Letters to the Editor for Friday, January 27, 2012

Big Pharma and reverse capitalism

A few months ago, I pointed out in a letter to the editor how our elected representatives are looking out for their constituents: By a vote of 45 for and 55 against, the U.S. Senate made it a crime to purchase prescription drugs from Canada. Our Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Jim Webb voted against this heresy.

In the current issue of Neurology Today in an article, “The Cost of Multiple Sclerosis Drugs,” Dr. Robert G. Holloway, a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, says, “I just don’t believe these medications need to be so costly.” The prices for MS drugs have doubled since 2008, according to Dr. John Corbey, also a fellow of the AAN. “The cost in the U.S. is astounding,” he states. He attributes this, in part, to the fact that Medicare is prohibited from negotiating prices with drug companies as other nations do. The Veterans Administration, Department of Defense and Public Health Service also negotiate and receive dramatic discounts. The costs of drugs are dramatically lower in Canada and Europe, so that, in a perverse sense, private insurers in the United States, actually, the patients who pay the premiums, subsidize those who have been able to negotiate, as well people in Canada and Europe. So we, the citizens of the United States, are helping pay for medications for peoples in foreign countries when we cannot afford to pay for our own, and our “representatives” think this is good for their constituents?

In Dr. Corbey’s opinion, the MS drug market “is like reverse capitalism” In other businesses, when competition goes up, prices usually go down, but it is the opposite with drugs. When a new drug goes on the market and threatens to reduce market share, they just raise prices to protect their overall income.

An article in the current issue of the AARP bulletin, “Lipitor Maker Cuts Deals,” illustrates this point. Because the patent on this medicine expired, Pfizer has launched an unprecedented campaign to persuade patients to stay with its brand instead of switching to the lower-cost generic. In a controversial move, Pfizer has made deals to stop insurance companies from covering the generic.

If this becomes an issue with the government, who do you believe will prevail? I’m betting on Big Pharma.

Our country and its citizens are no longer represented by its “representatives.” Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Banks and the Military-Industrial complex are their constituents now.

If you want more of the same, then do vote the Republican ticket. Our Virginia Democratic senators think all the above is a bad idea.

BEV JORDAN

Lynchburg

Through rose-colored glasses

TV chef Paula Dean’s self-induced “tragedy” is a perfect metaphor for what’s been happening in our country for the last 10 years. She has been hawking unhealthy food for the masses. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Eat, drink and be obese.

Banks gave risky loans to insolvent families. We spent, spent, spent, piling up debt. Don’t worry. Eat, drink, spend, buy, remodel and add-on.

The calories won’t hurt you. The banks won’t foreclose. The housing bubble will never burst. The Yellow Brick Road will go on forever.

And now that doom has fallen on us, Paula cut a deal to insure her future, as did the bankers, CEOs and Wall Streeters.

Only in America.

DAVID GOODE

Bedford