For those seething and smoldering under the spell of Big Pharma conspiracy theories, and for those who aren’t, but want a crisp summary of the counter arguments, here are 12 nimble verities casting light on the issue.
1) Adherents
to Big Pharma conspiracies fall for the Argument from Perfection fallacy. Yes,
there are problems and issues with major pharmaceutical companies. There are
problems and criticisms with all companies and institutions. Taken to its
logical conclusion, we should shut down all governments, the entire health care
system, the entire justice system, every capitalistic enterprise, every
democratic institution, and live in a “society” of chaos and anarchy. Nothing
is perfect, but pointing out imperfections, as serious as they are, does not
mean the entire system is to be dumped into the trash. An outline of the eight
most common problems with Big Pharma can be found at: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Big_Pharma
2) It costs
pharmaceuticals anywhere from $1.3 to $2.6 billion US and 128 months to develop
and bring an effective drug to market. Where is this money supposed to come
from? Yes, there is greed and unethical behavior, and that is constantly being
exposed and challenged. Most drug clinical trials fail and millions of dollars
go down the drain. Billions of dollars are needed for continuous research. The
Big Pharma demonizers rarely mention this and, in their hypocrisy, endorse all
types of capitalistic and entrepreneurial endeavours that benefit themselves.
3) Most people
end up believing in these conspiracies because they are completely unaware of
what it truly takes to develop a successful drug. A little knowledge goes a
long way, and having a better idea how it all works helps to better evaluate
conspiracy claims. A concise
step-by-step overview of drug development for the lay person can be found at: http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/big-pharma-and-development-of-drugs-debunking-myths/
4) Many public
sector organizations on the cutting edge of cancer research are major
universities worldwide and charitable organizations like the American and
Canadian Cancer Society. Where the profit motives are, and the greed and
bloodthirstiness that leads to the deaths of millions of people annually, Big
Pharma conspiracists fail to address. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine lays out the facts:
“Historically,
public-sector researchers have performed the upstream, basic research that
elucidated the underlying mechanisms of disease and identified promising points
of intervention, whereas corporate researchers have performed the downstream,
applied research resulting in the discovery of drugs for the treatment of
diseases and have carried out development activities to bring them to market.
However, the boundaries between the roles of the public and private sectors
have shifted substantially since the dawn of the biotechnology era, and the
public sector now has a much more direct role in the applied-research phase of
drug discovery.
“We
identified new drugs and vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) that were discovered by public-sector research institutions (PSRIs) and
classified them according to their therapeutic category and potential therapeutic
effect.
“We found
that during the past 40 years, 153 new FDA-approved drugs, vaccines, or new
indications for existing drugs were discovered through research carried out in
PSRIs. These drugs included 93 small-molecule drugs, 36 biologic agents, 15 vaccines,
8 in vivo diagnostic materials, and 1 over-the-counter drug. More than half of
these drugs have been used in the treatment or prevention of cancer or
infectious diseases. PSRI-discovered drugs are expected to have a
disproportionately large therapeutic effect.”
5) Finding an
effective drug that effectively cures or inhibits particular cancers would
enrich these companies beyond their wildest dreams. Shareholders would make a
fortune. Arguments that cancer cures are
being suppressed for profit fail simple arithmetic.
6) Most people
naturally avoid complex issues and would rather settle for the easy one liners
espoused by conspiracists. We live in a frenzied media environment which has
caused many people to develop short attention spans. Taking time to honestly
delve into the issues is a task and chore that is avoided like the plague.
7) There is no
such thing as a cure for cancer. There are dozens of completely different types
of cancer that require different cures. Conspiracy theorists dupe their readers
when they write about a strait forward, uncomplicated cure for cancer. Anyone
in the medical field, or well-educated person, knows this is nonsense. Con
artists know that people with no scientific or medical background will assess
information beyond their learning. They exploit this with clever sounding falsehoods
and appeals to outrage, circumventing the intellect and manipulating those who
think primarily with their emotions.
8) Follow the
money. Many Big Pharma conspiracy theorists are making big money with their
so-called “miracle cures”. They prey on the desperate and vulnerable and get
rich on treatments that don’t work. Their hypocrisy can’t be understated. They
condemn Big Pharma money but are profiting themselves. For just a pill-sized
sample see http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2015/09/yet-another-victim-of-cancer-quackery.html
9) In spite
what theorists claim, cancer survivorship has been increasing steadily thanks
to scientific breakthroughs and continuous research. According to the American Cancer Society:
“More than 15.5 million children and adults with a history of cancer
were alive on January 1, 2016, in the United States ….. The majority of cancer survivors (67%) were
diagnosed 5 or more years ago, and 17% were diagnosed 20 or more years ago.
Nearly half (47%) of survivors are 70 years of age or older, while only 11% are
younger than 50 ….. By January 1, 2026, it is estimated that the population of
cancer survivors will increase to 20.3 million: almost 10 million males and
10.3 million females.”
For more details and relevant links see: Good News On Cancer Survivorship: What The Quacks
Don’t Want You To Know http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2017/02/good-news-on-cancer-survivorship.html
10) Ignorance of how medicine works leads many
people to accept Big Pharma conspiracies. A concise yet comprehensive summary
is provided by Steven Novella, M.D. and Stephen Barrett, M.D.:
“The medical
establishment is not a single entity. The health-care industry includes
physicians, nurses, other health professionals, insurance companies, private
consumer organizations, universities, government agencies (such as the FDA),
hospitals, HMOs, other managed-care organizations, professional organizations
(such as the AMA), pharmaceutical companies, and other private corporations.
These groups may have competing interests; and, within each group, individual
members may also have competing interests, and many have no financial stake in
patient care.
"Some private physicians get paid for each patient they see, but
others do not. Most who work for HMOs or other managed-care organizations are
either salaried or capitated (receiving a fixed monthly sum per patient not per
service). Those who pursue an academic career may be salaried and/or obtain
money from research grants. For physicians on fixed incomes, more patients
means more work, but not more money. Some physicians dedicate their career to
public health and do not see patients at all. And if an expensive cancer
treatment could be replaced by something much less costly, insurance companies
would embrace it.”
11) Big Pharma
conspiracists’ claims are literally dead in the water when they state that CEOs
of the major pharmaceuticals are knowingly and intentionally suppressing cancer
cures:
“Even if you
buy into the idea that powerful people do not care about their friends and
families, the very appeal to selfishness made by the greed/profit angle says
they care a great deal about themselves. If we were to notice that an
overwhelming majority of corporate heads and government officials have managed
to escape cancer, then we might have reason to be suspicious that a cure has
been found and is being saved for a select few.
But that’s not what’s happening.
With each passing year the list of rich and powerful people who die from
cancer becomes more populated. It
includes corporate CEOs, politicians, government leaders, Big Pharma employees,
and heads of state from around the world.
"We would have to believe that these
people know of a cure but decide not to use it so as to avoid suspicion. It’s silly to think that any of these people,
many who already have fantastic amounts of money, would be willing to face the
specter of a slow lingering death just to have a little more. It can’t be true
that these people are so selfish as to hide a cure in favor of their own gain,
yet so selfless that they are willing to die so the conspiracy can remain
secret. These sorts of contradictions
arise not from evidence or reasoning, but from making as many assumptions as
needed to justify the trope of a hidden cure without contemplating their
logical implications in sufficient depth.”
12)
Conspiracists believe that everyone is obsessed with money to the
exclusion of basic human decency and morality. Everyone involved in Big Pharma
are total monsters who have no issue killing millions of people just so that
they can get even more rich than they already are. Basic human frailties and
vanities like prestige and recognition are motives and ambitions to many, and
completely negate all conspiracy arguments:
“Even if we tacitly accept that scientists and
doctors do not care about making a difference the world or helping sick people,
we still can’t assume that the only thing they care about is money. Any scientist who finds or participates in
research leading to a breakthrough cure is going to be instantly famous among
colleagues and peers. It’s a chance to
show all the foes and detractors from your entire life that you are not a
loser, that you are in fact the very best at what you do. It not only means a
Nobel Prize, it virtually guarantees statues and entire buildings erected in
your honor and a mention in virtually every medical and science textbook. It means you can set your salary and work for
any company you choose, doing whatever research you like. It means adoration
from millions of victims and family members whom you have saved. Finding a cancer cure would mean a reputation
to rival that of Einstein’s and a legacy which will persist throughout
history. It’s not very easy to believe
that any scientist would be willing sweep these benefits under the rug along
with the cure, and the more shallow and selfish the conspiracy claims the
scientists to be, the more like it is that they value total personal gain over
mere financial gain alone.”
Further Reading
The Truly
Staggering Cost Of Inventing New Drugs
https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/02/10/the-truly-staggering-cost-of-inventing-new-drugs/#7d92d7794a94
Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development Briefing: Cost
of Developing a New Drug http://csdd.tufts.edu/files/uploads/Tufts_CSDD_briefing_on_RD_cost_study_-_Nov_18,_2014..pdf
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Photo: http://cdns.yournewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/big-pharma-kills-people-678x381.jpg
Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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