America is the only industrial and democratic nation that does not have universal health care. To top it off, while our gentle Northern neighbor enjoys the security of price-controlled medicines, we are left to swallow an increasingly bitter pill. Whenever a proposal to limit the cost of drugs once again appears on the public agenda, the pharmaceutical industry insists we must pay the current high prices to fund research and development of new drugs. This is simply untrue.
For the past 30 years the pharmaceutical industry has posted profits greater than every other American industry, five and a half times greater in 2002. This profit margin has more than enough room to fund research and development. Public Citizen found that on the whole, Fortune 500 pharmaceuticals spent a mere 14.1 percent on R&D while reaping 17 percent profits.
Despite this, from Sept. 2003 to Sept. 2004, the price of brand name drugs increased 7.5 percent, three times the rate of inflation. What did America gain in that one year period? Two new drugs for erectile dysfunction, praise Jesus. This is typical, according to Stephen Schondelmeyer, University of Minnesota professor, who approximates that only one third of all R&D funding goes to "innovative" drugs.
The drug industry is reluctant to lose this level of profit, so harping on the need for R & D is a solid strategy. However, a large portion of research and development is actually funded by the federal government.
One new poignant commercial features heroic cancer survivor and six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. He describes how a Bristol-Myers Squibb cancer medication saved his life. This medication is Taxol. Classified as an orphan drug under the U.S. Orphan Drug Act, Taxol qualified Bristol-Myers Squibb for federal funding for 50 percent of R&D costs. Taxpayers contributed almost $500 million to a drug that nets BMS $1 billion a year. Someone's getting hosed.
The drug industry is reluctant to spend precious money on medications that may benefit humankind but do not provide the necessary profits. This flu season hundreds of thousands of high risk Americans may be unable to find a flu shot to protect them from illness and possible death. Although a known vaccine has been available for 64 years, the American supply is made in foreign countries because U.S. drug firms refuse to produce it. This year contaminated batches eradicated our supplies. Welcome to corporate America. Hope you live long enough to enjoy your stay.
Drug companies provide medications that have extended and bettered our lives in a number of ways, but more and more, profit has replaced public interest. Today these companies are concerned with promoting their latest "blockbuster" drug to ensure their financial gain, but these drugs provide the public with few actual benefits. Recently in the news, Merck's Vioxx, a drug approved for the treatment of arthritis, was pulled off the market when it became apparent that those on the medication were four to five times more likely to suffer from a heart attack or stroke. Vioxx is part of the Cox-2 inhibitor family, which also includes the popular medications Bextra and Celebrex. Although now under a cloud of suspicion, these drugs remain on the market.
Unfortunately for those who may have suffered Vioxx's disastrous side effects, it will have been for naught. This group of medications has never been proven more effective than common and less expensive non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Motrin or Tylenol. The drug companies were able to use the increasingly common trend of direct advertising to bypass doctor's wisdom and sell it to the patient. This advertising increases demand for an unnecessary, expensive and - in the case of Vioxx - harmful medication.
The American population has for too long been beholden to the profit-driven demands of the pharmaceutical industry. Patients need to take it upon themselves to become educated on the issue and demand reform. The drug industry should no longer be allowed to hide behind the R&D myth to profit at our expense. Organized citizens must call on elected officials, for governmental intervention is necessary to control the excessive costs of medications.
