Big Pharma
The pharmaceutical industry in the U.S. is often called “Big Pharma” because of the massive presence it has in our nation’s commerce, economy, and even government. Of the top 20 pharmaceutical corporations in the world, 12 are in the U.S. Over half of the world’s market share and total sales of drugs are from this country’s big pharma companies. The American pharmaceutical industry, consisting of just a handful of tremendously powerful corporations, generally control the strategy and direction of the world’s prescription drug market including cancer treatment drugs. Note also that the government is not having to bail out pharmaceutical corporations.
We Americans enjoy tremendous benefit from living in a country with such direct access to the most effective medicines from the most sophisticated medical research and development processes in the world. Thousands of lives in this country are being saved or sustained every day due to the advantages of modern pharmaceuticals. However, there is a downside to the magnitude and momentum of big pharma, especially for cancer sufferers. The conventional cancer therapy drugs that have been used for years in mainstream treatment are a big part of the revenue stream for these companies. With little incentive to pursue less costly, natural, and less debilitating alternatives, the giant drug corporations continue to focus almost exclusively on developing better chemically based compounds for therapy. The deficiency of interest in anything outside of the conventional is not the fault of any particular company or individual. It is simply that an industrial culture of that size is next to impossible to change. But, change we must.
My next few posts will be on the topic of big pharma and what we must do as a nation to invite a broader approach and fresh ideas for cancer treatment. Come back tomorrow.