Running a little short
It’s becoming a major news story…
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a serious shortage of prescription drugs in the U.S.
And if that sounds like complete nonsense to you–you’re right. It is.
Yes, in one of the richest countries in the world, with one of the highest standards of living–in the land of Lilly, Merck and Pfizer–drugs are somehow becoming scarce.
Who would benefit from such an absurd claim?
I would say, “Follow the money,” but in this case it’s more like, “Follow the gigantic piles of cash.”
Talking and talking and talking the talk
Here’s the reality behind the warm-n-cozy “caring” tone in nearly every drug advertisement on television. Drug companies care deeply about your health, as long as your health issues can be treated with a popular name-brand statin, antidepressant, prescription NSAID, etc. in perpetuity.
But when it comes to generics, or antibiotics, or anesthesia, or any drug you may only need for a short time, all that caring drops off sharply.
In other words, this shortage of drugs we’re hearing about is actually a shortage of motivation.
Blockbuster profits drive the drug industry, and if profits–measured in billions–aren’t there, the industry doesn’t budge. Most of the drugs that really are scarce could be produced in abundance tomorrow, but supplies dwindle when obscene profits aren’t in the picture.
Of course, our economy is built on laissez-faire capitalism. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
But it does mean that no one can MAKE a drug company’s executives produce what they don’t want to. Not surprisingly, that’s not stopping government from trying and from meeting with industry officials to talk and talk and talk.
Late last year, representatives from several professional health organizations, drug companies, the FDA, and the CDC met for a Drug Shortages Summit.
Here’s how the journal Oncology Times described the recommendations that came out of the summit: “…key among them were continued collaboration to explore strategies to improve communication among those in the pharmaceutical supply chain and health care providers.”
What does that even mean!?
They’re going to collaborate to explore strategies to improve communications? That sounds like a plan to set up a meeting to lay the groundwork for a planning meeting that will formalize the meeting parameters for a preliminarily meeting.
They might as well just come right out and say it: “We got nothing.”
Although Oncology Times adds that they’re also considering an idea to “remove barriers faced by FDA and drug manufacturers to minimize the impact of the shortages.”
You’ll never guess what the primary “barrier” is. It’s the ban on buying drugs from foreign countries. And if you’re sputtering in disbelief, I don’t blame you. Aren’t the drug manufacturers the ones that were erecting those very barriers when it was Lipitor and Viagra people wanted to buy from foreign lands? Suddenly, when the profits aren’t enough to bother protecting, it’s safe enough for us to buy from Canada or other countries?
Talk about talking out of both sides of your mouth (when you’re talking about what we need to talk about…)
Real solutions to manufactured problems
To be fair, some drugs are really in scarce supply. Morphine, for instance, is an unparalleled source of relief for patients suffering intense pain. Several factors– including the worldwide explosion of AIDS and cancer–have dramatically increased morphine demand. As a result, poppies are now being grown in places (such as the UK) not traditionally known for poppy farming.
Still, the majority of shortages are simply a question of profitability.
But for those of us who know how effective alternative medicine is, we know there may be a shortage of a few previously patented concoctions, but there is no shortage of solutions…particularly for cancer.
And if the FDA would take its head out of the sand (or somewhere else), they would be leading the charge to get intravenous ascorbic acid (IAA) into the hands of doctors and cancer patients.
After all, if cancer drug shortages are so dire that patients aren’t getting urgently needed treatments, it’s almost criminal to wait for the supply to start trickling again when many cancer patients don’t have time to wait and, according to emerging research, might get very effective results with IAA.
There are so many impressive case histories where IAA has completely cured certain cancers. If only the FDA were EXPLORING this avenue of treatment rather than apparently attempting to cut it off, then agency officials wouldn’t be put in the uncomfortable position of trying to wheedle and coax drug companies to produce low- profit drugs, or turning to foreign countries to get a supply boost.
If this supply crisis is genuine, then it’s time to wise up, FDA, and let the sun shine on IAA and other alternative cancer treatments.
Come to think of it, that might be an excellent motivator for drug companies. Just let them know the FDA has decided to open the cancer treatment market to low-cost, non- drug alternatives, and let’s see how fast they suddenly “discover” a large supply of scarce drugs stashed in a warehouse somewhere.
Sources:
“Drug shortages on the rise” Rob Stein, Washington Post, 5/2/11, washingtonpost.com
“Critical Drug Shortages: Who’s Minding the Store?” Eric T. Rosenthal, Oncology Times, Vol. 33, No. 4, 2/25/11, journals.lww.com
