I agree and disagree with a few of your claims.
That's why there are things like the FDA, to make sure that whatever comes to market is safe for consumers. Developing and having a drug approved is incredibly time consuming (think years and years), expensive (hundreds of millions and even billions) and insanely hard (the drug needs to go through several stages of approval and at any moment its approval can be denied and often is, causing extreme losses to the firm) so I don't think it's in the best interest of whatever company to develop a drug that causes more harm than good, because why would anyone buy it then? It doesn't make sense, people are not that stupid and the market would make sure the drug would be a failure, even if it ever got approved, which most likely wouldn't be.
The only way it makes sense having a drug with horrible side effects being approved to be sold to the general public is when the condition being treated by said drug is even worse then those horrible side effects, whatever they might be.
I know very little about finasteride since I've never used it or needed it but when someone comes screaming "OH MY GOD I JUST TRIED THIS AND IT ALMOST KILLED ME, DONT" TOUCH IT OR YOU WILL DIE" in a super alarmist tone about something that has been in the market for years and years and most likely has been used by millions out there I know I shouldn't take it very serious. It's unfortunate that Samseau had a bad reaction to it but it still is no reason to make it sound like it's some poison from the big bad evil pharma companies that are trying to kill us all.
It's not the companies who determine what can or can't be sold, that is the role of certain government agencies, and anyway, big pharma does sell vitamins, minerals, etc.
I completely disagree with you on this, big pharma companies are not a drug dealer in a street corner adding flour to their cocaine or something, you sound like one of those anti vaccine people with your vaccination example. We could go deeper into it but your fears about mercury and aluminum are unfounded.
Again I disagree with you, people in general are not knowledgeable enough to know what medicines they should take, that's why we have doctors and despite doctors not being right all the time or being influenced by external forces they're still a much safer bet than just let joe public self medicate, but it seems to me you have something against vaccines since you keep bringing it up. I'm on the other side of that battle, it's a touchy subject for sure but the pros of making vaccines mandatory far far outweigh the cons.
I agree with this of course, these companies are not little angels, they're big businesses trying to make a ton of money, but in the process they benefit us as well.
Quote: (09-03-2015 08:50 AM)PhDre Wrote:
^^I think no one has said that pharma companies are useless. It is true, they make many useful medicines and vaccines, which have helped and saved millions or billions of people and have raised our standard of living and our life expectancy.
However, this does not mean that they are without blame. I see roughly three big problems with current big pharma:
1)They want to push every medicine they develop to market, even when this medicine doesn’t work that well for its intended purpose, or when the possible side effects are much more severe than the problem that is being treated, as is the case of finasteride.
That's why there are things like the FDA, to make sure that whatever comes to market is safe for consumers. Developing and having a drug approved is incredibly time consuming (think years and years), expensive (hundreds of millions and even billions) and insanely hard (the drug needs to go through several stages of approval and at any moment its approval can be denied and often is, causing extreme losses to the firm) so I don't think it's in the best interest of whatever company to develop a drug that causes more harm than good, because why would anyone buy it then? It doesn't make sense, people are not that stupid and the market would make sure the drug would be a failure, even if it ever got approved, which most likely wouldn't be.
The only way it makes sense having a drug with horrible side effects being approved to be sold to the general public is when the condition being treated by said drug is even worse then those horrible side effects, whatever they might be.
I know very little about finasteride since I've never used it or needed it but when someone comes screaming "OH MY GOD I JUST TRIED THIS AND IT ALMOST KILLED ME, DONT" TOUCH IT OR YOU WILL DIE" in a super alarmist tone about something that has been in the market for years and years and most likely has been used by millions out there I know I shouldn't take it very serious. It's unfortunate that Samseau had a bad reaction to it but it still is no reason to make it sound like it's some poison from the big bad evil pharma companies that are trying to kill us all.
Quote: (09-03-2015 08:50 AM)PhDre Wrote:
2)They only want patented medicines to be sold, even when perfectly adequate natural remedies exist. For instance it is often noted that testosterone is a far better treatment for depression than any anti-depressant. But, the testosterone molecule occurs in nature and cannot be patented thus pharma cannot make megabucks out of it. The same goes for other hormones as DHEA, pregnenolone, for vitamins and minerals, for herbal remedies…
It's not the companies who determine what can or can't be sold, that is the role of certain government agencies, and anyway, big pharma does sell vitamins, minerals, etc.
Quote: (09-03-2015 08:50 AM)PhDre Wrote:
3)To maximize their profit, they do not hesitate to add downright harmful ingredients to their medicines. Vaccination is a fantastic technique, but unfortunately the toxic substances aluminium or mercury are added to vaccines as cheap immune adjuvants.
I completely disagree with you on this, big pharma companies are not a drug dealer in a street corner adding flour to their cocaine or something, you sound like one of those anti vaccine people with your vaccination example. We could go deeper into it but your fears about mercury and aluminum are unfounded.
Quote: (09-03-2015 08:50 AM)PhDre Wrote:
All of this wouldn’t even be such a problem if people where free to inform themselves and to select their medicine of choice. However, nowadays the pharma industry has the power – through their influence in the government, in academics and amongst doctors – to force us to use certain medicines (like vaccines) and to outlaw or restrict others (hormones, herbal supplements).
Again I disagree with you, people in general are not knowledgeable enough to know what medicines they should take, that's why we have doctors and despite doctors not being right all the time or being influenced by external forces they're still a much safer bet than just let joe public self medicate, but it seems to me you have something against vaccines since you keep bringing it up. I'm on the other side of that battle, it's a touchy subject for sure but the pros of making vaccines mandatory far far outweigh the cons.
Quote: (09-03-2015 08:50 AM)PhDre Wrote:
It is not because they do good things that they cannot do bad things.
I agree with this of course, these companies are not little angels, they're big businesses trying to make a ton of money, but in the process they benefit us as well.