Cocktails and Conspiracies

Epi 9: Pharma-fucking-zilla

September 23, 2018 Tessy & McDub Episode 9
Cocktails and Conspiracies
Epi 9: Pharma-fucking-zilla
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

WTF Moments: 

  • The pharmaceutical and health product industry is by far the biggest spender in terms of lobbying American politicians. Collectively they have spent more than $3.1 billion dollars attempting to influence our elected lawmakers- I wonder what their expense reports look like...
  • 9 out of 10 pharmaceutical companies spend more than twice as much on marketing and advertising than research and development. 
  • In extreme cases, pharmaceutical companies have raised their prices over 1,000% - In 2015, Valeant Pharmaceuticals raised the price of their drug Daraprim over 5,000%.
  • Halitosis was invented by Listerine. The son of the owner came up with the plan in order to increase direct sales to consumers- they shamed you so hard. Have y’all seen these Listerine ads? They are amazing. 
  • According to TIME Magazine- The price of 60 prescription drugs doubled during a recent 12-month span, and prices for 20 of these medications at least quadrupled.
  • Prescription drug spending hit $425 billion in the U.S. last year, before discounting, and the total is expected to reach $640 billion by 2020, according to data from IMS Health Incorporated. 



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Speaker 1:

Yeah, are we on? We're on. Oh, I love that high. Make sure it sounds okay. It sounds good. Yeah. Alright. Okay. Tonight we are drinking painkillers because we're talking about

Speaker 2:

Pharma.

Speaker 1:

I think we are. I like it. Okay. So I've never had a painkiller neither. I didn't even know. I said what was that when you texted them? Like a, like a feisty spin on Pina Coladas, right? So two ounces of rum, four ounces of pineapple juice, one ounce of Oj and one ounce of cream of coconut. Yes. So rom pineapple juice. Oj, cream of coconut. Of course I doubled it for both of us and then I added a little bit more room then pour it in this boring. Really good. Oh Wow. You're so. To who? This is. So full. I wonder. All right, here we go. Tastes these Painkiller Aka. Welcome to the tropics. Cheers. Cheers. Do this thing.

Speaker 2:

Okay, great. Am I in Hawaii? Are we on the beat and my n e?

Speaker 1:

Hey guys, we're on a roll with the cocktails. It's good. It's too far too. Very good. All right, well we'll give you a minute to nick. Set up for yourselves because I'm sure everyone has creme de cocoa on maybe, maybe. Okay. So I was uh, so like we said this is big Pharma and I know that's a huge topic, but we just talk about the industry because that's going to an vale. So many conspiracy theories because the industry is correct. Can you tell what side I'm on? Yeah, for sure. There are straight up backs that sound like conspiracy, but they are so true about pharmaceuticals and then how they work within the industry within consumers. Within government. On the FDA. Yeah, yeah. You have lobbyists spending$250,000,000 a quarter of a billion dollars every single year. Basically they have to lobbyists for every senator and when it comes time to sign the law and sign the paper, I mean they're gonna sign up with the pharmaceutical companies because they're making so much money.

Speaker 2:

[inaudible]

Speaker 1:

so they're gonna have their best interests in mind for sure. For sure. So let's just, let's kick it off. What is a big Pharma? What is that? Um, so the term is used to refer collectively to the global pharmaceutical industry. So this Guy Steve Steven Novella, he's an American clinical neurologists and assistant professor at Yale and he's best known for his involvement in this skeptical movement against big Pharma, so like him being in the industry and stuff and he, he's like a very outspoken about like kind of proponent of all these theories. Right? So according to him, the term has come to content connotate a demonized form of the pharmaceutical industry. So like basically it's like a curse word for the pharmaceutical industry. So that's whenever anybody says big Pharma, they're just talking about the global pharmaceutical industry they're talking about and it said negative connotations in a bad way. Right? Not a good, it's not a good. They don't refer to themselves. Right. So I don't know if you want to give like a little, you said overview of the industry as a whole, like a highlight of it. Okay. So just kind of an overview of the pharmaceutical industry. It is a lot more powerful than we think. A lot of these pharmaceutical industries are buying. Medical carriers like cvs is buying aetna and then a lot of these carriers are buying out their own pharmaceutical companies to raise their stock. Right. So you owns optum rx and is acquiring express scripts. They're growing fast and they're able to kind of manipulate the stock market in a way. So not only are they making it but they're distributing it as well, like not that's a pbm. The walgreens and the CVSS. Those are pbms. That's a pharmacy benefit manager. That's basically like a network of pharmacists you go. So when they partner with medical carriers, every doctor in that is incentivize exactly because it's covered under their insurance. For example, like I can't get my prescriptions filled at cvs anymore. I can only get them filled at walgreens or kroger and that's because cvs acquired aetna and we're with blue cross. Oh my God, I didn't know that. Wow. So you can't fill your purse. So eventually once this catches on, like you won't, you won't have your own choice? No, no. You already don't have your own choice. The medical profession is being bought out by the pharmaceutical industry. Not only in terms of the practice of medicine, but also teaching and research, so I'm sure you've heard a lot of these academic institutions, they are being funded, their r and D is being funded by these pharmaceutical companies, so obviously, I mean that's bias right there. We're going to be able to skew one way or the other. The big thing right now is to look at what they're actually doing because nine out of 10 pharmaceutical companies spend more money on market than research and development. So really the purpose isn't for helping people. It's to make money and a lot of these companies like you don't realize the R and d comes from government funded programs. This is why this is not fair to you and me because we pay for research and development out of our taxes. The National Science Foundation, the National Institution of Health, National Institute of Mental Health Universities not for profit organizations. Funding for basic research has always been paid by the United States taxpayer. So the fact that we are paying our taxes towards these government entities that are funding this research and development and then we can't afford these drugs because they're so high. And that's one of the main topics is that big pharma is controlling medical journals and clinical trials. So here. Yeah. Well pharmaceutical companies may conduct clinical trials for any number of reasons. The primary reason it's supposed to be for the safety, right. And the effectiveness of a new drug. So the FDA has a list of guidelines for properly conducting clinical trials, but the drug company's primary motivation is to make profit. So I found this article in Forbes. This guy is, his name was Dr John Abramson. He's a pharmaceutical pharmaceutical industry critic. Who's in it? Who's a neural God, neurologist, neurologist, surgeon. What's the word I'm trying to say? I'm neural surgeon, neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon neural you are trying to say, you know the new roles, new roles that you surgery on those girls. John Abramson. Thank you for surgery or neuro foe the over here. So he went on the Dr Oz show and he, he said about 85 percent of clinical trials are now funded by the drug industry. They own that data. The doctors don't understand that they are getting a selected filtered version of what the information is like. This is all true, but who should be funding these trials? We can't possibly do this. So if we want any information like so there's some checks and balances in this and. But that's also what else is corrupt because government sent of r and d research and development. Eighty percent is paid by government funded programs by from your taxes and 20 percent is paid by the pharmaceutical industry. An ideal clinical trial would cost five to 10 times that amount of$50,000,000 for the NIH and expense. Obviously beyond the scope of our government's budget. Yet long term studies are done routinely in Pharma and our times are required by the FDA for approval of a new drug. So these long term clinical trials are there, like if you want this drug on the market, our government, like you have to spend, you know, a billion dollars on a longterm clinical study. So I mean if like, if you just think about the whole logistics and financial burden of just doing one clinical trial, that's why people are taking shortcuts. It's insane. And you know, in the industry it's like whatever pay for it. Yeah. But we need all the information, but we don't care that the Pharma companies pay for it because their metro richer than our governments pharmaceutical. That's actually a really good segue into the opioid. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Okay. So next one we're going to do is the opioid epidemic. Yes. Tell us what it's about. So, well, this is interesting because the opioid epidemic, a lot of people think purdue, which is the pharmaceutical company that created a ton of trouble. So they always stated that less than one percent of anyone that takes vicodin or an opioid will get addicted less than one person. So that perdue said that. So the tests that they were originally looking at were from the seventies in the nineties, that's when this whole, this when it started really getting into six and they fail to mention, but it was specifically talking about patients that were like either having surgery and staying, you know, a couple days or um, patients that warrant a coma and were about to fucking die, like they weren't accurate study results. And so they gotten a lot of trouble and kind of basically started this, this whole thing. So that's just like super fucked up. And that's not an accurate study. Yeah. So America represents five percent of the world population and 80 percent of opioid pill use. Our country just loves pills. No, that's a lot. Um, so, but we have to think about this because drugs aren't like all products, right? You need someone's permission to buy them. So pharmaceutical companies spend about$4,000,000,000 a year marketing to us. They spend$24, billion dollars a year marketing to doctors because of like pharmaceutical sales people like their salaries and like other events. And like, you just have to think like how much does your company spend on marketing your customers? Yeah, exactly. Um, so another really big deal in this industry is pushing doctors to prescribe a certain drug for non FDA uses off label prescribing. That's what they call it. Is it like when those commercials said, tell your doctor about this. Like, oh, what is he my drug dealer and do I have to like, well yeah, because he is your drug dealer. Ask Your doctor about Blah Blah Blah. Like what asked if I could have it and they'll give it to me. You're just true. Yeah, I mean obviously not all doctors are like that, but there are a few. Oh yeah person. But so every major drug company has paid money. A lot of money to settle charges. Like this astrazeneca paid half a billion dollars. Johnson and Johnson paid two point 2 billion. Eli Lilly paid one point 4 billion. Pfizer and its subsidiary paid two point 3 billion. So they're paying for what they're paying to settle charges for master charger lawsuits because they are prescribing drugs for off label uses, non FDA approved uses. What pill could calm you down and also bring it up at the same time? PROZAC candidate. Yeah. That's great. Is that how you feel or is that how they told you to feel? So. Okay. So basically the real issue isn't that Pharma companies pay for the trials. The issue is that critics believed that Pharma companies manipulate the trial, so the resulting data will support an NDA, which is a new drug application. And then they'll put that drug in the most favorable light possible. Like they'll mark the shit out of that. So that's the concern. And here's the shitty thing. It's like who else can pay for this? Who else has all this money to do this? The government doesn't. Yeah. And Oh, do we really trust the government that much? That's another point. Yeah. Really do. Who Do we feel better with? Nobody. So if we think that pharmaceutical companies are manipulating data, then we have to think that the FDA is too. They are. Right? So that's, and that's the point, like yeah. And, and, and so there's like a high person what percentage of FDA workers that transfer into the pharmaceutical industry after they had given their service or whatever place. So this like, who's to know? I think this whole thing is fucking sketchy. Okay. So this. Okay. So big Pharma invents diseases just to sell cures for them. One hundred percent. Yeah. Like restless leg syndrome and dry. I totally thought I had restless selection syndrome for the longest time. It's a made up disease. I how? Who's to know? I got rls. I thought I got it a few years ago. I did. And halitosis that was made up by listerine. So not a real. No, I didn't even know that listerine was invented in 18, 79 and it was used as an antiseptic and a floor cleaner and then, um, they needed more wasted burns because it's like a cleanup the hall. Yeah. Um, and they marketed it to dentists for an office oral care and then started selling it directly to consumers except consumers didn't need it. Um, so the creators invented a disease that their product, quote unquote cured Halitosis, which is bad breath. And then if you look at like these old, we'll put one of these APP, but if you look at these old articles and ads for listerine, it's like, don't be the one that everyone talks about in the corner, don't have halitosis like shaming, shaming, so bad disease mongering. So does looking for, it's trying to convince essentially essentially well people that they are sick or slightly sick or people that are very ill. Um, and then one of the earliest examples is listerine and we were talking about that, right? And halitosis. So the name Halitosis was borrowed from antiquated medical texts and paraded as a disease, like hysteria. Yeah, like in ancient Greece, it has to do with the uterus. Oh Gosh, it's a woman hysteria yet. And so they paraded it as a disease that could have dire consequences for your personal and professional life by taking advantage of people's insecurities and through the creation of manipulative soap opera like commercials. So I mean, like that was totally made up. And then like, okay, so now osteoporosis, that isn't a real disease. Dry Eye, that's not a real disease. And what are those like? Are they just like, you feel bad, there's just natural, like it's a natural, your body's getting older and your body is aging and everyone has dry eye. You can put lubricating eyedrops or what is it called? I'm Salian. Yeah, that's what you use for dry eye. It's not a disease though. Shift work disorder, that's not a disease. What does that shift work disorder. So like people that work the night shifts at work night shifts and like have to have opposite days basically and have to sleep during the day and work during night. Young apparently that's the disease. It's called shift work disorder or it's a disorder, whatever. How about you do it to yourself because you're working nights. Yeah, but I mean they're just taking advantage of this and then I'm restless leg syndrome. That's not a real thing had for sure. So they got me. I wonder what that is though. It's like, are you just twitchy? Kind of, but it's like your, your legs go numb or like you feel like tingling or like they're twitchy thing. Make your legs fall asleep. Is it like that couple of Republican was arresting a rls, like a restless, restless. Not Resting. That's opposite. Saying I'm uncomfortable. Sensations in their legs. Yeah. Like irresistible urge to move their legs to relieve the sensations. Look at the, look at the drawing. Look how like uncomfortable she is in her bed. Oh God. She looks like she's fucking dying or legs about to explode. There's typically in the evenings. Well, you know what, now that we're saying all this and now that we have better insight into this, I am obsessed with the topic of sleep paralysis, which I've experienced. That just happens normally during rem. Your rem cycle. I've experienced it to where you can't like move. Yes. Yes. And you know, it's really rare for people like us to wake up in that cycle to experience it. I've done it twice. I think it's happened to me once that I can vividly remember, but it's been a couple of times in my life, so I think it's bad. Yeah, because okay, there was this time when I was in college my freshman year and it was in between classes and of course like freshman year you're so tired and call it warrior. Your suits. Sleepy. Tired. Take a nap hard because I see all the time and now, oh my God. But you what? Our naps in college were like, like angel baby naps. Like you had no responsibilities. You were just there on your parents dime. Just like getting an education my eyes and go party classes easy. Oh my God. I wish for a day. Would you not have the best fucking day ever? If you could go back to college for 24 hours, wake up and be like only 23 hours and 50 seconds left for the day. It's all over. It's your like college scary. Oh yeah. So yeah, you'd need a month for sure. Oh, we would be so good at studying and time management. Ace all my classes. My first semester I would fucking kill it. Oh my God. Know How much better at college? What would you be like right now? Yeah, because we're old ladies. We don't want to go out anymore. Well, we want to get our rest rest and we're. And you know what? We're hardened to life so she life of a college student would be. You know what? I love to pull an all nighter. Sit here with like some note pads and like highlighters. How Fun would that be? It's not fun. I know you know that a little bit more busy for me. It's like installments. I think about it is. No, honestly it's fun if you have someone else. Yes. It's not fun when you're doing it alone. Know that Cheryl and you did it so alone for so long. Don't know, but you know, you're so good at, you know you're the best steadier than not. I just have a huge fear of failure. So it's through sheer willpower that you don't. Yeah. I'm not smart and liked you are. You're so smart, but it is a sheer will to big Pharma. Dang. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh, he thinks guy that I met like this. It's like two rows back from me that gave me half a pill that he said was adderall and the West Library that I totally took because I was 19 years old. Take adderall. Dio. No, we don't, but I didn't know what it looks like. Especially in college. No, no, I do. I did. I took vyvanse every day. No, no, no, no, but back in college when I didn't know anything. Like this guy, like randomly met me at the West. Like West Campus Labor to sell you adderall? No, he just gave it to me. Oh. I was like hey. And then he looked at my video, looked at my facebook and like, you know how like you were very descriptive on facebook. Like when it first came out like us on Facebook, I find a address, like a fucking retard. Oh, I put like under like religion. I put Jesus in all caps and like the guy like were applied. He, after he gave me that half a pill which I took and I was so naive. I should not have taken it. God, I wouldn't be so much better college than adderall. Yeah, I think it was, well it didn't hurt me, but like if there's any message me, he's like, well, Oh God, did he say he was like, well I don't think like, I don't think Jesus likes me, so I doubt you would. I guess he's an atheist or something like that. And I was like, get outta here. I just use you for you at like half an adderall. Adderall. You can get at it. The first time it ever ticket, um, was my junior year and I was studying for finance test your junior year in college was the for wow. First time I ever took it was like my sophomore year in high school. I, you know, what small town helicopter parents, whatever. Rather got it senior year and also lucky duck. So no, I didn't do that, but like, like no, I had taken it, like I said that, that the first time I took it, I think I was a sophomore in college, but then like I took like a big bowl one to study for this finance tests and the first time you ever ticket it literally sat down at our apartment, like counter kitchen counter in steady for 12 hours straight from 3:00 in the afternoon to 3:00 AM. And I was like, I've got to go to bed. That test is tomorrow I can go to bed because that's the first time I take it now. Like I can take an adderall in like two hours later I could go to sleep. I could take an adderall and go to sleep two seconds later. Oh sure. It's crazy. I remember, Oh my God, we take so much adderall stay. Just stay up and study. I remember we were cramming for an[inaudible] test and we're a member around. Oh No, you didn't know. In College we had a round kitchen table. I'm like, if we fold my paper of all the time because I was the only one fight and studied of course. And um, I like this, that the kitchen and I wake up and I look at the clock and it's like 7:58 and my exams at 8:00 and I live. Were you close to fuck? No, I wasn't the attorney row. Yeah. So, um, I got to campus as fast as I could and my grandpa died for the fifth time that morning. Yeah, it was terrible. All right. All right. All right. So valiant. And you probably remember this, the news, this was a crazy story. Valiant pharmaceuticals, they basically had the business model of acquiring different pharmaceutical companies, stripping their r and d, so stripping their research and development departments, basically stripping all their scientists and anyone that was trying to be innovative within the biomedical community and focusing solely on marketing, rebranding. So like no new studies. We're going into anything, right? The huge controversy here was when Martin Skrilly, he drastically raise the price of Dara from which is an HIV medication. It's literally a life sustaining medication from$13 and fifty cents a pill to$750 a pill. One pill. He raised it 5,000 percent. So it would cost a HIV patients or AIDS patients almost$23,000 a month. Their stock went from about$14 a share to I think like$253 this year. They fucked everyone over really bad at this. But they did a real good financial. Oh, I bet they're all getting like Atta boys. Yeah, but it did not last. Let me just say that. Good. So okay. So what valliant did was they were a very small company at first and they hired CEO Michael Pearson who had a New Vision for the company entirely, which was we're going to focus on m and a. we're good. Just going to acquire different pharmaceutical companies, strip their personnel, just focus on marketing, keep all their salespeople for a couple of these drugs are going to rebrand. Um, and this made them so much on you. This made all of the executives billion errors, not millionaires, billionaires. Could you imagine having to spend going from 13, whatever, a pill and having to spend a quarter of a million dollars every year on your medication or else you die? Listen, we're both business minded people. You have to make money like money has money, funds everything. Many runs a world who have hundreds of billions of dollars to test these things. You can't just put them out into the population you have to do 10 years ago and that's the thing. They're not doing the tasks but they're not using them. I'm just saying like I think up all up like there's so much capital, like we're all business minded, but it's like who's gonna come in with the balance of, Hey, you know what? We got to make a profit because we want to keep doing these things, but make sure these things are good. Like that's the problem and I don't think it'll ever be solved. Well, and they just, they get, they got too greedy because there's so much money. There's so much that. I mean honestly they did it the right way because if you think about it from the conspiracy side because they partnered with the government, I mean they're paying off the government and the government and with our taxpayer dollars, can't afford to do any of this stuff. So what are they going to let people die, you know, like all the clinical studies, all the, all the hundreds of billions of dollars it takes to get a drug through the steps like through to the market and then, you know what, they wouldn't do it if we didn't give them free reign to like advertise it, but it could help but that this whole subject is just, you could go round and round really can, but it's just a fucked up corporation. So anyways. Yeah. Well it's. Yeah. I don't know. I don't even it into this. I don't either. Duty Pro conspiracy here a little bit. I think so, yeah. You know, like a, I don't think it's a conspiracy. I think it's just the way the business works. I know, but it's so fucked up. It is. So it's not even a conspiracy theory. I know, but it's the truth, but that's the. But that's the fucked up thing about it. So I think that this definition of a conspiracy. No, no. Okay. So this was what I was going to say. Conspiracy theory hasn't really bad connotation throughout culture. Like it's like, oh, you're weird. Like, oh, you're crazy. Okay. Conspiracy theory. It's a noun. It's the belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event. So this is a conspiracy theory. So technically let me do a psa right now based on that definition. Let me just lay some truth. PSA announcement. Um, I've listened to actually in, you know, what, even my favorite murder, who I think they're pretty careful, like they don't like, they have opinions, but they, they're pretty all inclusive. I've heard this multiple times, like a conspiracy theorist has a really bad connotation and there's some fucking crazy people out there like David, Eric, like the Reptilian Guy, like he's a conspiracy theorist. He is a nut head. The flat earthers come on guys, like conspiracy theorists have a. and you know what? People are almost apologetic when they use the term conspiracy theory, like in anything other than conspiracy theory podcast, but based on that definition, I'm not apologetic either. Sign in there. Yeah, read that again. Read the definition. Conspiracy theory. A belief that Sam covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event. They got asthma that is responsible for fucking the craziest inflation. Pharmaceutical comp. How many events in Qa causes and events fit into that category that aren't the people in the tin? Hats. So many. Do you know what? I think we put that underneath our, um, description. Let's do it. Let's do that because you know what, before you just read that honestly, I thought conspiracy theory canary defines conspiracy theory, conspiracy theory, conspiracy theory. Are we conspiracy serious Siri. So, okay. In conclusion concluded is that, um, I, you know, my opinion, big Pharma is so fucked up and they're taking advantage of lack of regulation and the fact that they have no rules to go by. I mean technically everything that they do is still illegal and that is because they fund the government so much. They have lobbyists working with the government. They spent a quarter of a billion dollars every year just to convince the government to not sign that petition or not sign that new bill, get into government. That's a whole nother podcast, but the fact of the matter is they do not understand the healthcare industry and if they do, then they're all corrupt too. Who fully understands and does right by the health care industry. No one. Nobody. I know after talking to you and in your line of work, it's all fucked up. Yeah. It's taking advantage of a never ending demand for a product. Everyone will be sick. Yeah. So yeah. No, no, I think that it's all fucked up now. I know. That's how. That's what we're saying is like there is a infinite demand for something that only a few can provide the supply for. Yeah, and that's when things get fucked up. Well and the way that they do it, like your patents and stuff, like you have 10 years for a patent and then you can charge whatever the fuck you want and then after that 10 years in generics can start. I'm coming out, but most people like generics that. Well, yeah, because they're so fucking cheap. If you change one thing on a patent, you can extend the life of that path or if you rebrand it you can get a new patent like it is so fucked at and they're all finding ways around it. Hey, anyone? Um, in the patent law business? Yes. Explain. That'd be amazing. Patent Law. Oh. Oh, please. Oh, come on. Yeah, I mean I feel like you could actually do almost like a whole podcast on just this, like a whole podcast on that. I'm sure. Like you didn't even get through half of your content. I know. I didn't know we might have to Redo it. This one or do it again. Part de Parte de la, la La. But anyway. Okay. So yeah. What do you think? No, I, I agree with Youtube. I think it's um, it's all about supply and demand. There's a few that supply the demand and the demand is high and, and that leads into a lot of money that everyone in the world needs something that they supply. Yeah. That's the thing. There's unlimited demand for what you're doing and there's so much money that if you kind of like, oh, well what if we sand bag this thing, we could get another hundred million dollars out of it. Well, why wouldn't you do that all the time if you're a greedy corporation? Um, I think that some things aren't as extreme. I think I want to give a little bit more credit to our checks and balances because if we don't then I'll just think that I want to get less credit to them. I want to take away the credit that you're giving them for. And tingling not to Pharma per her mouth is too to any kind of process that we have because you know, if there wasn't any checks and balances, we obviously we would rise up and like nobody would stand for this. Nope. That's the thing. There are no checks and balances in this industry. That's why people are able to raise prices 5,000 percent. Okay. I just want to do like a quick little, let's say what's that car like?$30,000. Let's say they did that in the car industry. I'll show at$30,000. Car would now cost one point$5,000,000. Just compare it to that. I mean it's so fucked up anyways. Well so much so that big Pharma, but keep taking your meds everyone because you know what? Here's the thing. You need them. Okay guys. Okay, well I love you. God bless ceiling and ask all the questions. Don't trust anyone, etc. Etc.

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