Food for Thought

[Jennie]

So, this isn't specifically about H but it IS about Big Pharma and public education. I am going to college for mental health and human services and am currently enrolled in a psychosocial rehabilitation class. We watched a video called Take These Broken Wings and it is about two women with schizophrenia.

 

So here is the meat and potatoes. Basically we are told that schizophrenia is a chemical imbalance. That is the common public knowledge. Apparently this isn't true at all and in an interview with someone who creates the drugs for schizophrenia they admitted that they tell people that so they will take their drugs! The drugs have some kind of effects but they don't know exactly how they work or why they work. AND what is WORSE is (now I don't have the statistics with me) that most success stories about people who recover from schizophrenia are without drugs. The success rate for people recovering from schizophrenia on drugs is much much muuuchhh lower. Mind = blown.

 

Now as I am still in the obsessive constantly thinking about it even though I have maintained a positive attitude for some time now stage of herpes I can't help but think that even if they did find a cure orr whatever, something that makes it nontransmittable or anything... would they even let it out to the public? Its all about the cash and that is so sad, especially considering conditions that are far worse than H.

 

Just thought I'd share.!

[WCSDancer2010]

Adrial has a good blog about how this relates to Herpes ... and yes - I agree, I wonder it they will allow/do the research to get us a cure or better meds :(

 

http://herpeslife.com/inventing-herpes/

[seeker]

count on their greed. I don't have the time to look for it right now, but I read an article from Australia where the ceo of a pharma co over there said its a 6 BILLION dollar potential. that's a lot of cheddar. that's one of the good things about competition, the guys who aren't making money on antivirals want a cut of the pie also.

[WCSDancer2010]

Yes @seeker -

 

Our hopes are pinned on the little guys who want to make it big...

 

But there are 2 speed bumps on the path:

 

There's a lot more glory to be gotten by curing Cancer or HIV than there is for doing the same for Herpes .. so if they have a budget and their options are H or Cancer, guess who is going to win?

 

Even if they DO come up with something that makes it through their own research/trials, the FDA has been known to insist on studies that are totally impossible to clear ... I assume because the Big Pharmas are pulling their purse strings (through lobbying $$$, etc)

 

I remember reading about just this kind of thing either late last year or early this year .. the FDA insisted that studies be done to see the effect of a dose of a medication/vaccine that was ridiculously higher than recommended (we are talking something like 90x/dose.) I can't find the info now but I'll see if I can find it later.... but I DID come across this on Wiki ... I can't tell you if it's 100% accurate but it will give you a good idea behind what complications there are on the way to getting ANY drug through to the consumer

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_simplex_research

 

 

[Newlook2013]

I can imagine how a number of herpes stuffs would be approved by the FDA should any different country unveil just a single one.

[WCSDancer2010]

Nope @Newlook2013

 

There are TONS of drugs and treatments that are approved in other countries that the FDA won't clear here ... especially if something is already in place... :(

 

There's a lot of things that go into Drug approval and Big Pharma will do whatever it can to keep a stranglehold on whatever they already have in place and keep other drugs and treatments from getting approved ...

[seeker]

its the lobbyist and such. NutraSweet couldn't get approved under Carter cause there was very little research. Reagan got into office and appointed the former head of the company that made NutraSweet and, bam, right in. the least amount of research EVER for a generally consumed product. fyi I drink anything with it and instant headache.

 

and im all for testing to make sure something is safe. im definitely for regulations to protect consumers but the system is rigged for the big guys to control, we in Duhmerica don't have a true free market economy ( and no im not talking complete laisie faire pseudo libertarian crap either).

[Jennie]

Well what a great excuse to go visit another country! (: I wish I lived in a big city I'd volunteer for the trials and what not.

 

My biggest concern about my primary post is that people in such positions are deliberately flat out lying about a condition and the medication to treat it. Terrifying. Hard to trust anything.

[Newlook2013]

I think the FDA won't clear them cos either the makers have not shown that their drugs or treatments are safe and efficient than the existing valtrex, acyclovir and the like or are simply not doing enough to show proof of a real deal - even in their own country....and that will surely keep em in the closet.( I can't give a lot of examples bt I think I read about Ozone therapy in Cuba and Lupidon G, H vaccine in Europe )

 

I recon that if someone somewhere is able to hit the world market with smthn backed by real trial data and scientific proof of concept, it would kick whatever big pharma has defended for so long a time out of business and they would surely want to bring in new ideas.....that would be the competetion that could bring out the best and leave out the mediocres.

[Newlook2013]

....not ignoring the quite number of drugs and vaccines in the FDA's pipelines at a very slow pace.

[Jennie]

Here is to hoping for integrity!

[WCSDancer2010]

Again - it's about money - cure the disease and there's no money to be had, and because it's not life threatening they have no reason to want to "cure" it :/

[ihaveittoo]

I think that if a cure for HIV/HSV were found pharma would want to market it. Just think of the peopl that would turn their lives in to one big f**kfest. What ever the cure is called would be mentioned in the same breath as penicillin. It would sell in sufficient quantities to be profitable.

[WCSDancer2010]

@ihaveittoo

 

It would sell until most people didn't have it, then sales would stop ... better to have something like Valtrex that we have to take the rest of our lives, than to "cure" it ... sadly :(

[caterpillarmonarch]

Not to get political, but this is what has happened in medicine since we started moving towards private vs. public funded health research. Most of the medical research being done these days is funded by pharmaceutical companies. So, do we really think they are going to fund research that shows that things can be controlled without drugs? Fat chance. Herpes is different, but things like acid reflux, diabetic disorders, etc. can often be controlled through diet and exercise. But they can't make a profit that way.

 

I'm all about limited government influence, but privatizing research is a very dangerous trend.

[seeker]

actually catapillar, its government that mandated the orphan drugs law that makes pharma companies develop drugs for non profitable drugs for debilitating yet not widespread diseases. its government that led the charge against ebola in the US, no shareholder driven company was gonna do that, only 2-3 cases!! when everything is about profit nothing is not about profit. there has to be a middle ground. unfortunately we are in whats known as the predatory phase of capitalism. you notice, THEY never pay for their mistakes while the rest of us do. ( bank bailouts, corp bailout, CEOs not drawn and quartered {unless they don't produce ENOUGH profit}). as a matter of fact, most research is being done at universities with money from pharma co to the uni but the students are not paid nor get any stipend for any patens. that's corporate socialism. want the research? pay for all of it AND let the guy who makes the discovery get some of the cheddar instead of the CEO and shareholders. government is not all bad and corporations are not all good. im no ubber liberal but im no misguided libertarian either.

the most profitable research for herpes would be a preventative vaccine, always new customers being born. of course there are those mouth breathers who don't like vaccines, they can pick at their smallpox bumps while sitting in their wheelchairs from polio. unfortunately they seem to be outbreeding the rest of us.

[seeker]

and some of the most profitable drugs are ones for acid reflux and diabetes, who wants to do something about it when they can take a pill, and still eat that death by chocolate???

[WCSDancer2010]

and some of the most profitable drugs are ones for acid reflux and diabetes, who wants to do something about it when they can take a pill, and still eat that death by chocolate???

 

and then get their insurance company to pay for Gastric bypass surgery to lose all the weight they gained from all that cake :(

 

*sigh*

 

[caterpillarmonarch]

Thanks @seeker. I like hearing other perspectives :-)