j'ai le coeur presque en état d'urgence

Farmacêuticas e Medicinas ''Ditas'' Cientificas 2

''“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines … I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.”

Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of the esteemed New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)

Farmacêuticas e Medicinas ''Ditas'' cientificas 1

In Silverman's book Pills, Profits and Politics, we find an
enlightening passage from testimony given by Dr. Dale Console,
a former research director for a large pharmaceutical company,
before a Senate committee. He said that:

"With many of these products, it is clear while they are on the drawing
board that they promise no utility. They promise sales. It is not a question
of pursuing them because something may come of it... They are pursued
simply because there is profit in it... Since so much depends on novelty,
drugs change like women's hemlines, and rapid obsolescence is simply a
sign of motion, not progress. With a little luck, proper timing, and a good
promotion program, any bag of asafoetida with a unique chemical sidechain
can be made to look like a wonder drug. The illusion may not last,
but it frequently lasts long enough. By the time the doctor learns what the
company knew in the beginning, the company has two new products to
take the place of the old one...The pharmaceutical industry is unique in
that it can make exploitation appear a noble purpose."