Today we’ll tell you a little bit more about the pharmaceutical industry. Covers the development, production, and marketing of drugs needed for medical use. That is conducted by both private and public organizations. By trying to find a way of abolishing simple or more complex diseases and life-threatening ailments. As you’d expect this industry is subject to a variety of laws and regulations. The pharmaceutical sector invests up to 20% of their incomes in research and development of new ways of treating diseases. Is so complex that lots of other areas come under the same roof. In order to develop new ways of making humans live longer. Here are 15 dark facts you don’t know about the pharmaceutical industry let’s get to it.
1. It All Started 200 Years Ago
Medicine has been evolving and changing since the beginning of time. The modern-day pharmaceutical industry started to develop around the 19th century. The purification of individual organic compounds was perfected in the late 1800s by German dyes manufacturers. Other rudimentary methods in the area of organic chemical synthesis were also established by them in 1900. Diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diarrhea were deadly in the US. Mortality in the first year of life exceeded 10 percent in the early years of research. The development of new drugs for treating infectious diseases was a focus because they were the leading causes of death in many countries.
2. There Is No Research To Prove Prescription Medication Works Long Term
Multiple prescription drugs taken in combination are toxic to the liver, kidneys and other organs. Sadly the long term effects of taking such toxic cocktails of medicines have never been tested by the FDA. Long term use of prescription medication can also affect the brain and cause addiction. Many people in the US are consuming these drug cocktails with regularity. Even though there’s no evidence to support safe long-term use. Moreover, many of the pharmaceutical companies are inventing positive results for their researches or are altering conclusions of the drug studies due to funding pressures.
3. Big Pharma Companies Get Fined A Lot
Big pharma sits at the center of some of the biggest fines ever divvied out among healthcare companies. In 2012 GlaxoSmithKline pled guilty to criminal charges and paid a three billion dollar fine. After the pharmaceutical company promoted antidepressants to minors none of the drugs they promoted were approved by the FDA for people less than 18 years old. Companies like Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer also paid large fines for promoting off-label drug use and illegal marketing of painkillers. Even though the fines were large almost 2.5 billion dollars for each company. They actually only represent a small amount for these huge pharmaceutical giants. If we’re thinking about how much money they make every year.
4. Antibiotics Were Discovered 90 Years Ago
Antibiotics are extremely derived from microorganisms and the growth of or the death of bacteria is controlled by them. Synthetic antibiotics are related to the natural ones and have accomplished similar tasks as they have. Greeks and Indians use molds and other plans to treat infections. Later on, in the 1800s other scientists and doctors have researched the bacteria. They produce to fight infections in 1928 Alexander Fleming professor of bacteriology at st. Mary’s Hospital in London. Discovered penicillin the first true antibiotic. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or medicine in 1945 and got knighted in 1944 for his extraordinary achievements which revolutionized the medical sciences.
5. Pfizer Is The Biggest Pharmaceutical Company In The World ($52,540,000,000)
Well, we’re talking about trillions and as of 2017, this industry reached unprecedented heights. Out of all companies, Pfizer makes the most money. The company has its headquarters in Connecticut USA and managed to become the world’s largest pharmaceutical company. Pfizer is a research-based company and spends money for studies in areas like immunology, oncology, neurosciences, and rare diseases. The second-largest pharmaceutical company is rush with a net worth of forty-four point six three billion dollars. In third place is Santa Fe with a net worth of thirty-six point six six billion.
6. Clinical Trials Don’t Always Get Approvals
Preclinical research answers basic questions about drug safety. It is not a substitute for studies of ways. The drug will interact with the human body clinical research refers to studies or trials that are done on people most times in hospitals. Pharmaceutical companies are usually selective about information. They release after such research Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline did just that with the results of their Paxil trial research. Because its data showed that the drug was less than effective in children and teens. The sad part is that this is just one lawsuit other companies still won’t publish all the conclusions of their studies or keep doing research without FDA approvals which is extremely problematic.
7. In 2015, Hiv Drugwent From $13 A Tablet To $750 Overnight
Martin Shkreli the founder and chief executive of Turing pharmaceuticals caused a lot of rage in 2015 when he bought the company. That manufactured one of the most effective HIV medicines and raised the price overnight from $13 to 750 dollars. The cost of the annual day prem treatment rose to reach enormous sums of money. Shkreli declared after the increasing of the price but the impact on the health system would be really small. The drug being rarely used he also said the money earned for selling the drug would be used for research and development of a new drug for toxoplasmosis. He definitely got a lot of hate from everyone.
8. Big Pharma Conspiracy Going Around
Big pharma is the name given to the 15 huge companies in the pharmaceutical industry. It’s surrounded by a lot of conspiracy theories, many people believe these companies work hand in hand with the government to keep their population sick. It’s just a big pharma conspiracy to make people buy expensive medicines and hide the fact.
They don’t know what is killing people. In February of 2018, a Russian mother who didn’t believe in the existence of AIDS was charged with manslaughter after her HIV positive baby died. The baby’s mother was HIV positive – and refused treatment for herself and her daughter. Leading to the little girl’s death these conspiracy theories are a huge problem. Because people are refusing treatments or vaccinations against all sorts of diseases.
9. Advertising Is The Key In The Industry
Everybody needs medicine every once in a while and maybe you don’t really care who’s selling the ibuprofen. You’re buying what the truth is the laws of economics apply here as well. Companies fight each other in order to gain a bigger share of the market. It takes serious advertising dollars to promote a drug to consumers and doctors in order to build awareness. It seems like in U.S. big pharma companies spend more than 200 million dollars a year for advertising purposes.
In order to make their products visible, they turn to all sorts of tactics. From hiring famous people to talk about a product to giving free samples to doctors so they would promote the medicine to its customers. Unfortunately, in a lot of countries, the regulations are vague or unclear. A lot of commercials push consumers to buy and trust the meds without giving away too much information about the side-effects.
10. The Most Profitable Of Them All Is The Pharma Industry ($154,000,000,000+)
People get sick and the modern less painful way to treat diseases is with medicine. The pharmaceutical industry is by far one of the most profitable industries of all. Major generic pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and GSK lead the way when looking at the top ten industries in the world. You’ll find among them biotech generic and major pharmaceutical companies along with major banks and investment firms. Americans spent one hundred and fifty-four billion dollars on prescription drugs last year. That’s an increase of more than 17 percent over 2016 according to a study by the National Institute for Healthcare Managemen. The pharmaceutical sector gained a share of 21.6% net profit margin in 2016 and since we’re talking about medicine.
11. There Is Still No Complete Cure For Cancer, HIV Or Parkinson’s Disease
Cancer is the modern age killer of about 600,000 people a year in the United States alone. More than 1.5 million people are prone to be diagnosed with cancer in the near future says the National Cancer Institute. With researchers often not being able to reach common ground on the matter. There are hundreds of campaigns and donations all over the world for cancer research and other deadly diseases. So far not much has been revealed the number of people living with HIV/aids worldwide has topped 34 million people with many of them living in developing countries. Despite enormous efforts of more than 30 years HIV/aids researchers have yet to develop another vaccine or cure for the disease.
12. Japan’s Pharmaceutical Company Is Blooming
Japan is the world’s second pharmaceutical market closely behind the US and China that share the first place. Since the country’s population is quickly aging and elder people often need more medicinal drugs. It makes for a great market for the pharmaceutical industry. Lately, Japan’s government has used regulations relating to testing. As well as big pharma companies quickly picked up on the business opportunity.
13. Engineers And New Technology Are Helping A Lot
Smallpox and polio have become eradicated through vaccinations and the good news is that for every dreaded disease that’s currently being researched there’s a possibility of a cure. New technology and new ideas are currently helping the medical and pharmaceutical industry to find treatments or cures for diseases that affect the global population. There’s a hope for cancer, Ebola, HIV, Alzheimer’s and cystic fibrosis to be cured in our lifetime. Even tech companies like Apple, IBM, and Google started investments in the field of medical development. This is only the beginning of what those companies can do in medical and pharmaceutical research.
14. Supplements Only Make You Thirsty
Vitamins remain an essential item that we need to support our body in its natural wear and tear process. Various foods give us these vitamins as well as other natural sources. What we know as excessive thirst also has medical name polydipsia and can be a symptom of various conditions. Excessive thirst can also appear from taking too many vitamins and supplements. People still need vitamins and they can help your body if you lack some but. Keep in mind that if you’re not under a doctor’s eye you might not be doing so well by taking them daily.
15. Developing A New Drug Cost $2600,000,000
Huge amounts of money go into developing new drugs. Pharmaceutical companies spend on average 2.6 billion dollars on new drugs that sum of money includes costs associated with drug failure also. Returns that investors pass on during the development period of the drug around 1.2 billion dollars moreover. To develop a new drug is enormous in comparison to the ones spent during the 1980s 413 million dollars. The pharmaceutical industry is a controversial one with all kinds of debates going on around the money invested there.
16. Many Studies Show That Cannabis Has A Lot Of Healing Properties
Cannabis or marijuana is legal or becoming legal in Canada, Holland, South Africa, Israel, and some USA states. Possession of cannabis became illegal in most countries since the late The 1930s and in many cases still is. Today in several parts of the world the possession of small quantities of cannabis is legal being decriminalized. However medicinal cannabis can also be used to help a lot of people in pain suffering from terminal cancer, AIDS or even ADHD.
