Akrid Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 I normaly put down conspiricy theory's, but I think somthing is wrong with this. How does the basket ball player Magic Johnson end up magicly being cured of AID's and there is still no cure? How much money do Pharmacist and Doctors make off of peoples problems with disease? Everybody kind assumes there is somthing shady about it but nobody does anything about it. Am I just being over paranoid? Or is there somthing wrong here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malchik Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 The argument goes like this Industry - the only way we make enough profits to be able to fund the work needed for research is through selling our product at a high amount. Humanity - there are millions of needy people that cannot afford those prices Industry - that is a sad fact but there is nothing we can do about it According to a recent UK TV programme (not necessarily unbiased) most drugs can be made available at sustantially lower prices. The international pharmaceutical industry puts pressure on countries that attempt to do so in a form of blackmail to prevent them continuing (it has just happened to India). IMO the question of treating world epidemic diseases should not be left in the hands of a privatised sector. If the industries position is valid, then the research must be taken away from the companies and funded publically so that the results of the research are freely available. It is I fear a pipe dream. If only there was something we really could do. So I'm not sure whether it's a conspiracy theory or not but corporate extortion and blackmail are dirty words in my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akrid Posted December 18, 2003 Author Share Posted December 18, 2003 I believe though that there are cures and vacines for common problems. "They" don't give out the cures and sell only the treatments, there's no cure for acme, a common puberty related skin condition. I used to have that and there is just no getting a girl freand when you have zit's, thats all there is to it. If I ever find out sombody had the cure all along and my younger teen years where sucky because of thier private orginizations greed I'll be very :angry2: I fear that human health is taking a back seat to human wealth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohGr Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 there actually is a cure for acne, its a box of 60 tablets called oratane(spelling?), i went on this stuff 7 months ago after seeing my dermatologist and he gave me a prescription for 8 boxes, then another 4, i have 3 boxes left, and im on 4 a day, but with the prescription, the boxes are only $6 AU, and their $120 AU without a prescription, but you really have to look at it this way, if you ran a company selling these drugs which arent prescription only, and got 5 people buying them, with a precription, thats $30 AU off the 5 people, then theres staff, running the store and the other drugs, then add another say...$550 AU from the week, then you have a total of $670 AU, you think, beauty, got me some money, you pay for the one staff person you hired, she (its a pharmacy, it has to be a woman :D ) gets say $180 AU for 13 hours work, minus $180 AU and you get $490 AU, then theres the other drugs which is say...$250 AU, minus that, then you have $240, then $200 AU for bills and you only make $40 AU, now, thats with a terribly bad week, on a great week with buisness booming youd get say $1850 AU, plus the 5 people on perscription is $1870 AU, minus the same prices and you have $1250 left you yourself, minus $250 AU on repairs and $100 on shop theft and you have $900. so you see, buisness can jump from bad to high in just a few weeks, and most involve loosing money, because you have to include family and the rest, and because of this, youll increase the prices to make more money. NOTE - All this is based on a non-partnership buisness, when its the government, its a whole different story. Another Note - i learn commerse at my school, which is why i know how certain buisness types work, partnerships, sole traders, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tater Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 How are music artists so rich and yet they cry about people downloading their songs for free? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malchik Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 Tater, I see the connection in your mind but this thread is about the phamaceutical industry so can we stick to that for the time being. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikeman85 Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Do I personally wish a great deal of research was in the public sector? Yes. I personally would like a society built on information and knowledge. Basically the world being a giant university. That is MY dream. I would cut off my own arm to see such a society take root. I actually thought about writing some sort of coherent idea on it, but I'm not an economist, and seeing what happened with Marx's theories (I doubt I'd be so popular, but indulge me here) I won't write it down, but instead merely wish that such a society occurs, knowledge becomes widespread, cheap or free, and everyone becomes educated. God would I love a world like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctogher Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 My 2 Sense Be wary of imposing logical/social imperatives on a dynamic culture. Remember that where there is no competition, there is no drive for development or evolution. This is true in every aspect of our lives. Marxism fails because it attempts to normalise or equalise all parties. Apply the Darwinian rules to this approach and the only outcome is stagnation, which must lead to extinction. If we stop evolving, we die out. The same is true of business. It is this need to eveolve, based solely on a need to survive, which provides the drive imperitive for advancement and development. In most cases this model works to our advantage. However, the inverse is also true. Why cure a cash cow when you can treat it for less, but for far longer, which equates to greater revenue. The major risk in this approach is that those diseases plaguing mankind, if only treated and not cured, have continued to evolve. Producing, through natural selection, strains which are immune to currently available treatments. Good news for business, not so goods for us. Examples of this are malaria, the common cold, etc. There is no simple solution here. Remove the technology or responsibility from the private sector and reduce the effectiveness and development that resides there. Would you put your life in your governments hands? They struggle to perform even the most basic of functions at the best of times..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikeman85 Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 I never said the entire society would be in the gov's hands, I said that I wanted a society based on knowledge, where that was the primary motivating factor. I.e. not money. And seeing as I said this was unrealistic to hope for, well, it's UNREALISTIC TO HOPE FOR :P I wasn't trying to argue any sort of idea. I was merely talking about my utopia, which is a utopia in the true sense of the word. Something that doesn't, and likely won't ever exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reborn87 Posted December 22, 2003 Share Posted December 22, 2003 Ahh you never know. Look at Star Trek (no i'm not a trekkie). That's basically the society you're describing. Star Trek works. Kinda. If anyone comments on Star Trek not being realistic I will personally shoot them with my limited edition high power Phaser. So There. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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