Big Pharma and Corona vaccinations: Putting big pharma in charge of global vaccine rollout was a big mistake : by Nick Dearden

Pfizer has had an exceptionally good pandemic. Today it announced that its Covid-19 vaccine brought in $37bn billion last year, making it easily the most lucrative medicine in any given year in history.

That isn’t all. For a company that was until recently the least trusted company in the least trusted industrial sector in the United States, Covid-19 has been a PR coup. Pfizer has become a household name over the last 12 months. The company was toasted on nights out in Tel Aviv, and there are cocktails named after its vaccine in bars across the world. The US president referred to Pfizer’s chief executive, Albert Bourla, as a “good friend”, and the great man parked his jet next to Boris Johnson’s at last year’s G7 summit in Cornwal

The global vaccine rollout has created levels of inequality so great that many call it a ‘vaccine apartheid’. Pharmaceutical corporations like Pfizer have led this rollout, setting the terms by which they sell vaccines and deciding who to prioritise. Ultimately, their approach affects who does, and does not, receive vaccines. Right from the start, Pfizer was clear that it wanted to make a lot of money from Covid. The company claims that its vaccine costs just under £5 per dose to produce. Others have suggested it could be much cheaper. Either way, the company is selling doses at a huge profit – the UK government paid £18 a shot for its first order, £22 for its most recent purchase. That means the NHS has paid a mark-up of at least £2bn – six times the cost of the pay rise the government agreed to give nurses last year.

It has been claimed that the company initially tried to pitch their medicine to the US government for an eye-popping $100 a dose. Tom Frieden, a former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accused the firm of “war profiteering”.

Pfizer has sold the vast majority of its doses to the richest countries in the world – a strategy sure to keep its profits high. If you look at its global distribution, Pfizer sells a tiny proportion of its vaccines to low-income countries. By last October, Pfizer had sold a measly 1.3% of its supply to Covax, the international body set up to try to ensure fairer access to vaccines.

Pfizer wasn’t selling many doses to poorer countries, but neither would it allow them to produce the life-saving vaccine on their own, through licensing or patent sharing..

Read more at: Putting big pharma in charge of global vaccine rollout was a big mistake | Nick Dearden | The Guardian

USA - Big Tech: Breaking up big tech companies like Amazon and Google is really popular, poll shows

Americans are pretty on board with breaking up Big Tech, especially if it means companies such as Amazon and Google stop showing them search results they make money off of first.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans would support breaking up tech firms by undoing recent mergers, such as Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram, if it means ensuring more competition in the future.

Read more at: Breaking up big tech companies like Amazon and Google is really popular, poll shows - Vox

Big Pharma: Players in the Pharmaceutical Industry (Big Pharma)

The term “Big Pharma” is used quite often to describe massive pharmaceutical companies that make literally billions of dollars every year to keep Americans regularly supplied with a medicine cabinet’s worth of pills. But when we say Big Pharma, who are the players in the pharmaceutical industry? Who is responsible for flooding neighborhoods and communities with addictive medication? Who are the agencies responsible for keeping them in check?

There are two sides to the coin of this conversation: the pharmaceutical industry, which is responsible for the development, manufacturing, and marketing of drugs for use as medications; and Big Pharma, the colloquial (and often pejorative) term used to describe faceless corporations that push hugely overpriced drugs onto hapless and desperate consumers.

Some of the names of the biggest players in the industry may be familiar. Others may not ring as many bells, but with their market value, the relative anonymity works to their advantage. The Motley Fool provides a list of the companies doing the best business:

Read more at: Players in the Pharmaceutical Industry (Big Pharma)

Big Pharma: playing dangerous games with human health

Big Pharma nixes new drugs despite impending 'antibiotic apocalypse'

Read more at:
https://p.dw.com/p/3Pbin

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Big Pharma in the EU : Dutch healthcare institute "Zorginstituut Nederland" says drugs companies are effectively blackmailing officials by refusing to be transparent about their pricing

The Dutch healthcare institute "Zorginstituut Nederland" said recently insurers should stop paying for expensive drugs if pharmaceutical companies continue to refuse to say how they arrive at their pricing. 

The institute, which assesses the efficacy of new drugs and advises the government on whether they should be included in the basic healthcare policy, says the drugs companies are effectively blackmailing officials by refusing to be transparent about their prices.

Last years June announcement that Ireland is joining the Beneluxa Initiative on Pharmaceutical Policy might suggest renewed vigour for the drive to equip national governments with more clout in their pricing negotiations with international drug firms.

The likelihood is that better-informed health authorities will be better equipped to confront drug firms. Similarly, drug firms will be obliged to present more cogent justifications for their pricing ambitions.

 As has been proven in the US, Pharmaceutical companies. also known there as "Big Pharma, can not be left operating with little or no strict Governmental controls.

In the US this has led to a steady rise in the cost of pharmaceutical products for  consumers.

 It is more than obvious the Pharmaceutical industry must be closely monitored in two major areas: a) Their pricing structures and practices, and b) Providing far more transparency in their marketing and sales activities, specifically as it relates to the insurance and medical industry.

In Europe the initiatives of the Beneluxa Initiative on Pharmaceutical Policy certainly are a step in the right direction, but unfortunately Government support and action has been extremely slow, while the Pharmaceutical lobby in the EU Parliament, however, like it has been in the US Congress and Senate, has been vigorous and very effective. 

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US Big Pharma: What makes US Drug prices the highest in the world

Read more at :

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/369727-us-drug-prices-higher-than-in-the-rest-of-the-world-heres-why

US BIG PHARMA: Forty US States file lawsuit against big Pharma for inflating costs

US states file lawsuit accusing drugs firms of inflating costs

Read more at: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48241663

The Netherlands and US Big Pharma Clash: US "Big Pharma" lashes out at Dutch Government for wanting to control pricing

Note EU-Digest: It looks like the US Pharmaceutical Industry is also trying to use the same heavy handed political tactics and arguments in the Netherlands like they are used to doing in America. In the Netherlands they are doing their lobbying through their membership in the local chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce, which even has a specific Pharmaceutical Committee within that organization. US Big Pharma and Chemical Industry Lobbyists are also swarming all over the EU parliament to promote their products and influence the European decision makers.Hopefully the Dutch Government and the EU Commission will continue to resist these devious attempts to influence the government decision makers

Read more at: 
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2019/02/06/netherlands-novartis-vertex-drug-prices/

USA: Health Care: Medicare for all say progressive Democrats

An ideal solution, but unacceptable by Big Pharma and Republicans 

Progressive Dems Push Party Toward Medicare for All

Read more:
http://flip.it/iwddMj

PHARMAGEDDON: And few Americans even know that it’s happening

Big Pharma is America’s new mafia whose chemical warfare on humanity dwarfs the number of victims killed by all the world wars and acts of terrorism combined. While drug companies profit billions, people are dying by the millions. It makes you wonder if Pharmageddon is upon us with the next set of mandatory vaccinations planned by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) for the profit of drug companies.

Over 70% of Americans are on some form of pharmaceutical drug that often brings negative side-effects, including death. Iatrogenic death, or “death by doctor”, is considered the third leading cause of death in America, conservatively speaking. Some experts interpret the data to read iatrogenic death as the number one cause of death, and they have a great deal of evidence to back up the claim. These statistics suggest that we should change the name “health industry” to “illness industry.”

Conservative estimates suggest that America spends about 20% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health costs, about $3.35 trillion this year, which works out to $10,345 for every man, woman and child. Hospitals account for about 32%, doctors for 20%, and prescription drugs 10%.  Spending on prescription drugs in the U.S. rose to a record $425 billion in 2016.

The vaccine business alone is currently a $30 billion per year industry and the World Health Organization has urged increased vaccines, projecting that it will become a $100 billion per year industry by 2025. (See Global Vaccine Markets Features and Trends in stunning report.)

There are 57 granted U.S. patents with the CDC listed as an assignee. Some of the vaccine patents include: Flu, Rotavirus, Hepatitis A, HIV, Anthrax, Rabies, Dengue fever, West Nile virus, Group A Strep, Pneumococcal disease, Meningococcal disease, RSV, Gastroenteritis, Japanese encephalitis, SARS, Rift Valley Fever, and chlamydophila pneumoniae, flavivirus infection, human rhinovirus, adjuvants, Canarypox virus, Fowlpox virus, Sealpox virus, and dog flu.

The global market for pharmaceuticals topped $1 trillion in sales in 2014. The world’s 10 largest drug companies generated $429.4 billion of that revenue. Five of the top 10 companies are headquartered in the U.S. are Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Abbot Laboratories, Merck, and Eli Lilly.
With the help of staggering profits and 1,100-plus paid lobbyists, the industry has gained powerful leverage on Capitol Hill. From 1998 to 2014,  

Big Pharma spent nearly $2.9 billion on lobbying expenses — more than any other industry. The industry also doled out more than $15 million in campaign contributions from 2013-14.  But the large amount of cash Big Pharma bestows on government representatives and regulatory bodies is small when compared with the billions it spends each year on direct-to-consumer advertising.

The U.S. is one of only two countries in the world whose governments allow prescription drugs to be advertised on TV.  A single manufacturer, Boehringer Ingelheim, spent $464 million advertising its blood thinner Pradaxa in 2011. The following year, the drug passed the $1 billion sales mark.
Big Pharma tends to weaken the objectivity of even the most honest health professionals while encouraging them to overprescribe medications. Consider the numbers:

• Advertising instead of research: For every $1 spent on “basic research,” Big Pharma spends $19 on promotions and advertising.
• Distribution of free drug samples: The U.S. has one pharmaceutical sales representative for every five office-based physicians.
• Sponsorship of symposiums and medical conventions: Drug and medical device makers spend lavishly on doctors, including covering meals, travel, seminars and conventions that sometimes look more like vacations.

Bottom-line: The US Pharmaceutical Industry has become crooked to the core and many Democratic and Republican politicians are making sure to keep it that way

Read more: PHARMAGEDDON: And few Americans even know that it’s happening! | The Millennium Report