From Pharma Marketing Blog:
http://pharmamkting.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-yorker-cartoon-slice-of-medico.html
Interesting. Especially the last sentence.FUNNY,FUNNY, FUNNY. Suzanne, you find them."Are cures for high blood pressure, diabetes, Alzheimers, insomnia, etc.
going to come from the drug industry? Not unless you believe that
taking a pill every day for the rest of your life is a cure."
Hypertension, type-II diabetes, insomnia, and many other diseases are the result of lifestyle. I don't expect a single short course of therapy to undo 20 years of damage and prevent another 20 years of damage. Many people can eliminate hypertension, type-II diabetes, even insomnia by lifestyle modifications. If, instead, they choose to keep smoking, eating crap food, guzzling excess caffeine, refusing to exercise or learning to reduce stress, then you bet they're gonna need something for the rest of their lives. The blame for that does not lie with the pharmaceutical company that makes the drug that saves your life while you work overtime to end it.
I have an arrhythmia that is well-controlled by a cheap generic drug. I could get my arrhythmia cured by having an invasive procedure, but there is no way to swallow a pill (at least not yet) to reroute the circuitry which causes the bad beats. Instead of subjecting myself to a potentially risky procedure with a high price tag (not to mention a high radiation dose from the angiography), I choose to spend per month on a cheap, safe, and effective drug.
Actually, Type II diabetes was recently discovered to be a lot closer to Type 1 diabetes than previously thought, and is now considered an auto-immune disease, not a lifestyle disease.
RA was once thought to be a lifestyle disease. So perhaps more care should be taken before the knee jerk reaction of blaming the victim.Jasmine: I see you have RA too, what vice you mention above caused yours? Don't point fingers at others. My brother died of complications of a staph infection due to his treatment for this childhood diabetes-not a lifestyle disease. I have RA --I work a fulltime job, have a art business on the side and put on art shows several weekends a year--in fact I just set up for one today. I walk on my lunch hour. I eat wonderful salads, lots of veggies--I don't drink, I don't smoke. I also don't judge others. Big Pharm certainly has allowed my youngest to lead a very normal life since her diagnosis and treatment for cancer. I'm grateful for the development of Synthroid since she no longer has a thyroid...............Just my perspective.
[QUOTE=Catnip2]Jasmine: I see you have RA too, what vice you mention above caused yours? Don't point fingers at others. My brother died of complications of a staph infection due to his treatment for this childhood diabetes-not a lifestyle disease. I have RA --I work a fulltime job, have a art business on the side and put on art shows several weekends a year--in fact I just set up for one today. I walk on my lunch hour. I eat wonderful salads, lots of veggies--I don't drink, I don't smoke. I also don't judge others. [/QUOTE]
Probably the modern Western diet. When I increase omega-3 intake my inflammation goes down. Why is it so wrong to point out that many of the chronic diseases today are due to the fact that we overindulge and don't exercise?
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