Do drug companies want to cure you?

Question

If they did they would eventually go out of business!!!

Answer 1

they love drugs like insulin that control but do not heal as then they have lifetime customers,..the same for things like gout or blood pressure meds that you need to take the rest of your life...they rake in the dough from your misery..month after month and year after year.

One of the reasons we are not getting doctors recommending the safer, less toxic natural remedies first is the drug companies. A doctor who was herself cured of cancer with natural healing, Dr Lorraine Day, and who was blackballed when she came out in support of natural healing after she was cured, explains it on her tape "cancer doesn't scare me anymore"..first the drug companies court the upcoming doctors in med schools and thereafter giving them all types of perks and samples and promotions to have them push a particular brand over another like if they prescribe such and such for an illnesses instead of their competitor's brand, the doctor might get frequent flyer miles, computer program software, etc.

Then they also fold medical journals that dare to publish studies etc showing that an herb or food or supplement works as well or better than a drug by threatening to withdraw all their very expensive advertising dollars and thus lead to the companies bankruptcy and discontinuance of this magazine and other mags know this so they do not have to do it all the time..just enough to show them what might happen to the other magazines if they also begin publishing how great herbs work and with how few side effects and at a much lower cost..

Drug companies advertise heavily in the medical journals like the new England journal of medicine. Often over half the magazine is full color ads for various drugs and they have in fact folded magazines and lead them out of business by drying up their revenue by taking out all their ads if the journal publishes anything favorable to herbs or other inexpensive (non-patentable) treatments as they can't make money off this.

Since most doctors are kept so busy with mountains of paperwork etc they often do not have much time for reading and then if they read it is in the medical libraries and thus often consumers know more about these natural treatments than doctors since their reading doesn't have much in it about studies done on herbs and foods and supplements thanks to the big bucks of the drug companies...plus there is a prevailing and pervasive attitude of anything not us is a fraud and a quack as these treatments offer real competition..they don't want people growing or picking some herb and fixing themselves and as a result not buying their expensive drugs which they jack the price up for Americans while selling cheaply to other countries. In part, this is because they often must spend millions of dollars doing the research necessary to patent a drug..they aren't going to spend millions proving let's say that garlic cures infections when you can then just go to the store and buy a cure for 50 cents instead of their high priced and overused antibiotics.


their newest tactics are advertising directly to the general public getting them to "ask their doctor" to prescribe a wonder drug for them using the cash cows themselves to drum up more business and trying to get drugs like tamoxifen that might prevent breast cancer and play on fear to get people to prevent diseases they don't have or may even never get so they can get not only the sick people but the healthy ones.

Another irritating thing is they are not humanitarian as they don't research drugs unless relatively large numbers of people have a disease..no matter how awful a disease might be to have unless lots of others have it too, prepare to be one your own as they are not interested in helping you as you don't add much to their huge percent of the GNP,

No in other countries you don't pay doctors if you are sick, you pay them if you are well,,this gives doctors financial incentive to try to get and keep you well and to practice preventative medicine and promote lifestyle changes more than they do...generally they just hand you a drug instead o encouraging you to eat right or exercise or quit smoking as it is easier that way...of the were not paid if you got sick, this would change for the betterment of man. If you get well, they soon are out of business if they are too good in helping you. It is not any particular doctor,,it is this system they have in place..in Europe, 85% of things are treated with herbs and supplements and only 15% with drugs and they live longer and it is much cheaper. this is why they are always trying to pass laws that ban the sale of herbs and supplements as once that happens we will not be able to take charge of our own health..luckily so far each time they have tried, they are flood with complaints from consumers not to do that..once that happens we will have to go out to the fields and learn firsthand and gather our own herbs and make tinctures and learn herbology and turn to the right foods in order to keep and treat our health problems,,if we choose not to take pharmaceuticals. Since many people will not do that, they will gain more money if they start making it illegal to get herbs and supplements without doctor's involvement

But they are not solely to blame..we are..so many people refuse to take responsibility for their own health with this attitude of I am a poor victim doctor please heal and fix me with a pill or surgery as they do not want to spend the time themselves researching and learning and they definitely do not want to change their habits but rather continue often to smoke, drink, take drugs, lead high stress lives,. never exercise, eat fast and junk foods and taste good crap, drinking their 5 cokes 4 beers and mickey d burgers and then when this invariably leads to sickness, they expect a doctor to fix it all with a pill..they often even if gaining an interest in alternative health, have the same attitude of find some herb to fix me rather than going to the root cause of why they are sick and working to reverse and fix that..this quick fix attitude s prevalent in the US...they don't seem to realize that giving drugs and then more drugs to control the side effects winds up making them someone taking multiple pills.they take drugs to fix side effects from other drugs and this results in more money for the drug cartels....they also take an aspirin or cold medicine without a single thought..immediately reaching for that..prevention is rarely thought about...this kind of mindset makes the drug companies among the richest and most powerful in the world..when people start realizing that they can in fact improve their own health by the decisions and lifestyles they lead and also demanding better foods, air, water, etc,,,look out...

It is like I bet the pharma and medical suppliers have a lot of stock in the junk food companies as one makes business for the next ..the worst the environment is, the better off it is for those in the medical field as they get more customers.

It is not individual doctors who did often go into the field to help others but rather the whole system of medicine that needs revamping. they also need to not be afraid to allow us to have freedom of choice and medical freedom...if they are so convinced that their allopathetic medicine is superior, why are they scared to let naturopaths etc practice..they know often these doctors have better results..we the public are not kids too stupid to make their own decisions if we want to try some alternative treatment...why do they have to treat us like silly , foolish, dumb kids who need to be protected from terrible quacks when on all other aspects of life (that don't involve their bottom line) we are on our own..they must convince us it is all about us when it is really all about them..it is wrong

Also that doctors rush you in and out in 3 minutes...most naturopaths spend at least a half hour and get a very comprehensive background on you..doctors just hear a few keys words and immediately are thinking which drugs is the right one..they don't listen or spend suffieicent time on you sometimes the person just needs a little TLC and a few life recommendations but the doctor is often too busy..I think doctors themselves would like to better know their patients but the whole system is flawed. this high stress atmosphere in the average medical office is not good for doctors either who have high rates of suicide, drug addiction, divorce and stress..what they envisioned when they first became doctors and the reality are often far different.

Revamp the whole thing and definitely open it up to alternative practitioners and allow some alternative things to be covered by insurance.

Answer 2

I originally thought drugs and pharacuticals while having many significant flaws were responsible for a lot of the infectious diseases that had plagued man kind being fixed, hence making any objections you could have to them be canceled out.
About a year ago, I found out that was actually due to the advent of public sanitation not drugs.

So, assuming you want to take all the subjective opinions out of the debate (Ie. drug companies are evil and don't want to cure people because treating symptoms is more profitable etc), the facts are as follows.

1) There are more chronic diseases and disabilitating conditions existing now than there were before the pharacutical era.
2) The pharmacuticals put a lot of time and effort into research for cures.
3) Pharmacuticals have not created a major difference for fatal infectious diseases (post public sanitation changes).
4) Lots of drugs have nasty side effects and sometimes have to be recalled.

Given that alternative medical systems existed which were free of all these ills, it leads one to suspect that they do not want to cure you, and instead have a goal such as profit in mind.

Answer 3

No, drug companies want your money. However, that money keeps them in the business of coming up with novel and better drugs. Physicians are the prescribers, not the manufacturers. Thus, it is up to doctors to educate their patients regarding what constitutes the "best" (i.e. the most effective for the least amount of cost) medicine or therapy for that particular patient. Contrary to much of the sentiment that seems to pervade on this Q&A board, there are plenty doctors in this country who want to do right by their patients, and, as such, take no incentives or contributions from drug companies because of the potential conflict of interest. I admire my mentors who refuse to take incentives from pharmaceutical sales representatives (these reps are trying to make a living, too, but marketing directly to doctors while offering an incentive creates a very serious COI of which most physicians nowadays are very cognizant). I wish that the general public had more faith and trust in their physicians - doctors are not trying to rob you of your money or harm your family. The vast majority of students who attend medical school are there because they love helping people and are truly passionate about the profession and the science. (There are a hundred more lucrative, and much less stressful and demanding, avenues that one could go down if all they cared about was "getting rich.") If the above poster's pediatrician wanted to treat her child with a medication, then there must have been a reason for it. I'm not saying that it was the right call, but only that there may have been more to the story.

Edit: For Kalos - Sigh. I know, but it's hard to not try to fight the good fight. You know that I agree with your POV about alternative medicine. But, you also know that you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. I really don't know what I'm trying to accomplish here - maybe I should just give it up and go study some more pharmacology.

To the poster below: I also know first-hand that its possible to not let the "system" beat the humanity out of you. I am not worried about my future abilities.

Answer 4

I think your answer is easy enough to figure out. How many diseases are cured with medication? A few minor infections, but no diseases.

The drug companies are creating a drug reliant world, it all starts with giving young children things like the flu shot......Totally unnecessary and preventing the child from developing a strong immune system.

Now we have the Gardasil vaccine, 3 shots, repeated how many times in a woman's life? I read just last week that now this shot has been recommended for women over 28 as well as the young who have not had exposure to the HPV virus......What next, men?

Answer 5

They do want to cure you. Realistically that won't happen for everyone. They are not concerned about going out of business because there is always an opportunity for business. Even if illnesses are cured there will always be accidents and wars. There is no threat to anyone's ability to earn money.

Answer 6

they're white collared drug pushers.

many people want to go in the profession to help people, but the bottom line is that by the time you finish school, you're going to owe sooooo much money that you'll find yourself overbooking patients and spending all of 2 minutes with them because you have to make "X" amount of $'s per hour. you have a staff and building to pay for. not to mention that now you'll feel pressured to live beyond your means.

to the person above me. it is very rare and almost impossible to find the kind of doctor you are describing. i wish you well. i hope your humanity isn't beaten out of you. i believe that you mean this with your whole heart and i applaud you for it. i hope that you can blaze the trail for a new kindof doctor. i'm just sorry to say that the insurance company will also have your hands tied. i hope it all works out the way you envision it.

Answer 7

I believe they just want to make money first. If they cure you then that may be a bonus for them. It seems that so many people are on medications for everything. The drug companies even make up names for conditions which make them so called diseases.

Answer 8

You're right. Drug companies are just as greedy as the rest of the world. I had a doctor try and prescribe my TWO YEAR OLD medication for anxiety. A TWO YEAR OLD. Alot of Dr.'s have deals with the drug companies.

Answer 9

They will never go out of business. We got Dr. pushing their pills, but let us not forget all the people waiting in lines for a "pill" for this and a "pill" for that.

Answer 10

That's why they always develop new drugs to treat a disease, not cure it.

Answer 11

They'll never go out of business as long as people keep abusing themselves.