Worldwide obesity rates have tripled since 1975, with 650 million adults obese in 2016, according to the World Health Organization. In 2019, the OECD declared that developed countries’ plans to tackle the problem largely failed. And the Covid-19 pandemic only underscored that obesity puts people at greater risk for infectious disease but are new weight loss drugs the answer?
To address the “retention” problem, pharma companies are paying employees exorbitant salaries. The problem with that system is that people do whatever they need to to “hold onto” their high-paying jobs and become employees who are content not to excel. This is NOT what pharma needs.
Digital pharmacies seem to be springing up everywhere. Allowing patients to order medications online and get delivery via Fed-Ex or the mail does offer time savings. Still, without a significant value (lower costs), they may not find an audience.
Imbruvica, a cancer medication, carries a wholesale price of about $16,000 a month. Patients on Medicare who don’t qualify for low-income subsidies could see out-of-pocket costs for the drug of over $12,000. Isn’t it time for Congress to finally pass legislation that helps patients?
In 2020, over 75% of AbbVie’s’ sales were made to American consumers, yet only 1% of AbbVie’s’ income was reported in the United States for tax purposes. AbbVie’s’ ability to exploit subsidiaries in offshore tax havens to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes on U.S. prescription drug sales signals that big pharma will do anything to avoid hurting profits.
I’ve been working with various pharma and biotech companies with my consulting group for over ten years. Some things have changed, but a lot has not. Here’s what I have learned during that time.
Endpoint News reported “Three major drug distributors are off the hook for what may have been a $2.5 billion payment after a federal judge found them not liable for the opioid epidemic in parts of West Virginia, one of the hardest-hit areas of the country. This is beyond outrageous it’s a classic example of abuse of power.
Imagine a medicine that reduced the death rate of breast cancer and risk of recurrent breast cancer by 50% lowered the risks of colon cancer and type 2 diabetes by two-thirds, and those of heart disease, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s’ disease by 40%. On top of that, it can be as effective as antidepressants or cognitive behavioral therapy in countering depression. That medicine exists, says Dr. Edward Laskowski of the Mayo Clinic: It’s’ called exercise. But…