Bad Pharma

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ThisIsMA
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Bad Pharma

Post by ThisIsMA »

A friend of mine forwarded me a newsletter that describes recently released books about science.

The newsletter included a book called "Bad Pharma", which I'm almost afraid to read based on the description. If anyone else has more time and/or energy and has the guts to read this book (I'm afraid it will be quite distressing), it would sure be interesting to know more of the details. The little bit I do know about drug companies has already made me very hesitant to consider using prescription drugs. I am a big believer in the benefits of Vitamin D3 though.

Here is the description about the book from the newsletter:
Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients
By Ben Goldacre

Goldacre shares that all people should be able to understand precisely how data manipulation works and how research misconduct on a global scale affects everyone. This is the pharmaceutical industry as it has never been seen before.

Publisher Comments
We like to imagine that medicine is based on evidence and the results of fair tests. In reality, those tests are often profoundly flawed. We like to imagine that doctors are familiar with the research literature about a drug, when in reality much of the research is hidden from them by drug companies. We like to imagine that doctors are impartially educated, when in reality much of their education is funded by the pharmaceutical industry. We like to imagine that regulators let only effective drugs onto the market, when in reality they approve useless drugs, with data on side effects casually withheld from doctors and patients. All these problems have been shielded from public scrutiny because they're too complex to capture in a sound bite. But Ben Goldacre shows that the true scale of this murderous disaster fully reveals itself only when the details are untangled. He believes we should all be able to understand precisely how data manipulation works and how research misconduct on a global scale affects us.

With Goldacre's characteristic flair and a forensic attention to detail, "Bad Pharma "reveals a shockingly broken system and calls for something to be done. This is the pharmaceutical industry as it has never been seen before.
DX 6-09 RRMS, now SPMS
Rogan
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Re: Bad Pharma

Post by Rogan »

Yes, I am reading this book right now. Ben Goldacre is British and he makes some pretty damning conclusions regarding the Pharmaceutical industry, the Drug Regulators, Drug researchers, and the drug journals. Basically no one gets off as a good guy.

I think the book is very one sided.

With that said he makes some excellent points about how to improve the situation. One of the worst things I have read is that all trial data regarding drugs is not available to patient’s, doctors or regulators. Apparently drug companies can hide the trials they don't like. They also place gag orders on researchers. He advises no one to enroll in a trial unless they agree to make all of the data good or bad available.

This situation has to get better. For the Pharma industry perception will soon become reality and they and the FDA will need to address all of this. If nothing else this is leading people into the billion dollar a year supplement, natural path, world. All of this data is getting lost too.

I have a good friend currently trying to cure cancer at a world famous institute. It is so tragic to me that they have developed a molecule that might work but they are currently looking for a business partner to develop it into a drug. This now costs 1 billion. It use to cost 100 million.

I keep thinking about MS. What 600K Americans have it. They on average get it at 40. So say on average they made 50K. That's a 30 billion dollar a year annuity for 30 years. Do you know the present value of such a cure? It's too bad our society can't figure out how to make that sum of money available to some smart inventors. The idea that NIH funds basic research and then we leave it to private industry to try to spend 1 billion on a guess is just not working fast enough for me.

I really hope more people read this fine book. I'll post more as I get further into it.
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blossom
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Re: Bad Pharma

Post by blossom »

hope to not get into trouble as promoting or getting into religion on the wrong topic page. i'll just say there is a book called the bible that makes mention of "pharmacea". any other research on the subject can be found to verify.


The Bible says that "sorcery", or the use of poisonous drugs, has deceived all nations. "For by thy sorceries (pharmacea) were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth". (Rev. 18:23,24)

All nations practice sorcery through the use of drugs, but they are deceived into thinking that it's right. God condemns the merchandising and use of poisonous drugs along with murder and idolatry. Read it in your own Bible. Study it for yourself. If you don't own a concordance, borrow one from your library and see it with your own eyes.

Look in Webster's 2nd Collegiate Dictionary published in 1980 under the word "pharmaceutical." The definition reads: "pharmaceutical" the practice of witchcraft or the use of poison

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031584_Bible ... z2N7i0Pn2c

also, the two serpents wrapped arounnd the staff that you see on a lot of medical places has A history.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11003127
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NHE
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Re: Bad Pharma

Post by NHE »

When I had an infection in my foot due to a sloppy dermatologist that removed a suspicious mole from in between my toes, I was grateful for the antibiotics that cleared up the infection and allowed my foot to heal.
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marcstck
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Re: Bad Pharma

Post by marcstck »

Here are two videos featuring Dr. Goldacre talking about problems with the pharmaceutical companies and bad science in general. Great stuff, must watch...




Also, for what it's worth, I recently wrote a wheelchair kamikaze post on Dr. Goldacre and bad pharma in general…

http://www.wheelchairkamikaze.com/2013/ ... icine.html
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