Introduction
What is Big Pharma?
Big Pharma is a term that refers to
the giants of the pharmaceutical industry. Collectively, they made
approximately $690 billion in 2012 and are projected to exceed one trillion in
2014. That’s more than the GDP of Saudi
Arabia and Iraq combined. Because of the immense profitability, many question
the ethics involved in research, FDA approval, manufacturing, and prescriptions
of the pharmaceuticals. Big Pharma
doesn’t just sell pharmaceuticals; they influence the entire healthcare
industry.
Who is Big Pharma?
Generally, Big Pharma consists of the
biggest drug companies who make more than three billion dollars each year. Of
the top eleven giants, six are headquartered in the U.S. These companies spend multi-millions of
dollars each year to lobby Congress for legislation in their favor. U.S. pharmaceutical companies reportedly have
1,100 lobbyists who make sure they are represented.
Whose
political campaigns are funded by Big Pharma?
In 2012 Big Pharma favored the Republicans,
but they also hedged their bets by backing the Democrats. About $16.2 million
was spent by the top twenty pharmaceutical companies for Democratic and
Republican campaign contributions. The top three that donated over one million dollars
in campaign funds were Pfizer, Amgen, and Abbott, with Merck a few dollars shy
of one million.
Some of the biggest giants are listed
below.
Top 10
Pharmaceutical Companies
(based on 2012 pharmaceutical revenues in billions)
Manufacturer 2012 in Billions
Johnson & Johnson.………$67.2
Pfizer……………………….$58.9
Novartis……………………$56.7
Roche…………….………..$47.8
Merck……………….……..$47.3
Sanofi……………….……..$46.4
GlaxoSmithKline………….$39.9
Abbot Lab …………………$39.9
Astra Zeneca……....………$28
Bayer…………………….....$24.3
Johnson & Johnson: They sell drug-store drugs like Tylenol, Band-Aids, and baby shampoo.
Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, makes surgical items. One of their products, a vaginal mesh
implant, is currently under fire. They
have 1800 lawsuits filed against them.
Pfizer: Lipitor (cholesterol problems), Viagra
(erectile dysfunction), Celebrex (arthritis), and Lyrica (neuropathic pain) are
some of their most advertised. Despite
their huge sales, they claim huge overhead in taxes, advertising, and research
and development. Later on I will go more into R&D, as they really aren’t
paying for all that is claimed. The tax-payer unwittingly pays for much of their
R&D.
Novartis: Gilenya (Multiple Sclerosis) and Diovan
(hypertension) are some of their top sellers.
Merck: Singulair for asthma and Zetia for
cholesterol are some of their big movers. They also manufacture several
vaccines.
Abbott Labs: Klacid (antibiotic), Biaxin (bacterial
infections), Luvox (anti-depressant), and Synthroid (thyroid) are some of their
many products.
Big Pharma claims they are in the business of
curing and controlling diseases. Their real mission, like all businesses, is to
increase profits. Unlike most businesses they do not have to play by the same
rules. Their twenty-year patents given out for each of their new drugs give
them a monopoly. This prevents other
countries from making cheaper versions. TRIPS (international intellectual
property rights organization) legally protects them from others cutting into
their profits.
Can
they patent plants found in remote places of the world?
Yes.
They can and they do, especially in the rain forest, through a process
called bio-prospecting. They get away
with it by paying indigenous people a stipend for exploration of new
plants. To patent something suggests
that it’s an invention. How are plants
grown in the rain forest an invention?
Again, Big Pharma does not have to play by the rules. They pay for the legislation that enables
them to take what they want.
Many of these companies will protect their empires
at any and all costs. Lying to Federal Drug Administration, submitting
fraudulent data, bribing doctors, omitting side effects, and bullying the
supplement industry are some of the ways they play ball. Lastly, some conspiracy
theories claim Big Pharma hide cures to terrible diseases to continue steady,
gigantic profits.
What is Big-Agri?
This book began with exploring the inner
workings of Big-Pharma from a lay-person’s perspective. My research constantly overlapped another
mammoth industry called Big-Agri.
Big-Agri is short for big agriculture or
farming corporations that are taking over the farming industry on a global
level. This kingdom controls many
aspects of farming such as crop production through technology and
pesticides. One of their main
contributions to the world’s food supply is the controversial use of GMOs or
genetically modified organisms. Later on
in this book I will elaborate on GMOs. GM
stands for genetically modified and then there is the term GE for genetically
engineered. These terms basically mean
the same thing and will be used interchangeably for the purposes of this
book. GM/GE/GMOs are a growing business
of genetically engineered food.
GMOs have led to other
modified things such as glow-in-the dark cats, cabbage with
scorpion venom, less flatulent cows, vaccinated bananas, cancer medicine eggs,
and mass carbon eating plants. The
possibilities are endless, producing results that make for a great
horror/sci-fi movie. Much of the GMO
food has earned the nickname “Franken-food”.
The giant corporations that make up Big-Agri
are Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, Monsanto, and Syngenta. Other corporations that make up the business
include machinery (John Deere), ADM (grain transport), and AB Agri (animal
feeds, micro-ingredients, and biofuels).
In this book, I will be referring to Big-Agri in strictly crops, food,
or pesticides.
Monsanto (largest seed and pesticide manufacturer in the world)
In 2013 fiscal year Monsanto’s net sales were
$14,861,000,000. Net profits were
$7,653,000,000. That’s a gross profit of
51%! They reported a net income of
$2,482,000,000 after research and development and other expenses. Research and Development costs will later on
be more fully explored. At face value,
according to their own site, www.monsanto.com, that’s
about 17% profits-not a bad return!
This
corporation has its fingers in many pies, including healthcare/Big-Pharma. For the purpose of this book, DuPont will be
placed among the Big-Agri companies.
Some of their biggest selling products are herbicides/insecticides and
GMO seeds. Their agriculture products
division had an outstanding 2013-9.9 billion in sales, primarily through their
GMO corn seeds. Seven million acres
planted their corn in 2013 compared to two million acres using the seeds in
2012.
Dow-AgroSciences, http://www.dowagro.com/products/
Their main
products are herbicides/insecticides and GMO seeds. Dow-AgroSciences is a subsidiary of
Dow-Chemical. Their gross sales in 2012
was $6,400,000,000. A little interesting
trivia found on their own website shows that Dow AgroSciences was originally
called DowElanco and then joined with Dow Chemical and Elanco Plant
Sciences. Why is this important? Because Elanco Plant Sciences is part of Eli
Lilly, one of the Big-Pharma mammoths earlier mentioned. Big Agri and Big Pharma are constantly
overlapping.
This global
corporation’s main products are herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and GMO
seeds including flowers. In 2012 they
grossed 14,202,000,000 in sales with $6,984,000,000 in gross profits. $2,292,000,000 was left over after operating
expenses. Syngenta is still a young
company. According to their website, they
offered to invest one half of a billion dollars in Africa at the 2012 G8 Summit. Humanitarian or smart business? Syngenta projects that they will sell 25
billion dollars in sales by 2020.
Throughout this book I will present the facts
and cite sources. Some sources will be
hyperlinked and other sources will be mentioned on the bibliography page of the
book. The conspiracy angle is yours to
agree or disagree with. At the very
least, you will hopefully have a different perspective on this very important
subject.
Chapter One: Codex Alimentarius
Chapter Two: FDA and USDA:
Puppets or Protectors?
Chapter Three: What is a GMO?
Chapter Four: Most Harmful Chemicals in Food
Chapter Five: Organics
Chapter Six: Natural Remedies
Chapter Seven: The Rise of Anti-Depressants
Chapter Eight: ADD/ADHD: Is it a Real Disorder?
Chapter Nine: Why Are Medical Bills and Drugs so High?
Chapter Ten: Black Box Drugs
Chapter Eleven: Vaccines: Prevention or Profit?
Conclusion/Bibliography
