| A new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry’s claim. |
| The researchers’ estimate is based on the systematic collection of data directly from the industry and doctors during 2004, which shows the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of US$235.4 billion. |
| “In our paper, we make the case for the need for a new estimate of promotional expenditures by the U.S. pharmaceutical industry,” says Gagnon. “We then explain how we used proprietary databases to construct a revised estimate and finally, we compare our results with those from other data sources to argue in favor of changing the priorities of the industry.” |
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The study is important because it provides the most accurate image yet of the promotional workings of the pharmaceutical industry, says Lexchin.
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| The authors focused their study on the United States because it is the only country in which information is available for all of the major promotion categories, and it is also the largest market for pharmaceuticals in the world, representing approximately 43% of global sales and global promotion expenditures. |
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As well, note the authors, the number of meetings for promotional purposes has dramatically increased in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, jumping from 120,000 in 1998 to 371,000 in 2004, further supporting their findings that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry is marketing-driven.
Read more at www.sciencedaily.com |
Imagine suffering from a chronic
illness that challenges you every single day. You have aches and pains,
difficulty getting around and sometimes suffer from surprising decreases
in energy. You take fistfuls of medication for relief and endure countless
medical procedures to keep the illness from progressing. |
your life be better if you stopped hoping to cure
your condition and simply accepted things as they are? |
“Sometimes knowing the adversity you face is permanent makes it easier
to face that adversity,” said Dr. Peter A. Ubel, a professor of medicine
and psychology |
Ubel co-authored a study that found that people who’d had a
colostomy — surgery that creates an opening in the abdomen for stool to
drain from the body — but could have the procedure reversed in the future
experienced no improvement in life satisfaction over time. But, people who
had irreversible colostomies reported increased satisfaction with their
quality of life. |
It’s not a conclusion that’s been universally embraced, however. Dr.
Ann Berger, chief of pain and palliative care at the U.S. National
Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., said she believes
the finding from the colostomy study only scrapes the surface of what a
patient needs to undergo to experience healing from a chronic illness. |
“Acceptance is only a very small part of ultimately developing a sense
of wholeness in healing from a chronic illness,” Berger said. |
“Happiness is not just a matter of circumstances, but also how
circumstances compare to your experiences,” Ubel said. “If you continue to
hold out hope that things will get better, you will feel more
frustrated.” |
Also, Ubel explained, people holding out hope will experience a great
deal of “Weltschmerz,” a German expression referring to the pain people
feel when comparing how life is to how life should be. |
“If I’m hoping for something better, then I continually compare my
current lot in life to what it could be, and the contrast hurts,” Ubel
said. “People who have a temporary condition think, ‘Why do I have to live
with this? I want to be better.’ People with a permanent condition think,
‘Things aren’t perfect, but these are the cards I’ve been dealt.’” |
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But in addition, a range of life factors can affect how people deal
with a chronic illness, including their psychological state before the
illness, their social networks and support systems, and their sense of
spirituality, Berger said, and none of those factors were considered in
the study.
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“A lot of it has to do with people’s sense of: ‘I have a place and
worth in the world. I’m safe and taken care of. I have plans and
expectations for my life. I have control over things in my life. I have
some kind of secure inner peace,’” she said. “These are things that go on
in someone’s inner psyche and help in the healing process.”
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If people have support and a sense of spirituality, she said, they may
not be cured but they can be healed. “You need to look at curing versus
healing,” Berger said. “Cure is cure of an illness. Healing is a feeling
of wholeness of an individual.”
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And the notion of “giving up hope” is flawed, she said.
“I don’t think that you necessarily give up hope,” Berger said. “When
you are chronically ill, you may hope for other things. Hope just changes
so that rather than hoping for a cure, you hope to get to somebody’s
wedding or you hope to see the sunset the following day. You don’t hope
for the same things as hoping for a cure. That’s not losing hope. It’s
very different, and they can still feel healed.”Read more at health.yahoo.net |
