Random Drug Company Commentary...

[caraig]

Helen Arellanes of Los Angeles was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in September 2007 and later left her job to go on disability. She takes five medications for pain, including Lyrica and Cymbalta.

"I call it my fibromyalgia fog, because I'm so medicated I go through the day feeling like I'm not really there," Arellanes said. "But if for some reason I miss a dose of medication, I'm in so much pain."

A single mother of three, Arellanes sometimes struggles to afford all her medications. She said she is grateful that a local Pfizer sales representative occasionally gives her free samples of Lyrica "to carry me through the month."

This was in this article which discusses how drug companies might be trying to push treatments for a not-quite-real illness called fibromalygia.

On the one hand, it's good to know that a rep for even a company like Pfizer can help out the folks who are struggling. On the other hand, this sounds creepily like what a street dealer would be doing.

I'm all for letting drug companies make a profit on life-saving and quality-of-life-enabling medicine, but sometimes the companies just strike me as being far more predatory than we should be allowing in society. I dunno, maybe that's just me. What thoughts do you have?

Comments

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Fibromialygia IS real. I have friends that suffer from it, and it's nasty.

[caraig.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll accept that, then. =)

Im just concerned about companies like Pfizer and the other pharmaceuticals, you know? I know they provide an important service, and they deserve to make a profit off of their work, but... they really aren't in it to help people.

[frostedelves.livejournal.com]

Fibromyalgia's real and nasty. My mother suffers from it.

As for company reps giving out free samples of drugs to existing users being akin to street pushers or not, it's an interesting question but not one I feel equipped to discuss in depth at the moment. My general position, though, is that free help with pain management is a good thing provided there is not also an issue with addiction.

[caraig.livejournal.com]

I'll accept that fibromyalgia's a real condition.

And, well... that's why I'm concerned. As I said, on the one hand, it's real nice of that guy to give the samples to the lady for free. Heavens know we're in financial trouble as it is. But I'm still working on years of not trusting Pfizer or the rest of the pharmaceutical corps. :( They aren't here to help us.

[ahicks.livejournal.com]

In truth, corporations are only in business to turn a profit and provide a good/service.

So, as a whole - the corporate 'entity' isn't there to help you. It's there to sell you its product and make a profit for the investors/owners.

However, not all of the people who work there are heartless bastards. I don't think all their chemists that they employ are sitting around, making up new things to get us hooked on while the lobbyists convince the AMA, with the help of the Boy Sprouts and the Goldfish fanciers...


Okay, sorry.. got silly for a moment. But seriously, I do think a lot of them *are* there to help people: pain management is a big deal for some people - until a cure exists for whatever condition they have, sometimes the best you can do is to help people to the point where they can function... or at least aren't in agony 24/7.

Now, that said, I have my own views on exactly how much it truly costs to make some of the meds, versus attempts to block out generic versions of the drug that can be made much less expensively elsewhere...

Point is, I don't think they're inherently evil: certainly individuals at the company may be scumbags... but human history has shown that to be the case time and time again, regardless of the group those individuals happen to be part of.

The biggest problem, I think, is education and well... laziness. Even outside of the pharm industry, you got people buying things that they don't even remotely understand, and didn't research before they bought it - instead relying on advertising or someone else's say-so.