How Drug Companies Bribe Doctors to Suck You Into Their Web…

Start making the reps wait until after patient hrs, to see the dr, instead of letting them cut into the morning patient rush. That'll teach em to be so evil.

While getting a degree in Biochemistry, I elected to take a class about how the drug companies themselves rig test results and put massive amounts of money into marketing their drug as "safer" when it is not. We also an ex- Pharmaceutical representative (from one of the major Big Pharma firms). I was amazed at what these companies got away with. From personal experience, doctors don't even read the fine print about the drug, they just look at a glossy pamphlet. Doctors are less educated about a drug than any patient that looks it up on the internet. I do have a point to make though, any drug that is prescribed is on the internet through the company, they do make it difficult to find, but they have to put all the science stuff on their site...most of us skip molecular structure.....but do read through the next 10 pages. Some is in science-speak, but note any asterisks, there will be charts of side effects vs. placebo...read them all and then see how the study was done. Some companies use test patients that are 100% in perfect health (they go through may tests before they are allowed into the study (We'll call it Company A). Look to see if there were deaths, emergencies, etc... other companies( Company B) will allow their new drug to be tested on terminally ill patients as a last ditch effort to prolong the patient's life (this info. is included in the drug info page). Some of these (terminal) patients die during the study of the drug. Since these patients were terminal, Company B, may have a higher death rate, however, that is usually not because of the drug, however, when marketing comes along, Company A will state their drug is safer because there were fewer deaths. Pharma reps usually have no science background. They will tell the doctor that their drug had less adverse side affects than Company B.

In class we were given the actual names of the companies and the drugs. Both were heart drugs. I'd have to dig up old notes to remember all details, but I remember enough to scare anyone, one company was Merck, I do not remember the other company, but it's a well known drug company. Merck was a "Company B," it tested on healthy and terminal patients. These are not exact numbers, but close, Merck lost around 8 people during the study (all were the terminal patients). The other company with 100% healthy test patients lost about 4 people. The Merck drug was superior in performance across the board: doing what it was supposed too, fewer side effects, less severe side effects, etc. It was the better drug. Company B, did an all out marketing spree that it was safer because fewer people died. They didn't mention that the deaths occurred in people who were previously healthy until they took the drug. The Pharma reps paraded the "safety" issue, and Company A had record breaking sales, with doctors prescribing it 5 to 1 over Merck's drug.

I believe that Big Pharma now lobbies the FDA to the extent of bribery to get a drug through. I tell my doctor, I won't take anything approved by the FDA after 1980...the FDA stopped doing their job in the 80's, at the expense of people's lives.