Forget the Mafia, the Real Crime Syndicate is Big Pharma
“It is scary how many similarities there are between [the pharmaceutical] industry and the mob. The mob makes obscene amounts of money, as does this industry. The side effects of organized crime are killings and deaths, and the side effects are the same in this industry. The mob bribes politicians and others, and so does the drug industry …”[Former VP of drug king pin Pfizer]
Go into any drugstore in America and what you will invariably see is a line at the pharmacy counter. It’s become a status symbol to leave your doctor’s office waving that precious piece of paper (although nowadays many doctors spoil the fun by sending the script over the internet). In a country that’s only 4.5% of the world’s population, doctors are busy dosing hapless Americans to the tune of 3.5 billion prescriptions per year. That’s about 10 prescriptions yearly for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.
Every prescription a doctor writes and a patient fills makes Big Pharma (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America comprising the global pharmaceutical industry) richer and more powerful. The case for hooking Americans on psychiatric medicines (antidepressants, sedatives and antipsychotics) is particularly horrifying. In 2023, 17% of U.S. adults succumbed to Big Pharma’s blandishments. It doesn’t help that doctors in Big Pharma’s pocket are rewarded with copious amounts of largesse if they dance to Big Pharma’s tune. Is it just a coincidence that 87,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2024 (114,000 in 2023)? Who would insist that this is the right prescription for a healthy America? Not Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine — “Under the tutelage of Big Pharma, we are simply expanding the criteria for mental illness so that nearly everyone has one.“
Hard as it may be to imagine, Big Pharma has come up with another wrinkle to juice already skyrocketing sales of antipsychotics. To treat a common side effect of anti-psychotic drugs — uncontrollable movements in the face, tongue, or other body parts (tardive dyskinesia) — Big Pharma is marketing another drug, not to replace the offending drug, but to “supplement” it. Although your doctor will not mention it, this drug has more serious side effects than the one you are already taking, and carries a “black box” warning (FDA’s most serious safety alert). Hallelujah, you’re taking two drugs, one of which might cause you to commit suicide. But for the drug company it’s all about money. In 2024, patients risked their live while Teva, the drug maker of the supplement, added $1.6 billion to its bottom line, a hefty 10% of total revenues for a drug with life threatening side effects. They were undoubtedly uncorking the champagne in the executive suite.
Drugs, drugs an endless vista and U.S. patients are paying through the nose for them. The statistics are eye-popping. Over half of people in the U.S. (58%) report taking prescription drugs on a regular or on-going basis. To be fair American drug use is on a par with that in most advanced economies. Where US patients get the sucker punch is how much Big Pharma charges them. In 2019 (the latest year with internationally comparable data), the U.S. spent $1,126 per person on prescribed medicines, while comparable countries spent $552. According to a RAND report released in 2024, prescription drug prices in the United States are significantly higher than in other nations, with U.S. prices averaging 2.78 times those in 33 other nations. If you go for brand-named drugs the discrepancy is even more remarkable with Americans paying more than four times what people in other countries pay.
How could this be? Americans may not be the brightest bulbs in the world (by most global comparisons in 2024 they ranked around 30 in average IQ while China holds the top spot) but they’re smart enough to know the difference between the $1,349 per month they pay for the weight loss drug Wegovy, while their friends in the U.K. are paying $92. Or how about Ozempic, another weight loss drug that’s all the rage? It you lived in the U.K. a month’s supply would cost $83. Americans are paying $936, 1,300 times more. These two drugs have become a veritable cash cow with Americans paying $36 billion (72%) of the $50 billion in revenues already in Big Pharma’s coffers
How could this be? Let’s give the devil its due and admit Big Pharma’s genius at exploiting Americans’ willingness to pay for their assumed status as numero uno even if it means getting ripped off by the drug companies. “In the U.S. we’ve always accepted that we are the country that overpays relative to the rest of the world,” [Stacie Dusetzina, professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University]. The other reason Americans are willing to pay the larcenous prices Big Pharma charges is the implied approval from the mainstream and to a limited extent alternate media as they eagerly gobble up the $13.8 billion Big Pharma spends on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising in the U.S. [The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing report] The U.S. and New Zealand being the only two countries in the world that allow this practice. Is it any wonder that two-thirds to three-quarters of Big Pharma’s global profits are made in the U.S?
In 2023, Big Pharma plundered Americans out of three-quarters of a trillion dollars. Dishonest profit, most of it unpunished, is the way Big Pharma’s brings home a significant portion of its bacon. Even though “Big Pharma uses its wealth and power to co-op any institution that might stand in its way, including Congress, FDA, academic medical centers and the medical profession” [The Truth About Drug Companies] their criminality is not completely obscured. It is not unknown (although no one dares mention it) that Big Pharma commits more than three times as many serious violations like international bribery and criminal negligence as any other industry. Of the 26 major Pharma companies, 85% have paid financial penalties for illegal activities for a total of $33 billion in the years from 2003-2016 (report in JAMA)
Big Pharma’s is the sad tale of how money lifted from the taxpayer’s pocket through mob-style schemes maintains the corruption of the entire industry while it bankrupts millions of Americans every year.
197 total views , 3 views today
