Pharm aid

OK, so fair warning. This post is more ranting about Big Pharm. Feel free to change the channel. Ranting will begin in 3....2......1.

Last month the Nursing Online Education Database published the "25 shocking facts about the Pharamaceutical Industry". Among these are such interesting facts as:

• The price of drugs is increasing faster than any other form of "health care". Some drugs have a mark up of over 1000 percent over the cost of ingredients.
• Big Pharm spends twice as much on marketing than research. This isn't that shocking to anyone that sits through commercials every night.
• Most drug reps have no science or medical education - just sales training.
• The combined wealth of the top 5 Big Pharm out weighs the Gross National Product of all sub-Saharan African countries. While I'll grant you that this area is arguably the poorest in the world, the fact that 5 companies are bigger than some 32 countries is staggering!
  
• Robert Jarvik isn't a doctor! Lipitor's number one spokesman (also the inventor of the artificial heart) leads people to believe he's a doctor in the ad which means he knows what he's talking about. Nice...
• New drugs are just recycled or modified drugs of the past. Two thirds of all drugs approved by the FDA are identical or simple modifications of drugs released earlier.
  
• Merck & Co has no problem destroying people who dare to speak against them. Dr. Eric Topol showed that the painkiller Vioxx actually increased herat disease in patients, and was kicked off the Board of Governors of his clinic in Cleveland.

Anyway, I know I'm beating a dead horse. But I really hate Big Pharm. My most recent favorite ad? It's for some nasal decongestant with side effects "bleeding from the nose and nasal cavities, sinus infections and possible eye damage. Make sure to have you eyes checked out regularly."

Sure I'd much rather have bleeding sinuses and blindness than a frakking stuffy nose.

W....T....F....