just another thread on drug companies and

a close friend was telling me just the other day how her six year old threw a huge fit because she wanted these sketchers shoes. she saw them on tv and haaaaad to have them for her first day at school coming up soon. my friend had never heard of sketchers before, but they got $50 of her money through her kid.

these drug ads are the same concept in my mind... plant the seed in the patient's head, and when they go to the doctor they say they want the rx. people still ask for name brands, though i can't fathom why. while i'm all for awareness of one's medical care, i think big pharma's direct marketing to people is pretty sick.

 

Not only are they pushing drugs of all kind out of one side of their marketing department, they are funding the pushback against medical marijuana on the other side. Without their lobbying pressure, the feds would have backed off the cancer patients (per voter will of a dozen + states) long ago. They lobbied to prevent Medicare from bargaining for cheaper drugs, leading to drugs getting shipped to Canada, and then shipped BACK in at a cheaper price than if they were sold directly.
They manipulate the FDA to approve their drugs regardless of risk and ignore others. The FDA has lost all medical crediblility now. Go big pharma! push that Vioxx! Push that Viagra! Coming soon! a new drug that eliminates independant thought!

 

I love the site for Panexa ("Ask your doctor for a reason to take it."). Havidol is also amusing, and slightly more subtle.

 

I think drug companies ought not to be allowed to advertise directly to consumers, at least not by TV.

Let me take this opportunity to again plug the book _On the Take_ by Kassirer, which is a great and comprehensive treatment of the base vileness of Big Pharma.

The articles about "The Rise and Fall of the Killer Drug Rezulin" are very instructive too.