat.

So these huge transnational companies profit not only from the sale of products such as pesticides, herbicides and GM crops, but also from the symptoms and chronic illnesses that they can trigger.

The vast majority of chemicals found in pesticides and other products undergo little or no testing for chronic, low level exposures and for chronic health effects, effectively creating a circle of destruction and double profits.

Below is a list of such chem/pharm companies:

Chemical Division

Pharmaceutical Division

Aventis (herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, GM food)

Aventis Pharma

Monsanto (herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, GM food)

Pharmacia

BASF (herbicides, fungicides, pesticides)

BASF Pharmaceuticals

Merck Research Company (precursors for pesticides and neurotoxins)

Merck

Dow Chemical (industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals)

Dow Pharmaceuticals

Make no mistake about it. The drug companies are incredibly powerful, and overcoming their influence over your life will take a mammoth effort.

But there are concrete steps you can take to combat the drug companies' self-interest, save yourself loads of money, and improve your health so you can avoid unnecessary drugs in the first place.

Ten Steps to Reduce Your Pharmaceutical Expenses Now

Take charge of your own health now instead of handing it over to the drug companies.

How do you do that?

You can start by using the Internet to locate non-drug alternatives to your health challenges. Many start with my site as it has more than 150,000 pages to help you understand more about how you can improve your health without drugs or surgery, through simple lifestyle modifications.

These are the basic tenets of optimal health that have always remained permanent truths, regardless of what marvels modern science comes up with next:

  1. Eat a healthy diet that’s right for your nutritional type (paying very careful attention to keeping your insulin levels down)
  2. Drink plenty of clean water
  3. Manage your stress
  4. Exercise
  5. Get plenty of appropriate sun exposure
  6. Limit toxin exposure
  7. Consume healthy fat
  8. Eat plenty of raw food
  9. Optimize insulin and leptin levels
  10. Get plenty of sleep

If you want to further understand how corporations and government manipulate science and the media by preying upon the public trust -- and how to protect yourself -- I highly recommend the book "Trust Us, We're Experts."

One of the primary purposes of Mercola.com is to provide you with the insight to protect and defend yourself from these major corporate interests (as well as the government they've purchased). I’ve committed myself to providing you with practical and straightforward advice and suggestions on how to optimize your body to prevent disease, reach your optimal weight, and live longer.


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Community Comments ( 132 )
Comment on this Article
  
  
Christopher Gussa "The Herb Doc"
[ Joined on 11/06 ] [ Posted on March 28, 2008 ]
59 Points        
   
 
Moderator User

I am a Christian and I think I have been pretty good about not preaching to you all much at Vital Votes but this just plain calls for it!

So here we go , "Brothas" and "Sistas” ........

One thing I know beyond the shadow of a doubt and that is, God wants us to be healthy! So do you think God just wants us to “cave into” the cunning of this Pharma-Medical System by being deceived and then “pray our way through trusting that God will heal anyway?” Or does God want us to recognize the evils attached to this system and come out of it before we ever get deeply involved? The Bible (original King James) uses the word, “pharmacea” for witchcraft and sorcery it literally means “drug abuse” It may be legal drug abuse or it may be illegal drug abuse but if there is some substance that has control over you, the Bible says that it’s called witchcraft: hatred, discord, (which means you divide instead of unite) In Galatians 5:20-21 Paul speaks of this along with dissentions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

But perhaps the biggest clue to the spirit of “Big Pharma” is towards the end of the whole bible: "For by thy sorceries [pharmacea] were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth". Rev. 18:23,24].

Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against rulers of darkness in high places ”

It certainly seems to me that the Spirit of Sorcery and Witchcraft within “Big Pharma” as they lie to us all day and night on TV trying to get us "hooked" by saying, "Ask your doctor" is one of the strongest principalities in high places that we have in this world. Most people (Christians included) just smile and look on.


 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
curttamb
[ Joined on 08/06 ]  [ Posted on March 28, 2008]
21 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola
Well said Herb Doc - . Ifind it so hard to get people to quit "worshing" the Doctors/meds and just even use their commen sense.  Even when they have proven to themselves that they felt better w/o the med  they still go back on it -because the doctor said to.....such blind obedience is scary and sickening to watch
Tammy
Mercola
  
EQ
[ Joined on 03/07 ]  [ Posted on March 28, 2008]
25 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
I thank you for holding back on the preaching.  There are many other religious/spiritual belief systems that need respect as well.  I find wisdom in many different teachings.  Christianity is only one of them.  It's great to hear what you have found in the bible that pertains to our current situation.  Deep teachings.  

Hopi also have some interesting things to say about our current state of affairs.  A couple of points I would leave you with:

-Know your garden
-Know where your water comes from
Mercola
  
flbooks7
[ Joined on 01/08 ]  [ Posted on March 30, 2008]
10 Points        
   
Apprentice User
  Mercola
Well said "Doc" and the love of money is the root of all evil
Mercola
  
bmc
[ Joined on 02/07 ]  [ Posted on March 31, 2008]
5 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
Amen!
Mercola
  
New to Natural
[ Joined on 11/07 ]  [ Posted on March 31, 2008]
8 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
Well said, Doc!  The Bible never ceases to amaze! 
Mercola
  
4Hand Healthy
[ Joined on 06/07 ]  [ Posted on March 31, 2008]
2 Points        
   
Apprentice User
  Mercola
Double Amen,Doc!! Don't hold back on the preaching on my account.
Mercola
  
seg
[ Joined on 11/06 ]  [ Posted on April 1, 2008]
5 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
Great, great, great post pastor Gussa.....Knock dem devils straight outta the ball park.....
Mercola
  
buddha
[ Joined on 07/07 ]  [ Posted on April 18, 2008]
7 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

I am certainly glad to hear you have faith in God and His saviour Jesus Christ and that you seem to be using a concordance to dig deeper into His word.  But I believe you are somewhat misinterpreting parts of it.  You, of course, are correct to mistrust the man-made institutions that are attempting get us all to take drugs even for simple problems that could easily be treated without them.  

But God certainly did not mean to scare us away from all doctors and drugs completely.  Luke was a physician as you probably know.  And the mentions of "sorcery" should not be interpreted as meaning that all medical drug treatments are evil.  Much of the "pharmacea" the bible speaks of is in relation to idol worship.

Also, as your own quote from Paul should tell you, the "principalities and powers" are not a description of things such as Big Pharma.  They are spiritual rather than earthly "flesh and blood" powers.

I don't mean to be critical and I might be misinterpretting your comments.  If so, I apologize.

I do agree that many folks put too much blind faith in modern docs and their bag of chemicals rather than emphasizing exercise, proper nutrition and faith.

Mercola
  
WellnessMom
[ Joined on 06/06 ]  [ Posted on April 19, 2008]
4 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

flbooks7,

I don't think the love of money is the root of all evil, it is the Greed we have for money that is. People can so many good things with money, but when we become greedy with it, that is when the root of evil takes hold.

Great Sermon Herb Doc!  : )

Mercola
  
toril
[ Joined on 05/07 ]  [ Posted on April 19, 2008]
-38 Points        
   
This user is BELOW novice level and all their comments need to be reviewed with great caution.
  Mercola

Thanks for preaching at us, but I think it's pretty obvious that God does NOT want us to be healthy, because if he did, why is it that 100% of the population on the planet is forced day in and day out to "heal" themselves - even with herbs, we still have to heal the body because it tends toward pathology, not health!

Mercola
  
Alexandra
[ Joined on 06/06 ]  [ Posted on April 19, 2008]
       
   
Apprentice User
  Mercola

Great said. My mom who is a good Catholic woman, is always saying "if the doctor recommends it, it must be good". You are right even Christians (who should have their eyes more opened because the knowledge we have on the bible) are being deceived.

Mercola
  
Reverend Alan
[ Joined on 12/07 ]  [ Posted on April 19, 2008]
-4 Points