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submitted by: admin on 10/26/2015
Aspirin has been found to protect against colon cancer and many other solid cancers. However, aspirin also causes GI bleeding in almost everyone over the long haul. A better way to prevent cancer is to clean up our toxic environment and live a healthy lifestyle. Direct to consumer ads give the wrong idea; they give you the idea that it is okay to live...
submitted by: admin on 09/19/2013
The karma of Big Pharma is revealed in a discussion of the business orientation and lack of ethics. Direct to consumer ads are banned in all countries except the US and New Zealand. Big pharma spends billions every year on DTC ads. Profit is the purpose. More money is spent on advertizing that on research! We are clearly susceptible to DTC ads, they sell prescription...
submitted by: admin on 09/13/2014
US health care depends on our being sick and has become a business as its first priority. That is why we can spend almost three trillion dollars a year and still be ranked 37th in the world in the overall qualiity of health care by the World Health Organization! Throwing dollars at health care does not guarantee high quality health care!
If there was...
submitted by: admin on 09/19/2013
We have a strong faith that medicine is scientific and accurate. Whoever funds a clinical trial has a conflict of interest because profit is their motive and they have an investment in it coming out a certain way. Big pharma protects their investments and spend an enormous amount of money trying to convince MDs to use their products. They are a major funder of...
submitted by: admin on 06/05/2014
According to a study by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center that was published in the May 2014 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, you cannot trust television and magazine ads for US cancer centers. They studied more than 400 ads and report that they mislead patients because they are heavy on emotional appeal and light on the real...
submitted by: admin on 09/20/2013
Up to a fifth of patients on SSRI antidepressants do worse than with placebo. There is no way to tell who will do worse. It is interesting that no comparison was made with exercise and no credit was given to placebo in this big pharma sponsored study published in Archives of Psychiatry in December of 2011. Little mention was made of the side effects such as GI...
submitted by: admin on 09/21/2013
The FDA is considering allowing more drugs to become over-the-counter as their patents run out. This, of course, would make it possible for Big Pharma to make greater profits. However, there are serious challenges related to safety in using drugs such as statins and drugs for type 2 diabetes that would emerge. Most people are not sufficiently educated...
submitted by: admin on 03/28/2014
A study done at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in March of 2014 documented that just in the District of Columbia, Big Pharma spent nearly $100 milliion on marketing pharmaceutical drugs. More than $30 million was spent on payments and gifts to physicians, hospitals and other health care providers. This included grants,...
submitted by: admin on 10/08/2013
According to the European Society of Cardiology, 80-90% of all cardiovascular disease is preventable and up to 50% could be prevented by imposing population level changes through taxes and regulation of advertising. They recommend population-based interventions from local and national government aimed at unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and reducing...
submitted by: admin on 12/25/2024
Making bad choices are often conscious. New Year Resolutions and legislation don't work. Education through school programs, family values, and role models are important. DTC and other ads undermine our intelligence.
submitted by: admin on 12/25/2024
New drugs are problematic because they are not fully tested. Post marketing studies should be required. It is wiser to use old time-tested drugs because they've been around for decades and we know their complications. Vioxx is an interesting example. Cox 1 and Cox 2 inhibitors are explained.
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
Direct to consumer ads are misleading and often outright lies. The only countries in the world allowing these ads are the US and New Zealand. The FDA is not doing a reasonable job in regulating what DTC ads can say. The goal of Big Pharma is to make money for their stockholders. Ads for "the purple pill" are exposed as outright deceptive. We need new...
submitted by: admin on 10/14/2013
We cannot sustain a sick care health system and must shift to a true health care system where prevention is the cornerstone of medical practice. In my book, A Return to Healing, I present a 5 point plan that could help encourage a health care paradigm. This program includes: Funding exercise programs both nationally and locally and in every academic...
submitted by: admin on 04/12/2015
Four billion prescriptions were filled in the US in the year 2011 and at a cost of $227 billion according to the World Pharmaceutical Market Summary. The top five therapy classes of drugs were statins, antiulcerants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and antihypertensives. The top five drugs sold were, Lipitor, Plavix, Nexium, Seretide, and Crestor....
submitted by: admin on 10/17/2013
US health care performance is much worse than most countries; we're ranked by the WHO number 37 in the world in overall quality of health care. We spend nearly twice of any other country and yet our effectiveness is a disaster. When business trumps service, this is what happens. Universal health care is good for health care but not good for business...
submitted by: admin on 07/08/2014
A study done at the University of Navarra in Spain published an article in the Journal of the American Heart Association in June of 2014 that followed more than 13,000 healthy people with an average age of 37 for more than 8 years. They assessed 3 different types of sedentary behavior to see if they had an effect on premature mortality. What they discovered...
submitted by: admin on 02/09/2014
A fascinating study from Tel Aviv University and published in the January 2014 issue of Psychological Science showed that some warning labels actually promote sales! It seems to depend on when a manufacturer attempts to make a sale. When potential buyers are given full disclosure about the dangers of drugs, cigarettes or even artificial sweeteners,...