Health, Wealth & Painkillers
How Purdue Pharma built an empire of pain, the muzzling of truth by ayurveda companies in India and the greed of Big Pharma.
We know Big Pharma is no friend of ours. A recent report revealed that J&J and Pfizer charged South Africa between 15% and 33% more for COVID vaccine doses. Even in the midst of a pandemic, with healthcare in tatters and fatalities rising, they were more concerned about their margins. That's not to even mention that it took over two years for the WTO to offer a partial waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid vaccines.
Still, we were shocked to watch two series about the opioid crisis in the US. That a pharma company could get away with proclaiming an opioid as 'non addictive', and build a pain empire through false marketing and bribes is mind-boggling. It's no secret that doctors are nudged and offered incentives to prescribe new drugs but one at least hopes these drugs are safe. That Purdue Pharma could market OxyContin for over a decade even as millions got addicted and died, while dodging responsibility and blaming abusers, is criminal.
We see in Dopesick and Painkiller how the lives of people unravel after using a doctor-prescribed drug. It's not a case of these folks reaching out to street dealers. It's about how doctors - our primary source of care - got co-opted into prescribing the Purdue drug due to an incorrect FDA label. It's about bureaucracy, greed and gaming of the system by a company focused on minting money.
Earlier, we had written about Theranos, which is another example of how our lives are dispensable to VCs and Big Pharma. They can get away with absolute murder unlike the street dealers, as seen in the series. Dopesick is comparatively subdued than Painkiller, but both convey the enormity of the crisis. Do watch or read up on Purdue Pharma.
In our own backyard too, we have been reading about cough syrups killing kids because manufacturers used sub-standard or contaminated materials. If you follow health journalists you will see how these companies are neither blacklisted nor charged. When it comes to ayurveda and other alternate treatments, there is absolutely no regulation. This week, Twitter blocked the account of Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips or ‘The Liver Doctor’ after an injunction brought about by Himalaya. Philips had been testing popular ayurvedic concoctions and showing how harmful they were to users. This attempt to muzzle truth, game our pain and make us pop unnecessary pills is what makes Big Pharma their money. So, try to be wise with your health and wealth.
Poetry: Greed by Sylvia Chidi
Where there is a need
There is always greed
A rotten exploiting deed
That manifests with speed
When there are mouths to feed
Read between the lines and take heed!
Lurking around is an Inspiring greed
Ready to take advantage and proceed
Even when there is no need to succeed
By now it is agreed, there is always greed
Our desire for more always exceeds our needs
Hence wealth, power and greed have always been married
We always want more
Sometimes I don't know what for
I read to understand what generation of breed
Has given birth to this senseless weed
Because life is a circle of endless greed
I urgently need to know, I plead
Who planted this seed of greed to deliberately mislead?
Books: The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar
We really want to read The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India by Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy. This book by Shekhar isn’t about Big Pharma or western medicine, it’s more about psychology and the mind.
Shekhar gives us a glimpse of the Santhal life through the lens of the Baskeys in this debut novel. In Kamdehini, talk is rife about the misfortune and the fall of the once-powerful family. Rupi's myserious illness, in fact, becomes the loci to explore deep-rooted beliefs such as witchcraft, karma, good and evil. A decent read. (Rating: 3/5)