Big Pharma's Big Problem contd. - let me count the ways

The Observer has an excellent piece about Big Pharma's Big Problem:

Big Pharma has rarely been less popular: a recent survey in the US found most people held them in the same low esteem as Big Tobacco.

According to a study published last week by accountancy group PwC, the public, doctors and health insurers believe the industry has put profits before patients, abandoning its original vision of improving health and alleviating pain. Peter Claude, a partner at PwC, says: 'It is difficult to comprehend why an industry that has saved so many lives is held in such low esteem.

But the public is questioning its motives.'

Big Pharma is in the doghouse for several reasons. In the US, prescription drug prices have rocketed and the most vulnerable patients are the least able to pay - those on Medicare without supplementary insurance.

All over the world, drugs companies are in an expensive race with each other to come up with new treatments and market them, sometimes aggressively, to health specialists. The public backlash comes after a number of high-profile drugs were withdrawn following allegations of dangerous side-effects.

In 2004, Merck pulled arthritis treatment Vioxx after it emerged that it could increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Now, the group spends $1m a day fighting lawsuits linked with Vioxx and has set aside a fighting fund for legal action which could go on for years.

The PwC survey reveals that 73 per cent of respondents agree that drug companies spend too much time and money attempting to prevent generic medicines from competing with their branded products.

'Consumers strongly believe drug companies should work with generic manufacturers to make generics available upon expiration of their patent,' says the report.

There is also suspicion that the industry is nowhere near as innovative as it claims. One analyst says: 'Big Pharma spends too much time promoting treatments that are mere variations of top-selling drugs already on the market. That way, the companies make big profits, while spending relatively little on research and development.'

Another complaint turns on the reluctance of drugs groups to provide affordable HIV/Aids medicines to developing countries. GSK, however, says the company is now providing cheap HIV drugs to Africa, which it regards as a 'not-for-profit' territory, and other giants have taken similar measures.

But a recent Oxfam report said insufficient progress had been made.

It accused the EU and the US of apathy, and of protecting the interests of its multinationals, some of which are fighting to have patents enforced. Pfizer, for example, is challenging the Philippines government in a bid to extend its monopoly on Norvasc, a blood-pressure drug.

And Novartis is engaged in litigation in India to enforce a patent for Glivec, a cancer drug, which Oxfam says could save many lives if it were available at generic prices.

Insider would agree with the above litany. But he would also like to add to Big Pharma's list of crimes the subversion of objective research (plus a few other tricks of the trade).