Re: my letter from the white house...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HoustonRaven
I don't buy the whole "big pharma" wanting to keep us medicated.
First and foremost, people wanna make money. The person (or company) who develops the cure for the common cold would be a trillionaire.
well it all comes down to greed ultimately. business wise it makes more sense to treat a symptom than cure a disease. repeat business is pretty much econ 101 for sustained existence. Sure you could make a quick fortune selling a cure, but when nobody has it anymore, you just lost your entire market. Good for 1 persons lifetime but when you figure its a company not a person longterm sustainability is more desirable.
I think these companies come up with cocktails of crap and then try to find uses for it. Not much caring for how it effects a person or looking into how it would effect a person when taken with another med for a similar problem. I know my wife has had some bad reactions after taking a new med that just didnt jive with one she was already taking.
Re: my letter from the white house...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HoustonRaven
I don't buy the whole "big pharma" wanting to keep us medicated.
First and foremost, people wanna make money. The person (or company) who develops the cure for the common cold would be a trillionaire.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NCRAVEN
6 of one half dozen of the other isn't it? A cure or treatment that you keep coming back for is really the same thing. Maybe more money for those who keep coming back for the medicine.
Ever see the movie "Love and Other Drugs"? It is about a medical sales rep for Pfizer that falls in love with a woman with Parkinsons disease. (By the way, if you are an Anne Hathaway fan, you really need to see this movie)
Anyway, the movie is set back in the mid-90s and there is a hilarious part when the "fuck drug" (Viagra) finally comes on the market. It portrayed probably quite accurately how many men (and women) kept coming back for the treatment, with smiles on their faces.
It is not always a zero sum game. Viagra was clearly a win-win for Pfizer and it's customers (and their loved ones).
Re: my letter from the white house...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JAB1985
well it all comes down to greed ultimately. business wise it makes more sense to treat a symptom than cure a disease.
Roy Vagelos would take issue with that statement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._Roy_Vagelos
Re: my letter from the white house...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HoustonRaven
Ok. Still don't see a problem.
Are they supposed to not do either then?
They can do whatever they want. I'm just saying, if first and foremost people wanna make money and there is more money to be made treating a cold than curing it, it's not that far fetched to buy into the big pharma wanting to keep us medicated.
I'd say it's similar to people who study "global warming", if they say there is no more global warming, then what happens to their job of studying it?
Re: my letter from the white house...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JAB1985
well it all comes down to greed ultimately. business wise it makes more sense to treat a symptom than cure a disease.
Sometimes. Not all the time. And just because that axiom is out thee doesn't make it true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JAB1985
repeat business is pretty much econ 101 for sustained existence. Sure you could make a quick fortune selling a cure, but when nobody has it anymore, you just lost your entire market. Good for 1 persons lifetime but when you figure its a company not a person longterm sustainability is more desirable.
Ok. Then explain polio, Dtep, Dtap, pertussis, chicken pox, rubella, mumps, ....
There's hundreds of cures / vaccines out there. Yes, there's money to be made in keeping people on drugs. But 9 times out of 10, there's a reason why they've not found a cure. And that reason is typically a virus that mutates too often (I.e. Cold virus).
There's far more money in the cure.
Re: my letter from the white house...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NCRAVEN
They can do whatever they want. I'm just saying, if first and foremost people wanna make money and there is more money to be made treating a cold than curing it, it's not that far fetched to buy into the big pharma wanting to keep us medicated.
I'd say it's similar to people who study "global warming", if they say there is no more global warming, then what happens to their job of studying it?
I don't think the cold is a good example to make your point.
The rhino virus mutates more often than we change underwear. That's why there cannot be a cure. There no human way to keep up.
Money has nothing to do with it.
Re: my letter from the white house...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HoustonRaven
I don't think the cold is a good example to make your point.
The rhino virus mutates more often than we change underwear. That's why there cannot be a cure. There no human way to keep up.
Money has nothing to do with it.
The example got moved to the common cold, it wasn't meant to be that specific, just more of a general point.
EDIT: and for the record, I'm not saying I totally believe big pharma wants to keep us sick, I've not given that much thought. I'm just saying it's not that far fetched.