Health Care Reform or, Ask Your Doctor if pillofdeath Is Right for you
Big Pharma spends twice as much on advertisement as they do on research and development.
Quote:
|
according to a study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry’s claim.
|
http://www.zmescience.com/big-pharma...-than-research
Big Pharma creates new diseases to repackage old drugs. Example being PPMD which is basically PMS in new packaging. Women, are you sure your bloating and irritability isn't something more menacing? Better err on the side of caution and take Sarafem (TM). (it's fucking prozac, but costing three times as much)
Quote:
So that it can jump-start sales and distinguish the PMS therapy from the antidepressant, Lilly will not call the PMS product Prozac, but rename the identical compound Sarafem.
How's that for feminine-sounding? I can see the TV ads: earth tones, Martha Stewart-style scenery, close-up of doting but obviously preoccupied mother (Joan Lunden lookalike) with child (girl) in designer kitchen (sub-zero refrigerator, Corian countertops, GE Profile stovetop), voice-over of caring doctor (female) gently hawking Sarafem ("for those times of the month when women need something extra") and a fade to twin smiles while kneeling and removing steaming cake from oven.
|
http://www.salon.com/health/feature/2000/07/18/pms/
The reason they do that is maintain a new patent, as the horizon on existing patents come to term. Only 14% of emerging drugs given FDA approval between 1998-2004 can be scientifically considered to be new and improving an existing drug. And only 8% more can be considered an demonstrably enhanced version of an existing drug. 78% are "me too" drugs that are existing compounds. Its dramatically cheaper to market existing drugs than create new ones.