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

[2aguy]

We have every right to criticize, since so much of Big Pharma's success is predicated on basic research funded by our tax dollars.

Okay....you guys never explain this but there is always hope.....you guys support increased taxes going to the federal government...right? You don't deny that now, do you? Well, since you support more tax money going to the very politicians who are greedy and corrupt and giving tax money to these evil Pharma corporations....the ones discovering miracle cures.....but you guys think the world is over populated and needs some culling.............but you want to increase taxes and then give that money to these same politicians...right? How does that make any sense at all?

Why don't you tell us what you think instead of imagining what I think. I was saying we have a right to have a say in Big Pharma's actions, because we pay for so much of the basic research from which they profit. However, you started talking about raising taxes, a non-sequitur in my book. What's up with that? Stick to the topic.

No....you guys brought up tax dollars going to big pharma....I questioned your point...since you guys normally insist that we need to send more money to the federal, local and state governments...where it can then be given to big pharma by the same politicians you are complaining about now.......

Do you really think that the politicians who gave your tax money to big pharma are going to look into what they are doing with that money...?

That is why we have to send less money, not more money to them........then there won't be money going to big pharma.....or at least less of it.....

A solution to the question.....

 

[konradv]

Why don't you tell us what you think instead of imagining what I think. I was saying we have a right to have a say in Big Pharma's actions, because we pay for so much of the basic research from which they profit. However, you started talking about raising taxes, a non-sequitur in my book. What's up with that? Stick to the topic.

No....you guys brought up tax dollars going to big pharma....I questioned your point...since you guys normally insist that we need to send more money to the federal, local and state governments...where it can then be given to big pharma by the same politicians you are complaining about now.......Do you really think that the politicians who gave your tax money to big pharma are going to look into what they are doing with that money...?That is why we have to send less money, not more money to them........then there won't be money going to big pharma.....or at least less of it.....A solution to the question.....

You guys? I take no responsibility for what some unnamed "guys" might say. Cite what I said.

 

[2aguy]

Stop giving tax money to Pharma companies....there....problem solved.

 

[konradv]

Stop giving tax money to Pharma companies... there....problem solved.

What are you talking about? What tax money is being given to Big Pharma? Got a link?

 

[2aguy]

Yeah...here is my link......your post....

One reason they[Big Pharma] have so much to spend is because most basic research isn't done by the companies, but by universities under federal grants. We should have a say, since we paid for much of the groundwork from which they profit.

So your saying Government is responsible for high prices and poorly spend earnings? Interesting. I'll bet you want more Government to solve this Government created problem.

Why don't you try telling us what you think, instead of imagining what I think? Your analysis is totally foolish, since the Republicans protect Big Pharma at every turn and high prices are the result, despite the fact that much of the ground work is paid for by your tax dollars. If they were suffering from over regulation, how is it that they can afford to spam the airwaves 24/7 with ads for their newest money maker which the average American has already paid quite a bit for?

And your quote....

Big Pharma at every turn and high prices are the result, despite the fact that much of the ground work is paid for by your tax dollars.

Feeling stupid yet......

 

[whitehall]

But it's not "big pharma", it's the Ad agencies who are making all the profits. I bet every Ad agency has a dozen psychologists on board to gauge the likability of certain commercials and the idiotic names they hang on prescription drugs. If congress did anything right in the late 20th century it was requiring drug companies to cite the side effects (or collateral damage if you will) of the drugs they hire ad agencies to promote. Why in the world would a person suffering from a skin disease risk death by taking junk that might cause cancer or T.B. or a heart attack? The ironic thing is that the government apparently has set up a fund where victims of bad drugs can tap into a gigantic fund that big pharma is required to contribute to while they still promote the freaking stuff in commercials. The dirty little secret is that the FDA is a tool of big pharm and Ad. agencies, while the big profits are raked in by the vultures that prey on dead bodies, the big law firms.

 

[konradv]

Yeah...here is my link......your post....

One reason they[Big Pharma] have so much to spend is because most basic research isn't done by the companies, but by universities under federal grants. We should have a say, since we paid for much of the groundwork from which they profit.

So your saying Government is responsible for high prices and poorly spend earnings? Interesting. I'll bet you want more Government to solve this Government created problem.

Why don't you try telling us what you think, instead of imagining what I think? Your analysis is totally foolish, since the Republicans protect Big Pharma at every turn and high prices are the result, despite the fact that much of the ground work is paid for by your tax dollars. If they were suffering from over regulation, how is it that they can afford to spam the airwaves 24/7 with ads for their newest money maker which the average American has already paid quite a bit for?

And your quote....

Big Pharma at every turn and high prices are the result, despite the fact that much of the ground work is paid for by your tax dollars.

Feeling stupid yet......

That isn't tax dollars given to Big Pharma. That's BP benefiting from government-sponsored research. You have to do a better job of reading before calling someone else stupid.

 

[2aguy]

Yeah...here is my link......your post....

One reason they[Big Pharma] have so much to spend is because most basic research isn't done by the companies, but by universities under federal grants. We should have a say, since we paid for much of the groundwork from which they profit.

So your saying Government is responsible for high prices and poorly spend earnings? Interesting. I'll bet you want more Government to solve this Government created problem.

Why don't you try telling us what you think, instead of imagining what I think? Your analysis is totally foolish, since the Republicans protect Big Pharma at every turn and high prices are the result, despite the fact that much of the ground work is paid for by your tax dollars. If they were suffering from over regulation, how is it that they can afford to spam the airwaves 24/7 with ads for their newest money maker which the average American has already paid quite a bit for?

And your quote....

Big Pharma at every turn and high prices are the result, despite the fact that much of the ground work is paid for by your tax dollars.

Feeling stupid yet......

That isn't tax dollars given to Big Pharma. That's BP benefiting from government-sponsored research. You have to do a better job of reading before calling someone else stupid.

I quoted your post...here, let me quote you again.......

despite the fact that much of the ground work is paid for by your tax dollars.

So again.....your quote....

 

[charwin95]

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.

I spent a lot of money promoting and advertising my company as part of my business. If I don't how in the world they recognized me and my products?
WHO the hell are you or anybody tells me how, what and why I spent my money?

 

[defcon4]

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

 

[kiwiman127]

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.

I spent a lot of money promoting and advertising my company as part of my business. If I don't how in the world they recognized me and my products?
WHO the hell are you or anybody tells me how, what and why I spent my money?

For me it's not how Pharma is spending their money, it's who's paying the bill. For some very, very odd reason, people seem to completely blow off the fact that the cost of pharmaceuticals in the U S cost more than double the next most expensivecountry in the world for drugs.
The American consumer is paying for most of the world wide ad campaign. The cost of their ad campaign is included in their cost. Why is Pharma's ad budget an issue? Because Big Phara and their tools defend the pricing pointing to R & D, when in fact their marketing budget is almost 20 times larger! Big Pharma and their tools are being intellectually dishonest.

 

[konradv]

I quoted your post...here, let me quote you again.

despite the fact that much of the ground work is paid for by your tax dollars.

There's a big difference between tax dollars going directly to BP and their benefiting from basic research of general interest that happens to coincide with their interest. They're not the same thing no matter how much you want them to be.