WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE TO HATE PHARMA?

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Why? I think love pharma because of all those "four hour erection" ads blasting from tv 24/7 :)!

Why do people love to hate pharma?
September 9, 2008
By Tracy Staton
Tags Trust Deficit public trust public opinion DTC advertising
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Pharma took a plunge in its ethical reputation over the past year, according to a new report from the research firm Covalence. What's hurting the industry's image? Lawsuits and settlements and fines, for one thing. The safety questions around the Eli Lilly antipsychotic med Zyprexa and Merck/Schering-Plough cholesterol drug Vytorin--and the companies' handling of the data about those drugs. The dust-up over Paxil and its link to suicidal thinking didn't help, either.

Plus, the media is either tired of covering pharma's good deeds, or it's distracted by election-year politics. Either way, drugmakers' philanthropic efforts aren't getting much play, Covalence found.

Meanwhile, AdWeek took an in-depth look at why pharma seems to be the industry consumers love to hate. And one of the big reasons is the fact that people don't want to be sick enough to need drugs. Sifting through a bevy of recent surveys and studies, the article also concludes that safety scares undermine people's faith in the drugs themselves. And the public doesn't trust pharma to share adverse info on their meds, further undermining that faith--and hurting pharma's rep.

Unlike other industries, pharma can't necessarily mount a warm-and-fuzzy image campaign to turn public opinion around. DTC rules govern how drugmakers advertise their wares. One thing pharma can do, however, is to target its messages more directly to the people who need them, perhaps via the Internet or social networking, the magazine says.
 

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There's another more basic reason why the public "hates" pharma: People who are sick are afraid. Afraid of the uncertainties of being ill and of the costs associated with it. Unlike many other areas of healthcare, pharma is one of those instances where the patient has our brand-name product in their possession. When a patient has surgery they don''t get to hold the knife. When they get an X-ray they don't hold or do anything with the film. And yes, they pay a co-pay or deductible, but it is practically an abstract cost. But pharmaceuticals is different. The patient actually takes possession of our product and is expected to manage their own administration. This makes pharmaceuticals a convenient target for the high cost of healthcare. It's actually more complicated than that: patients have a love-hate relationship with our product. They hate that they have to take it, yet watch patients, especially seniors, they are very protective and defensive about their prescriptions. And unlike a procedure where you pay once and you're done, prescription drugs appear to have a hold over them that they keep paying over and over, often for life. And even though lab & diagnostics suppliers have their own competitive landscape, that competition is behind the scenes, whereas pharmaceuticals competition is on stage all the time, often accompanied by all the splashy advertising within the doctor's office. Add in the prevalence of prime-time advertising and you can see why pharmaceuticals is an easy target because it is high on the radar screen. I can assure you that there is far more entertainment in the medical device and medical procedures part our business, but since it's behind the scenes it doesn't register as a foul. Meanwhile, we walk in with a tray of sandwiches and fruit baskets right in front of the patients, so of course we're more noticeable and hence an easier target.
 








uhhh..b/c they press a pill for a dime and charge five bucks?? b/c most of their budget goes to advertising and not research? With Obama generics iwll be the future


Wow go hug a tree. You prob think that healthcare is better in Cuba too, right?


That statement is so ignorant I am not going to bother with it.
 




c'mon most of YOU are dissatisfied. They make copycat me-too clones just so they can patent it. Ditropan Detrol now the other stuff. Change one atom on a molecule and the CEO and stockholders are in gravy. OK maybe not Cuba although THEY are in trouble mostly b/c of our embargo against them. But Canada the UK France all have cheaper, more humane healthcare systems.
 




c'mon most of YOU are dissatisfied. They make copycat me-too clones just so they can patent it. Ditropan Detrol now the other stuff. Change one atom on a molecule and the CEO and stockholders are in gravy. OK maybe not Cuba although THEY are in trouble mostly b/c of our embargo against them. But Canada the UK France all have cheaper, more humane healthcare systems.


But UK and France's systems are running at a deficit. Its not a cheaper form of healthcare since theyre already paying for it through taxes, but they dont have a choice.
 




  • Wonka   Sep 12, 2008 at 11:04: PM
#5
If it wasn't for me-too clones, imagine how expensive drug would be. Me-Too Clones is called competition. Me-too clones are usually cheaper than original.

#3
Yes, the cost of mfg of the drug is not much, but ever heard of overhead? You wouldn't make a good Cost Accountant.
 




#5
If it wasn't for me-too clones, imagine how expensive drug would be. Me-Too Clones is called competition. Me-too clones are usually cheaper than original.

#3
Yes, the cost of mfg of the drug is not much, but ever heard of overhead? You wouldn't make a good Cost Accountant.


Hey foulmouth, your sig says it all about you. Go over to myspace or wherever your scummy teenage friends hang out. This board is for adults!!!
 




Insurance is screwy! I mean my wife takes a high dose of something and the insurance covers a quarter of the dose needed. A prior Authorization is not a sure thing. If your insurance does not cover the product sometimes people have to pay $700. Lets take Effexor XR if you have to pay out of pocket for 225mg your looking at $600 dollars a month. If you take Actos for diabetes at the 45mg daily your looking at $200-300. Provigil the wonder drug itself is $9 dollars a pill. Many pharma reps automatically think that every person can get every product somehow. Many people either do not have insurance or the generic does not work for them, therefore they need the namebrand. Many folks in this tight economy are on the brink of losing their houses. Many families are deciding everyday to buy food or put gas in the car to get to work. So forking over co-pays and high PA co-pays is tough on them. Yes you can say they should cancel there cell phones, cancel there cable, stop buying sigarettes, downsize there car, etc, but in reality it is easier said than done. Don't forget the elderly who are on fixed income and do not have any room for meds. Most people see their meds as a necessity almost life or death yet it is expensive and then they feel like their backs are against the wall. Just put yourself in the patients position who has a wife at home, 3 kids, mortagage, car payment, food, clothes, and stretches their pay checks to the dime to live every week. And now they need to pay for medication which does not fit in there budget, yet they need the meds to get better or to get back to work or to stay alive etc? That is why people love to hate pharma reps in my opinion.
 




I want to know why people IN pharma hate pharma?

I love what I do. Wouldn't do anything else. I don't think I'm so important. I don't think that docs can't live without me. If they are no see, fuck em, I move on.

If they want some intricate lunch order, fuck em. I move on. They have a right to run their office the way they see fit.

When are people going to do all they can to stay healthy before they complain about the cost of drugs? Have you stopped smoking? drinking like a fish? eating like a pig? Sure it's hard. It's REALLY hard but so is paying for all of those drugs.
 




well...some illnesses ARE genetic. Which is why health insurance companies should not deny insurance or charge more money to the sick. You are preaching to the choir about the Vices. I have four and five hundred pounders waddling in here every week. Send them for lap band surgery. And even the Diabetic idiots with stents will not quit smoking...and their wives call up here and cuss when they DIE.
 




Insurance is screwy! I mean my wife takes a high dose of something and the insurance covers a quarter of the dose needed. A prior Authorization is not a sure thing. If your insurance does not cover the product sometimes people have to pay $700. Lets take Effexor XR if you have to pay out of pocket for 225mg your looking at $600 dollars a month. If you take Actos for diabetes at the 45mg daily your looking at $200-300. Provigil the wonder drug itself is $9 dollars a pill. Many pharma reps automatically think that every person can get every product somehow. Many people either do not have insurance or the generic does not work for them, therefore they need the namebrand. Many folks in this tight economy are on the brink of losing their houses. Many families are deciding everyday to buy food or put gas in the car to get to work. So forking over co-pays and high PA co-pays is tough on them. Yes you can say they should cancel there cell phones, cancel there cable, stop buying sigarettes, downsize there car, etc, but in reality it is easier said than done. Don't forget the elderly who are on fixed income and do not have any room for meds. Most people see their meds as a necessity almost life or death yet it is expensive and then they feel like their backs are against the wall. Just put yourself in the patients position who has a wife at home, 3 kids, mortagage, car payment, food, clothes, and stretches their pay checks to the dime to live every week. And now they need to pay for medication which does not fit in there budget, yet they need the meds to get better or to get back to work or to stay alive etc? That is why people love to hate pharma reps in my opinion.


I don't live nigggger rich like "most patients". Also, XR costs about $150/mo. cash dipshit. And they can buy the Indian generic crap online for much much less. If the generic crap works, it doesn't, then they get cheap drugs, huh?
 




I don't live nigggger rich like "most patients". Also, XR costs about $150/mo. cash dipshit. And they can buy the Indian generic crap online for much much less. If the generic crap works, it doesn't, then they get cheap drugs, huh?


Hey Dingleberry you are one Taco short of a fiesta!! Take grandma who is on a fixed income and has to pay for 4 drugs that cost $150 a month. Do you think she would hate pharma???? Try rubbing those two marbles between your ears together and think for a minute! Keep rubbing. Come on buddy. You can do it!
 




Most people on fixed incomes do just fine on generics. There are generic options in almost every common disease state. My parents as well as my mother-in-law are on a slew of meds and not one is a brand. My parents are on Medicare but have supplemental insurance from my dad's retirement that pays for their Rx drugs. They also planned well for retirement and paying their co-pays and for their cheap generic drugs is no big deal.

Not every elderly person is out there eating cat food so they can pay for their new branded medication.
 




Life is about choices. Is that pack of smokes everyday worth a month of meds? How about a $5 coffee everyday?

There are places that most people could cut in order to buy the meds they need. If they don't want to pay for drugs, they don't have to.

We're all going to die from something. That may sound mean, but it is absolutely true. Who told people that healthcare should be free? It's never been free and neither have the drugs that keep us patched up. There are also many alternatives: Provigil? Amphetamine... Effexor? another SNRI. Perhaps they aren't the same thing, but consumers need to choose what is important to them and stop bitching. Without Pharma, these drugs wouldn't exist.
 








It is the consumer's choice to take a drug. I think this is pure ignorance. When the FDA approves a product it approves it to be marketed. It in NO WAY promises that it is safe. People are stupid to think anything they put inside or on their body has no side effects or consequences. Someone for a change ought to write an article that is educational rather than sensational.
 




While I'm at it: It is fine for some fat lazy SOB who smokes for 20 years, eats crap and lays around to sue some drug company because his or her diabetes drug caused a "heart attack" but Godforbid that asshole go for a walk and watch what he or she eats. Seriously!
 




People are merely reacting to Pharma's own behavior. Not only have they caused the autism and AIDS pandemics, their vaccines have caused dozens of new diseases and conditions. the following link shows GlaxoSmithKlein as it goes about selling faulty product.
www.mycentraloregon.com/news/state/ap/866209/Glaxo-to-pay-37-states-41m-over-faulty-drugs.html

The drug companies caused AIDS and autism? You have to be the stupidest person on here in a long, long time. Wow. I really do not even have a snappy comeback in the face of such blatant ignorance. I am not going to argue that some of the products produced by DCs have been harmful rather than promising but that is pure and simple not enough information at the time of launch. All trials are now published online for anyone, including you, to go and look at as they progress or if you have a serious illness. As far as a drug company finding or funding a CURE for HIV/AIDS, it won't happen. Companies make far too much money treating certain diseases than curing them. Why would you expect a drug company to find a cure for anything? Grow the fuck up.
 




The drug companies caused AIDS and autism? You have to be the stupidest person on here in a long, long time. Wow. I really do not even have a snappy comeback in the face of such blatant ignorance. I am not going to argue that some of the products produced by DCs have been harmful rather than promising but that is pure and simple not enough information at the time of launch. All trials are now published online for anyone, including you, to go and look at as they progress or if you have a serious illness. As far as a drug company finding or funding a CURE for HIV/AIDS, it won't happen. Companies make far too much money treating certain diseases than curing them. Why would you expect a drug company to find a cure for anything? Grow the fuck up.

I guess perhaps becuase you would pay a lot more for the cure than a treatment? But providing a cure would be bringing value to the table and DC's haven't done that for a long time