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Dr. Douglas L. Packer, MD, FHRS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
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“I think your site has helped a lot of patients.”Dr. Hugh G. Calkins, MD Johns Hopkins,
Baltimore, MD
‘A Patient Cured is a Customer Lost’ & Other Facts About Big Pharma
Did you know drug companies spend twice as much on marketing and advertising as on researching and developing new drugs? (I was shocked.)
Of special interest to me is the ‘Direct to Consumer’ drug advertising which has significantly increased drug sales in the U.S.
‘Direct to Consumer’ drug advertising is so misleading that it is banned in all countries except two: the U.S. and New Zealand. (No wonder that 70% of drug companies’ profit comes from the U.S.)
Misleading Drug Ads
To be specific, I hate those misleading TV commercials that target A-Fib patients. What these ads for anticoagulants don’t tell you is:
• You are on their meds for life! (they want lifelong customers!)
• These meds do nothing to treat your A-Fib (only your risk of stroke)
• A-Fib can be cured (you don’t have to be on meds for the rest of your life)
These ads for anticoagulant medications imply that if you just take their pill once a day, you’ve taken care of your A-Fib. Wrong! Don’t fall for the hype.
Bad Pharma—How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors & Harm Patients
The author of Bad Pharma does an excellent job of shining a light on the truths that the drug industry wants to stay hidden.
Those truths include how they mislead doctors and the medical industry through sales techniques, and manipulate consumers into becoming life-long drug customers. (For doctors, that industry influence begins in medical school and continues throughout their practice.)
We also learn truths about the internal workings of the medical academia, the U.S. FDA, and medical journals publishing.
The arguments in the book are supported by research and data made available to the reader. The author, Ben Goldacre, is a doctor and science journalist, and advocates for sticking to the scientific method, full disclosure and advocating for the interest of the patients. Read a critical review of Bad Pharma in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
My Best Advice: ‘Educate Yourself’
One of our tenets at A-Fib.com, is ‘Educate Yourself’! if you want to be a more savvy consumer of health care services (I highly recommend Bad Pharma. I also recommend Ben Goldacre’s other book, Bad Science).
Bonus Idea: If you pair this book with “Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics” by Steven Woloshin, you’ll have a complete course on how the drug industry skillfully markets their products. Read my review.
Read the book for FREE: The ebook version is online at U.S. National Library of Medicine PubMedHealth, and you can download the .PDF version (remember to save to your hard drive).
See my post: How Big Pharma Issues Misleading News and Why it Matters.
Features the report by the online watchdog group HealthNewsReview.org.
Don’t Settle for a Lifetime on Medications—
Seek your A-Fib Cure
