Sunday night, 60 Minutes had one of those research stories, this one crafted with the Washington Post, that really gets my dander up. This one was about how the large drug distributors basically bought a change in the law that tied the hands of the DEA to enforce control over these distributors of vast – and I mean millions and millions of doses of opiates and opioids to small towns that end up in the hands of the opiate addicted, in quantities that essentially guaranteed that people were going to OD, and potentially die. They spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the legislators who played the system by passing this law in both houses via consent decree without any discussion or votes. Obama, following his advisors just signed it since it received unanimous bipartisan support. Oh, the unfortunate oversight. So, the point was that the drug companies and their mega distributors were responsible for a large portion of the 33,000 opiate overdosing deaths in the US last year.
This is a part of a much larger bit of malfeasance that is business as usual at the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry. It is typical that drug companies seek to sell the maximum amount of medicine, and earn the highest profits possible – that’s just part of ‘good business’, right? Well not exactly. The danger associated with these drugs is old news, and the drug companies, not only sold as much of them as possible, but these are old drugs and cheap to produce, yet they have all, especially Oxycontin and Oxycodone, seen huge price increases. I’ve had to be on some level of opioid medication for many years, as I have a unique disease that has destroyed all cartilage in my body. Actually, this malady was caused by an experimental chemical that Roche was hoping was going to solve the HIV/AIDS problem in 1987. I was in a clinical trial at the NIH for very high dose DDC that the virus just ‘hated’ in the test tube. It was so toxic that today, I am the sole survivor of that study cohort of 80 people. I didn’t feel lucky at the time, and I couldn’t stop asking why me. God sent me his answer to that question as I now firmly believe that my reason for being is to help other disabled seniors experience the quality of life that we all should – happy, healthy, and with a sense of belonging that brings us joy. Now that I have my answer, I feel like the luckiest man alive. There is a big difference between life and quality of life. It’s time to help them restore quality to their lives.
But I digress. Roche was responsible for the premature deaths of many study volunteers, and for my disability. Why would we think that they or any pharmaceutical company would take responsibility for these deaths any more than they do for the opiate deaths. It’s simply not part of their business plan. Until these companies are forced to be responsible for what they put in our bodies, nothing will change. In fact, they go to great lengths as they feel justified in recouping their research costs - even for drugs that cause harm and don’t work.
This whole scenario plays itself out to cancer patients too. Here’s where the media – like 60 minutes, PBS and the others were enlisted to help. There have been many news features interviewing the doctors working on the development of genetic or biology based medications to beat cancer. In every interview I saw, the researcher was careful to mention that they were just at the beginning of this technology, and that calling it a cure is very premature. I completely respect the researchers out there trying like mad to find disease cures. What the drug companies do with this research is what I challenge. Less than a year later, these drugs are on the market, with chilling ads that press the idea of ‘what’s even a little quality time worth?’ These drugs have been shown in studies to extend the lives of people who failed therapy with Platinum containing medications. What they don’t ever say is that the therapy is hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that the absolute maximum life extension was 6 months, period. I don’t know – but that seems awfully dear for a drug that really doesn’t make you better. It delays the inevitable a little bit.
The one thing that they do to sound even a little humane is to thank the volunteers who were in their clinical trials. Whoopie. Once again the pharmaceutical companies capitalize on our vulnerability.
After my study, Roche had the gall to bring DDC out in the early 90s at 1/2000th the strength we received. It had to be taken off the market as even at that dose it was too toxic. Still, it was out there for a few years, netting Roche millions and millions with not even a note to those of us on whose backs and lives they developed these drugs.
There are other stories like these – some with very dark behavior on the part of these greedy companies. They tried to discredit and de-license the physician who discovered and published his research on the HIV Protease drugs, a billion-dollar drug for many companies, uncovering why so many of us are having our hips decay as we suffered avascular necrosis. I am facing my 2nd replacement. The campaign against this man was shameful – where was the media for this one?
I don’t know what else I can say to convince everyone how the priorities of the pharmaceutical industry are misguided and fraught with peril for us all. The prices that the charge when a drug takes off are reprehensible. I can’t continue here as I am getting too angry to write responsibly. Please join everyone in voting only for candidates who seek fair rules for that industry.