Re: UKIP masterstroke : Wed Mar 20, 2013 11:03 am
Sal Paradise wrote:
We have had the discussions around drugs previously - on the whole the drug companies do a good job, they will never be squeaky clean - they are in a commercial environment where data is everything. They invest billions in new treatments - look at what progress has been made over the past 20 years in clinical care and much of the improvement is down to advances in drug treatment.
You need to look again and preferably have a chat with someone who works for or with these large drug companies. For starters, they are not interested in investing in much-needed cures as treatments are far more profitable. And some of the tactics used to promote their products regardless of suitability for the patient goes so far beyond 'squeaky clean' that they can't even see it in the distance.
Prime example at the moment? Antibiotics. There's a huge need for new classes of antibiotic to address the resistance being built up to the current types, and yet there is very little research being done. Why? Because antibiotics are taken in short courses and result in a cure, but things like blood pressure tablets (for instance) are generally taken for a lifetime - making far more profit. The fact that antibiotic resistance is a far larger public health issue is irrelevant to them.