60 Minutes is covering Big Pharma

[DFW]

33. It's not only pricing

It's also the forbidding of certain drugs that work far better than anything on our market. An American friend of my wife had serious digestion problems after a long period of antibiotic medication that she needed to combat a particularly nasty infection. My wife sent her an over-the-counter medication they have here in Germany that treats the internal imbalance caused by the extended period of antibiotic treatment. She was fine within ten days.

The most flagrant example I know of was shown to me by a co-worker from Brazil. We were both working on an assignment in London, and I had developed horrible lower back pain. It had gotten so bad, I had started seeing a chiropractor for the first time in my life. Even he didn't make much progress. When my Brazilian colleague noticed I was having trouble just getting up and sitting down, he asked what my problem was. I said intense lower back pain."Oh, that," he commented as if I said I needed a Kleenex. He gave me a pin pill, and said, "here, take this before you go to bed." I was so desperate, I didn't even ask what it was. So, I took it and lowered myself into bed. The next morning, I woke and started to very carefully get up. But I didn't need to be careful. The pain was gone, I mean, not just better but COMPLETELY gone. I couldn't believe it. I was scared I would get addicted to these things, no matter what they were. But no, not only did I not get addicted, I didn't need another one.

These pills come in boxes of 30 pills each, and cost $30 per box, or $1 per pill. And they WORK. We had a gardner over on Saturday, and he had complained before of horrible back pain. I said, no wonder with all the strenuous stuff you do. He is in hie early forties, and looks ten years younger. I gave him one of these pills about a month ago when I had last seen him, before I went to the States. He told me that he had naturally been rather skeptical of my glowing praise of this medicine, but one evening he said the pain was so strong, he was willing to try anything to suppress it. He finally took the little pink pill from Brazil. Like everyone else, he woke up the next morning (and the next four weeks after that) pain free. He could once again do anything. He said he immediately went to the internet to find out where he could get some here in Europe. After all, this was the INTERNET!! You can get ANYTHING over the internet, can't you? Well, no, apparently not. These pills are sold ONLY in Brazil. End of story. He even contemplated blowing off a long-planned trip with his girlfriend to Myanmar to go to Brazil instead. I said, don't do that, she'll kill you. As it turns out, my colleague is going home next month for a family visit, and will bring back a few packs of these things. I will save a few for our gardener, although, so far (a month later now) he hasn't needed another one.

Now if there is a wonder pill out there, that cures muscular back pain with a $1 dosage, with no side effects and lasting effect, wouldn't you think that pharma industry would be out there trying to buy up the patent and sell them in America and Europe for $50 each (or, if you are Martin Shkreli, $750 each)? Hell if I know, but I have never seen or heard of these things being offered for sale outside of Brazil, a place where I have never been. I'm sure Big Pharma knows about this pill, but if they can sell 150 pills at $10 each that work about 5% as effectively, and get orthopedists to prescribe them as the strongest thing they can prescribe, what interest could they POSSIBLY have in selling a pill that does 100% of the job, and for $1 (even if they ell them for 50 times that)?

And there lies our (the patients') problem.

Anyone for a trip up the Amazon, with a stop at the local pharmacy before returning home?

By the way, if anyone IS planning a visit to Brazil, the pill is called TANDRILAX, and comes in red boxes of 30 pills, and costs the equivalent of $30 per box.

Boa viagem!