Quality and Data Base Management

¶ … pharmaceutical industry is the most profitable sector of the U.S. economy. Is this a curse or a blessing to our healthcare system? Why?

The dominance of the pharmaceutical industry may have enriched the profits of many delighted stockholders in the 1990's, but the predominance of new drugs in medicine has not necessarily profited the health care industry as a whole, much less the individual state of health of many of these drug consumers. Firstly, the ubiquity of pharmaceutical advertising has caused many otherwise healthy consumers to seek better health in a pill, rather than preventative medicine. If cholesterol can be lowered with a pill, rather than with diet and exercise, why resort to these methods before taking Crestor? If happiness through Zoloft or Prozac makes existence more worthwhile, why not give it a try? Risks were often minimized. For example, it has now come to light that an unpublished 1999 trial of Celebrex indicated that patients taking it in the trial were more likely to experience heart problems than those taking a placebo. (Harris, 2005)

The idea that pharmaceuticals wish to make money just like soap companies wish to sell more soap by convincing one of one's propensity to odors and lack of cleanliness in the absence of the right brand was often lost upon consumers who would beg doctors for drugs that were good for them, that they needed -- or so the advertisements told them. These same doctors often received covert lobbying and bonuses from the drug companies that may or may not have influenced their decisions, or simply were tired by vocal patients who wanted to 'at least try' a drugs -- after all, what was the harm, they asked in the days before Vioxx and Celebrex became lawsuits rather than brands.

Merck announced in September that it was withdrawing its huge-selling pain pill, Vioxx. Recent studies cast doubt on the safety of Celebrex and Bextra from Pfizer. An F.D.A. whistleblower told a Congressional panel in November that the agency was "virtually incapable" of protecting the public against unsafe drugs." (Harris, 2005)