What if I told you that Big Pharma companies such as Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson control the information that your doctors get, they control the medicine that your doctor promotes, and even control the information about testing on drugs that is given out. Would you think that I’m lying? Would you be scared? Big pharma companies produce and sell everything from band aids to cancer treatments. The problem is they have way too much control over the everyday customer.
In 1982 the American death rate was very good compared to other countries at 128,000 people per year. This was when the doctors were in charge and pharmaceutical (pharma) companies just made the medicine who then gave it to the doctor to prescribe when needed. A study shows that by 2017 the annual American death rate was at 478,000 people per year; this is like three 737’s crashing each day. So why have we had major breakthroughs in the health department over the last 35 years but our death rate has gone up dramatically? What has changed over the last 35 years? The treatments? The companies? The quality of the doctors? You can say that some of these have changed, but one thing that did change is the control the big pharma companies have over Doctors. I’m not questioning whether doctors are smart, I’m questioning the accuracy of the information that doctors receive and whether they are biased against showing all the options patients could take.
Over the last few decades Big pharma companies have taken over clinical research. Big Pharma companies do joint research operations with academic institutions and clinics, but in the contracts the Big Pharma companies own and then control the information that came out of the research. Peer reviewers are other doctors and scientists who check a product to make sure it’s safe. Peer reviewers also help prevent the publication of false health information and are not allowed the underlying data that serves as the basis for findings. For example, Someone said that this lotion helps sore muscles and that person wanted to publish it in a medical journal. Peer viewers would not be able to see how it helps sore muscles or the tests that show it works. This means doctors can be getting false or incomplete information on the product they’re giving.
Another thing that is unfair about the Big Pharma companies is the contracts that they have with doctors. These contracts don’t permit the doctors to promote other therapies or discuss the cost of alternative therapies. Even if a doctor thinks that a different therapy would be better for a patient, based on their specific contract they still have to promote the product of the pharmaceutical company. Therefore, Big Pharma can up the prices of their own products without worry that it will hurt their revenue. That is one of the reasons that drugs in the U.S cost 3.5 times what they would cost in other countries.
All this results in doctors giving products based on a contract, and prescribing products that may not be safe for certain people to use. One of the examples of Big Pharma companies having too much power is the arthritis drug Vioxx. In 2005 the New England Journal of Medicine praised the drug, but it was written without the underlying data that 3 patients had had heart attacks on the drug. If this information had properly disclosed and analyzed it would have shown that Vioxx significantly increased the chances of a heart attack compared to over the counter drug Aleve. It is estimated that 30,000 Americans died from taking Vioxx that would have not been exposed to the drug if that article had all the information. 30,000 people died because a company wouldn’t show valuable information that needs to be shared. This is probably the worst thing that has happened from the new control of the big pharma companies.
Even if you don’t take a drug, the next time you go to your doctor ask more questions and have all the information. I’ll leave you with some questions: Where do you fit into all of this? Do you take a drug supplemented by a Big Pharma company, or do you just want to be more informed the next time you go to a doctor? Do you think that this should be allowed? Should Big Pharma companies be forced to share all the information from their research? Ask more questions and be more informed.
References:
John Ambramson April 28 2022 Big Pharma Is Hijacking the Information Doctors Need Most time.com
Abbey Meller August 30 2019 How Big Pharma Reaps Profits While Hurting Everyday Americans Center for American Progress.org
