Pharmaceutical Companies Spent 19 Times More On Self-Promotion Than Basic Research: Report

[Socialist]

Ah.. priorities.

Big Pharma might be working a lot harder to sell you products than to develop new ones.

Prescription drug companies aren't putting a lot of resources toward new, groundbreaking medication, according to a recent report in BMJ, a medical journal based in London. Instead, it's more profitable for them to simply to create a bunch of products that are only slightly different from drugs already on the market, the reports authors said.

"[P]harmaceutical research and development turns out mostly minor variations on existing drugs," the authors write. "Sales from these drugs generate steady profits throughout the ups and downs of blockbusters coming off patents."


The authors go on to say that for every dollar pharmaceutical companies spend on "basic research," $19 goes toward promotion and marketing.

And apparently it's been working. Drug company revenues climbed more than $200 billion in the years between 1995 and 2010, according to the website MinnPost. Meanwhile, in recent years, more than one in five Americans age 50 and up have had to cut down on their dosages or switch to cheaper generic drugs because the cost of medication is so high.

The BMJ study isn't the first time pharmaceutical companies have been accused of putting their own profits ahead of the health of their customers. Lexchin, a professor at York University's School of Health Policy and Management, was the co-author of another study in 2008 that argued that pharmaceutical companies spend almost twice as much on promotion as they do on research and development.

And last year, an analysis of medical-journal opinion pieces on a certain kind of hormone therapy found that a surprisingly high number of the articles were written by authors who had accepted consulting or speaking fees from hormone manufacturers -- and that these authors, unsurprisingly, tended to come out in favor of the treatment.

Pharmaceutical Companies Spent 19 Times More On Self-Promotion Than Basic Research Report

 

[defcon4]

It's their money, they spend it as they see it fit.

 

[Sonny Clark]

Ah.. priorities.

Big Pharma might be working a lot harder to sell you products than to develop new ones.

Prescription drug companies aren't putting a lot of resources toward new, groundbreaking medication, according to a recent report in BMJ, a medical journal based in London. Instead, it's more profitable for them to simply to create a bunch of products that are only slightly different from drugs already on the market, the reports authors said.

"[P]harmaceutical research and development turns out mostly minor variations on existing drugs," the authors write. "Sales from these drugs generate steady profits throughout the ups and downs of blockbusters coming off patents."


The authors go on to say that for every dollar pharmaceutical companies spend on "basic research," $19 goes toward promotion and marketing.

And apparently it's been working. Drug company revenues climbed more than $200 billion in the years between 1995 and 2010, according to the website MinnPost. Meanwhile, in recent years, more than one in five Americans age 50 and up have had to cut down on their dosages or switch to cheaper generic drugs because the cost of medication is so high.

The BMJ study isn't the first time pharmaceutical companies have been accused of putting their own profits ahead of the health of their customers. Lexchin, a professor at York University's School of Health Policy and Management, was the co-author of another study in 2008 that argued that pharmaceutical companies spend almost twice as much on promotion as they do on research and development.

And last year, an analysis of medical-journal opinion pieces on a certain kind of hormone therapy found that a surprisingly high number of the articles were written by authors who had accepted consulting or speaking fees from hormone manufacturers -- and that these authors, unsurprisingly, tended to come out in favor of the treatment.

Pharmaceutical Companies Spent 19 Times More On Self-Promotion Than Basic Research Report

So, should they spend THEIR money to please others? FYI ----- They make it, they can spend it. Who tells you how to spend your money?

 

[bedowin62]

YOU SPEND EVERY WAKING MOMENT PROMOTING FAILED SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY


hypocrite

 

[Socialist]

It's their money, they spend it as they see it fit.

It's wasteful, for profit, not for the good of people, just capitalist things.

 

[bedowin62]

It's their money, they spend it as they see it fit.

It's wasteful, for profit, not for the good of people, just capitalist things.

oh all they have to do is parse it as being for the people; then idiot leftists will spend trillions of other people's money on it

 

[Socialist]

It's their money, they spend it as they see it fit.

It's wasteful, for profit, not for the good of people, just capitalist things.

oh all they have to do is parse it as being for the people; then idiot leftists will spend trillions of other people's money on it

What the fuck? Go back to the tea party forum.

 

[bedowin62]

left-wingnut is gettin touchy when laughed at

 

[defcon4]

What the fuck? Go back to the tea party forum.

You tried to ignite greed with your post and it did not work. Now you are pissy. Have you tried Preparation H yet for your butt hurt? Ah.. that's right, that's made by the pharmaceutical companies…

 

[Socialist]

left-wingnut is gettin touchy when laughed at

All you have are stale, useless statements relying on fear and stupidity.

 

[bedowin62]

left-wingnut is gettin touchy when laughed at

All you have are stale, useless statements relying on fear and stupidity.

i must admit your failed ideology does concern me

 

[Socialist]

left-wingnut is gettin touchy when laughed at

All you have are stale, useless statements relying on fear and stupidity.

i must admit your failed ideology does concern me

I rest my case.

 

[occupied]

They don't care that the fastest rising cost of health care is drugs, saying "it's capitalism" forgives anything.

 

[Socialist]

They don't care that the fastest rising cost of health care is drugs, saying "it's capitalism" forgives anything.

Capitalists have succeeded in rallying idiots behind them..

 

[defcon4]

They don't care that the fastest rising cost of health care is drugs, saying "it's capitalism" forgives anything.

Capitalists have succeeded in rallying idiots behind them..

Chronologically you are wrong. Marx, Engels then later Lenin developed their theories because of capitalism being already in existence. Maybe you have read too much of the Comintern and forgot about chronology. How convenient….

 

[Socialist]

They don't care that the fastest rising cost of health care is drugs, saying "it's capitalism" forgives anything.

Capitalists have succeeded in rallying idiots behind them..

Chronologically you are wrong. Marx, Engels then later Lenin developed their theories because of capitalism being already in existence. Maybe you have read too much of the Comintern and forgot about chronology. How convenient….

What are you trying to refer to? I'm just throwing out random partisan bullshit, it's what this forum is good for. Also, Orwell was a socialist, animal farm was specifically critiquing the USSR, hate to burst your bubble.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

It's their money, they spend it as they see it fit.

It's wasteful, for profit, not for the good of people, just capitalist things.

Obama needs to get back into the drug business

Choom

Choom

Choooooooooooom

 

[CrusaderFrank]

left-wingnut is gettin touchy when laughed at

He's a lot like Jake, isn't he

 

[Defiant1]

It's their money, they spend it as they see it fit.

It's wasteful, for profit, not for the good of people, just capitalist things.

Bullshit. I find the big pharma commercials entertaining.

Why do you hate people who work in the advertising business?

 

[francoHFW]

OP- A disgrace. Thank god O-Care is now starting to regulate these scumbags. More to come. TY, President Obama and Dems. And in the future, some better GOPers.