The Fentanyl Lollipop
[Note: In searching for an image to accompany this post, I stumbled on the one above that accompanied a paper called Future Synthetic Drugs of Abuse. Interesting reading, too.]
For the first time ever, global spending on prescription drugs has topped $600 billion, even as growth slowed in Europe and North America.
Sales of prescription medicines worldwide rose 7 percent to $602 billion, according to IMS health, a pharmaceutical information and consulting company. The United States still accounts for the lion’s share of that, with $252 billion in annual sales.
But right now, big drug companies are suffering from an innovation drought. Aitken says only 30 new medicines were launched in key markets in 2005, well off the peak of the 1990s. A more encouraging sign: There are 2,300 experimental drugs being tested in humans. In the late stages of human testing, IMS counts 96 cancer drugs, 51 heart treatments, 37 antivirals and 28 potential medicines for arthritis or pain.
Another difficulty for big pharma: There are lots of $1 billion drugs but few mega-blockbusters. The second-biggest drug generates half as much revenue as Lipitor, and the tenth top-selling drug, Wyeth’s anti-depressant Effexor, generates a “mere” $3.8 billion. That means even if new medicines are successful, they may not fill the holes created as drugs go generic.
Probably because healthcare is a business. And businesses, like most people, work to make money.
Look at the top ten list of drugs used. All but one is for heart and mind related problems. Goes to show you that there is sick love and sick intelligence in the world. The last drug on the list is for asthma which is related to polluted air that the other 9 drugs on this list and its users create.
Drug and oil companies need to be regulated. There’s a difference between making a profit and gouging the market to the maximum.