Pharmaceutical Industry discussion, review, analysis, news and information.

First of all, I wanna thank a colleague at B5media, Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei for agreeing to guest blog here at The PharmVoice:

Of all the evil in the world, pharmaceutical companies rank amongst the worst.  Agree or disagree?

DISAGREE.

Having worked for one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, I know the researchers working within care about what they're doing just as much as anyone else in academia or non-profit organizations.  Over the course of a year, I never heard any of them speak about the bottom line in lieu of quality studies examining key scientific questions.  In fact, I'd say that they were actually under less budgetary pressures because they did'nt have to scramble around writing endless grants applying for limited government or agency funding.

When various advocates criticize pharmaceutical companies, I understand where they're coming from.  The business side of the pharmaceutical industry is just as cut-throat as any.  But when people make blanket accusations that everyone who works for a pharmaceutical company is greedy, uncaring, and unethical, I vehemently disagree. 

They're drug /companies/, not aid agencies, governments, or philanthropists.  More than 16,000 children worldwide die of malnutrition every day, which is horrifying and inexcusable, but nobody is angry with Stop & Shop for wanting to make a profit or with Canadian wheat farmers for not giving their wheat away for free.