You may have heard it in school, you may have said it in school. If you didn't hear it or say it there, I'm sure you've heard it said in a movie, "Meet me behind the school at 3:00. You're going down!" According to an article on FT.com, Big Pharma may be hearing that very phrase themselves, "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"
The article on Ft.com says that the pharmaceutical industry will have NEGATIVE growth in 2011. This will be the FIRST TIME IN HISTORY. Can I get an amen?! For companies like AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, this is the worst crisis that they have faced in DECADES (according to the article). I know you can hear my tears falling, right?
Richard Girling, global co-head of health care at Merrill Lynch, says: “The problem is not so much the size of companies but the concentration and reliance on single products. This has been exacerbated by a lack of innovation over the years.”
The reason for this huge decline is because many of the patents they have on their main drugs are going to be ending soon. Once the patents end, generic drugs can put out their cheaper version of the same pills (great).
While negative growth in pharmaceutical companies is wonderful news, we don't need to start celebrating just yet. Why, you may ask? Well, I think Dr. Mercola says it best:
In an attempt to save their falling dynasty, drugmakers are likely to:
- Pursue aggressive ad campaigns to doctors and patients
- Increase drug prices
- Attempt to extend patents on existing medications
BE ON YOUR GUARD. DON'T FALL FOR THE DRUG COMMERCIALS.
RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. Use medication as a last resort and not as a means of living. We need to take responsibility for our lives and our health and start taking care of the temples (our bodies) that God has entrusted to us. Only then will we see true health.
To read the full article about the decline in the pharmaceutical industry, click on the title below:
The Beginning of the End for Big Drugmakers?
4 comments:
Do you not have friends that work for pharmaceutical companies? It doesn't seem very Christ-like to wish for their companies to "go down," since they will probably lose their jobs. I'm not trying to be rude, but you might want to think about these posts before you hurt feelings and friendships.
I do have friends who work for pharmaceutical companies...many friends who I really love, actually. However, if I had friends who were in the KKK (which I don't), should I hope that the KKK stays afloat so that my friends can continue to be supported by them? No. Why? Because the KKK hurts people and has selfish intent.
Most drug companies, although they may have started out with noble intentions, have selfish intent. They market drugs, that they know have major potential to cause harm and even to kill, to make money...and lots of it. Drug companies have been caught time after time after time covering up dangerous side effects, using ghost-writers, marketing identical drugs under different names. They bribe, I'm sorry..."offer gifts" to nurses and doctors to persuade them to prescribe their drugs.
If they are so noble and are truly trying to help people, why do they give these gifts? If the drugs are so great, why are gifts attached???
Listen, I KNOW my stance on this is extremely unpopular. I know it is. And I truly wish that I could just sit back and look the other way, but I feel CALLED to share the information that I have come across. If I were to shrink back, I don't think I would be doing what is right.
I truly believe that as a society, we are impatient and expect a pill to fix every ill. We want to live a life free from any type of pain, whether physical, mental, or emotional, but it's just not realistic. The Bible says, "In this world, you will have trouble." We have become a society that is DEPENDENT upon medication as a way of life. To me, that doesn't seem very "Christ-like" either.
Because drug companies use dishonest practices, I have a hard time trusting them or their medications. It's like having someone lie to you over and over and over but then finally tell you the truth. You're going to be skeptical and not believe. That's where I am.
I would LOVE to trust drug companies. Please show me one worthy of trust, who has not used dishonest practices to make a buck (or billions).
I hope that if the day comes where I need to take a medication, the risks do not outweigh the benefits. I truly HOPE that. I hope that my boys never need one. They haven't so far, but if they ever do, I hope it doesn't do more harm than good.
So YES. I do have friends in the pharmaceutical industry, and I worry daily that they will be hurt or will want to drop me as a friend because of my beliefs. I do. I probably stress over that WAAAY more than anyone realizes (except my husband, who has heard me cry about it on many occasions). However, I also have family and friends who are unsaved. Should I stay quiet in order to save feelings? That's helping no one. In fact, if no one ever says anything, they (my friends and family who are unsaved) are destined to spend eternity in hell. And maybe that example seems a bit extreme; however, lives are being lost and families are being broken up because of dangerous drugs. Ask me about friends who have lost loved ones. It's not pretty.
I hope that drug companies will clean up their acts; that they will make honest companies of themselves and that they will use honest practices. I would love to trust the drugs doctors recommend. It would take a major change for that to happen.
If you have no idea about drug dangers, check out this whole blog. Most of the stories about drug dangers and the dishonest practices that drug companies are using come directly from national news websites...CNN, Fox News, Yahoo News, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). I'm not making this stuff up. Check out my posts about the whistle-blowers who formerly worked for Big Pharma. They're not MY words, they come straight from them. I just offer my opinion based on what I read.
So, those of you who I am friends with who work for pharmaceutical companies or who take lots of medication...I LOVE YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE. I don't love you or loathe you because of where you work, how you raise your kids, or what you do on the weekends. I LOVE YOU FOR YOU. I hope that you can love me for me and realize that I don't do this to hurt anyone. I realize that some people may be hurt by it, and for that, I am sorry. I really am deeply sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I have lost many nights of sleep for fear of hurting those I love. However, I can't shrink back from this. This subject has hurt and affected so many others that I love. I feel called to do this, so I have to. Love me or leave me, this is what I have to do.
Blessings.
Wow, your comment sounds almost Communistically anti-capitalist. Making money is not wrong. Drug companies make a lot of money because they have extremely important products that billions of people need. They also need all that $$$ to put right back into R&D to develope new drugs, like cancer fighting agents and other things that save the lives of people we all know and love. And comparing drug companies to the KKK, all I can say is WOW! Truly truly, I feel sorry for how paranoid and conspiracy-theory minded you are. I pray God will give you an ounce of discernment to see where cautiousness stops and buying into all the liberal media guilt and paranoia begins. You also have no idea how inneffective these "gifts" are to doctors and nurses. If you think a pen or a little notepad of paper changes their prescribing tendancies you are grossly uninformed, grossly. Drug companies aren't even allowed to give away big gifts or anything of worth anymore, thats been years ago. But anyway, I think this is falling on deaf ears. Will continue to pray for you . . .
I won't give the reaction you're looking for. All I have to say, again, is follow the news. Every single week there are stories about medications being given stronger warnings because they are killing or injuring innocent, trusting people.
As for you being so proud of your viewpoints, if you're SO right, and I'm so "anti-capitalist", "paranoid", and "conspiracy-theory minded", then why is it that you hide behind your anonymity? Seems to me that if you're so proud of your beliefs, you would openly and proudly share your true identity.
I stand firmly on my beliefs based on research. What do you stand on? The pharmaceutical company you work for? What your MD told you? What the Zyprexa commercial said?
Thanks for reminding me that I am making the correct choice for myself and for my family.
Blessings to you!
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