eau de porneau.

Drug Industry Is on Defensive As Power Shifts - New York Times

Alarmed at the prospect of Democratic control of Congress, top executives from two dozen drug companies met here last week to assess what appears to them to be a harsh new political climate, and to draft a battle plan.

Hoping to prevent Congress from letting the government negotiate lower drug prices for millions of older Americans on Medicare, the pharmaceutical companies have been recruiting Democratic lobbyists, lining up allies in the Bush administration and Congress, and renewing ties with organizations of patients who depend on brand-name drugs.

This is so absolutely disgusting. What this essentially boils down to is there’s a bunch of huge companies in America (Pfizer, Bayer, etc) that know their product is essentially worthless. In a series of scumbag moves between them and bent politicians, bills are passed that ensure drug company control over the prices the elderly pay for their daily meds. This essentially gives these corporations a license to print money, and exploit the older masses for their social security cheque.

I can’t believe this story wasn’t on the front page of every newspaper in the world. I agree that pharmaceuticals are necessary for the betterment of society. We need healthy people. However, intellectual property laws and government lobbying have given these corporations so much power that when companies in India try to make affordable alternatives, their efforts are quickly shut down by the WTO and US government. Should you be able to patent a molecule? That’s been debated, and current law reflects the apparent consensus met, but I think the answer was wrong. Preservation of human life should not have a cost that’s above the commoner. Is the health of the wealthy more important than the health of the poor? Furthermore, is the health of a younger, working person more important than the health of a senior citizen?

Another article, “The Medicare Part D law was written to forbid the US federal government from directly negotiating drug prices in a plan expected to cost $30bn this year and much more in years to come as the baby-boom generation retires. Instead, Part D uses private sector drug benefits managers to negotiate drug prices for the plans, in the hope that free-market competition would work better than a large government drugs bureaucracy.”

And another, “He and the drug industry are scrambling to buy up as many Democrats as they can to help represent them against idealistic Members of Congress who might actually want to advance the public interest.”

And yet another, “Tauzin was the Republican rep from Louisiana who sold the taxpayers down the river in the 2003 Medicare drug bill — then immediately took a job with a drug company trade group for an estimated $2 million a year.”

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