Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease and Pushing Drugs (Documentary)

Adverse drugs reactions, that happens although the medications are properly prescribed, are the 5th leading cause of deaths in the united states. They lead to 100 000 deaths and 1 500 000 hospitalizations yearly.

The top U.S. drug makers spend 2.5 times as much on marketing and administration as they do on research.

At least a third of the drugs marketed by industry leaders were discovered by universities or small biotech companies, but they're sold to the public at inflated prices.

Taxol, the cancer drug discovered by the National Institutes of Health, but sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb for $20,000 a year, 20 times the manufacturing cost. The company agreed to pay the NIH only 0.5 percent in royalties for the drug.

Part 1:


Part 2:

(Low-resolution preview is strictly for purchase consideration. Not for classroom use.)

http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=224

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/1/19/big_bucks_big_pharma_marketing_disease