Why do people love to hate pharma?

Like most pharmacists, I am required by state law to counsel patients on new prescriptions. In the course of doing this duty, I receive feed-back from the patient which can sometimes become quite far-ranging. What I find striking is the deep distrust of the pharmaceutical industry and the indignant attitude toward government regulators (both FDA and Justice Dept.). I expect that whoever becomes our next President will be expected to address those issues.

I think people are too harsh on pharma. Lets be clear here people, when you take a pharmaceutical you are altering your chemical makeup. All drugs have side effects, you are taking them at your own risk.

Pharmaceutical companies do clinical trials on all drugs but not EVERY adverse event can be discovered during this time and some are discovered after the drug has been brought to the public.

Doctors are very intelligent people and as a patient you need to be informed on what you are taking. Yes I work in the pharma industry but even I do my own research on a drug when it is prescribed for me. I have decided not to take some drugs due to the profile...because I educated myself and was then put on an alternative.

If it was not for the pharmaceutical industry and the immense risk they take on when researching new compounds to combat illness the life expectancy would not be what it is today. There would not be treatment for many diseases we have today. There would not be anti-virals for HIV, chemo for cancer, and many others. The final estimate is that it costs (including the expense of failed drugs) $802 million to take a drug from phase I trials to approval. There is no guarantee that the drug will even make that amount back in the time it is alotted before patent expiry.

So before you jump on your anti-pharma soap-box educate yourself and don't be a hypocrite because I am sure you take some pharmaceuticals. It is a little known fact in the pharma industry that if Asprin had to go through the approval process today IT WOULD NOT MAKE IT THROUGH! So let's be real here people.

I am amazed at the fierce level of distrust and disgust that seems to exist about pharma companies. While the industry in general has not done a stellar job of managing public trust with issues like Vioxx and Avandia, the good that pharma companies bring to the public far outweighs the bad.

Where would we be without companies who have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in developing drugs that continue to help extend and enhance human life. Think about that when you have a child at home who is suffering from Hodgekin's Disease...20 years ago that child may not have lived.

And furthermore, pharma provides many subsidies to the unisured population through patient assistance programs and samples of drugs that many physicians give to their patients who can't afford medicine.

There is no doubt that the pharma industry has long suffered from a level of arrogance that has turned the public off and leaves it difficult to feel sorry for them now. And the industry has to do a better job of improving public trust and reassuring the public when news begins to leak around safety and efficacy issues. However, for anyone who has ever taken medicine that has helped them feel better, imagine where you would be if a pharma company didn't exist to create that medicine in the first place. Pharma companies are the innovators in our healthcare system and remember all of the good medicines that they have created that have helped you or someone you love.