Big Pharma a Major Headache for Us

Big Banks. Big Oil. Big Government. There is no shortage of giants against whom we eagerly rail and to whom we attribute high costs and inadequate service. These, among others, however, are the mainstays of our economy and the failure of any of them is catastrophic.

The 2008 crash is a vivid example of the power of Big Finance and the effects of its failure. The US government correctly, and sadly, labelled some of the corporate monoliths “too big to fail.”

But there is one giant that is insidious, as well as immensely powerful: Big Pharma. It’s reach is not just economic. It impacts on our wallets with its high prices, but any failure or recalcitrance on their part also impacts on our health. It is personal. Yet, we turn to Big Pharma every time to respond to our individual health crises.

There are a few who insist that Covid-19 was a Big Pharma conspiracy to generate profits. There is absolutely no evidence that this is true, but it is true that the main vaccine providers have experienced a huge financial windfall, with governments around the world buying their inventions at prices determined by the pharmaceutical companies. That is the nature of capitalism.

Big and small pharmaceutical companies count on huge profits from the drugs they invent, but about 60% of the drugs are derived from or synthesized based on plants, many from the tropical rainforests. So, of the $1.2 trillion spent, globally, in 2019 on medicines, it is possible that $750 billion was derived from natural remedies—plants available for free, for many of us if we are willing to rely on herbal medicines, supplements, or complementary remedies. Even the Covid vaccines are based on nature: blood of the horseshoe crab.

Yet, Big Pharma eschews plant-based and other natural treatments, claiming they are “unproven.” Interestingly, most folk remedies that seem to work have been used for hundreds to thousands of years, with innumerable anecdotal reports of their effectiveness.

“Scientific” research requires a controlled environment to eliminate or classify other correlates in a treatment regimen. That is one of the weak links in traditional medicine. The herbs are used to treat actual cases, or prevent the ailments from occurring, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to control these on-site remedies in a scientific manner.

However, few doubt that common plantain is good for wounds, Seneca root or echinacea is effective for colds or willow bark relieves a headache.

Indeed, ASA is entirely based on the salicylate in members of the birch, poplar and willow family. The difference is that the drug manufacturers (Bayer, in this case) found it to be effective, combined and synthesized the active components and still make huge profits from it, a century after its discovery and re-brand as an “invention.”

Big Pharma is able to control the encroachment of folk remedies on their markets in a variety of ways.

First, the Food and Drug Administration. Supposedly an independent government agency established to monitor and control such things as medicines and supplements, tobacco, food and other consumed goods, it is far from independent. While the majority of the main board is constructed of experts with considerable experience in health and little direct ties to the drug companies, the advisory committees are just the opposite.

The various advisory committees under the main governing structure of the FDA have nine members, only three of which are not from the pharmaceutical industry. Those advisory boards provide recommendations on approval of drugs, rejection of others. Those recommendations almost inevitably are adopted. That means that Big Pharma has practical control of the FDA.

Pharma lobbyists in the USA are extremely powerful and influential, and donors to a great many of the key politicians also are drug companies. It is difficult to vote against a donor or lobbyist who provides you with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of support for your election campaign, and who can redirect that donation to an opponent if you do not comply with the wishes of the donor pharmaceutical company.

The majority of university research into drugs and diseases is funded by Big Pharmacy. If the results of a funded study does not support the drug company’s position or product, it may quietly disappear. This has been anecdotally reported by researchers scores of times.

Big Pharma decides what research it will support and what research it will not. With an annual allotment of $83 billion spent on R&D in the US in 2019 (Source: CBO), that investment carries huge clout. In fact, that amount represents about 25% of the entire budget of the pharmaceutical industry.

But the amount that the drug companies spend on research into natural remedies is so negligible that it does not make it into their annual reports. Why? There is no profit in proving that plants can heal, since Big Pharma cannot patent a plant.

Drug companies do spend a considerable amount of money on complementary medicines, though. Unfortunately, it is spent on marketing and advertising against use of plants to treat illness.

The FDA and comparable government agencies in Europe, Australia and Canada assist the drug companies in their efforts to control natural treatments. In part, they must, in order to prevent charlatans from claiming that their supplements cure various illnesses. The days of snake oil salesmen of the 1800s are, fortunately, long past, and government has a role in keeping such shysters out of our medicine cabinets, But, at the same time, they do little to encourage independent research into alternative medicines. Simultaneously, they do provide incentives and grants to Big Pharma to do the research that those companies want to do. This is as Big Pharma wishes.

But what if smaller drug companies dare to do research into products, cures and supplements that will cut into Big Pharma’s share of the lucrative market? The Government Accountability Office has cited numerous instances of big drug companies buying up smaller ones, in order to stifle competition and even “kill” a potentially vital drug (Source: CBO).

Big Pharma likes to claim that it costs huge amounts to develop a new drug—in the range of US$2-3 billion. Yet, actual data shows that it often is more in the range of $100-200 million. That hardly helps them justify the high prices and long patent protection periods (Source: Medicins Sans Frontiers).

Drug companies have another trick up their sleeves: evergreen patents. By making small changes to an existing patent, they can re-file the patent and extend it almost indefinitely, keeping all the revenues in their pockets, rather than allowing competition by generic manufacturers.

But we need the medicines, so we pay the price. In Canada, we often do not see the financial impact, since our health system negotiates bulk pricing. But in the US, the consumer takes the hit.

While we are hoping that Big Pharma acts ethically, anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. In many instances, the drug companies spend more on share buyback of their own stocks, to force prices up, than they do on R&D, while R&D is financed in a huge way by governments worldwide.

Not only is government afraid to take on Big Pharma, we are held ransom, too, worried that, if Big Pharma fails, our health will pay the price. It seems that, although Big Oil and Big Finance eclipse Big Pharma in revenues, it is Big Pharma that carries the biggest stick. We may be willing to let Big Oil and Big Banks suffer and potentially crash, while we hope for the best. But we are not willing to let Big Pharma fail, because that hits us immediately and personally. Big powerbrokers, in all industries, it seems, really are too big to fail and too big to be held accountable.

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