{"id":43,"date":"2021-04-27T18:46:03","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T18:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/experimentalfrontiers.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=43"},"modified":"2022-05-22T01:11:13","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T01:11:13","slug":"trust-me-im-a-medical-researcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/experimentalfrontiers\/2021\/04\/27\/trust-me-im-a-medical-researcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Trust me. I’m a medical researcher."},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently wrote an April Fool piece<\/a> about an imaginary drug company that invested a billion dollars in a COVID vaccine, but when they ran it through Phase 3 clinical trials it fell just short of statistical significance for effectiveness. \u201cShucks! Back to the drawing board.\u201d They report the results exactly as they occurred and abandon the vaccine. The joke, of course, is that no drug company behaves in this way. From our vantage out here in consumerland, all vaccine trials are successful. Can you call it \u201cscience\u201d if there is only one acceptable outcome of the experiment? Banks that are \u201ctoo big to fail\u201d cost the public hundreds of billions of dollars. Drugs that are \u201ctoo big to fail\u201d can cost hundreds of thousands of lives.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

How did we get to this place, where medical companies vie with tobacco companies for the least trusted industry in America? where, nevertheless, the companies that have a ginormous conflict of interest end up with the responsibility for safety-testing their own products? Where America\u2019s radio and TV stations are so dependent on direct-to-consumer drug ads for their largest single source of revenue that they shy away from reporting news that might have a negative impact on the bottom lines of Big Pharma?\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Limited Hangout\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(definition) An expos\u00e9 of a corrupt official or company that is actually sponsored by the target of the expos\u00e9. Hyperbolic language is used to condemn the target, but in fact, the worst abuses are omitted, leaving the impression that the official or company is less corrupt than, in fact, he is.<\/p>\n

Gerald Posner was known to me as a muckraking journalist who pulled punches. His twin assassination narratives concealed the roles played by US Intelligence services in arranging the murders of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.<\/p>\n

His latest book,\u00a0Pharma<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0paints a devastating portrait of America\u2019s most profitable industry. If\u00a0Pharma<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is a limited hangout, then God help us!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Have you heard of the Sackler family? Forbes lists them as #30 among America\u2019s wealthiest, but their style is to keep a low profile. In the middle years of the last century, Arthur Sackler built his empire in pharmaceuticals, medical research, advertising, and philanthropy (!) while creating a new model for a vertically integrated industry.<\/p>\n

Sackler\u2019s genius was to create dozens of \u201cindependent\u201d companies and non-profits, all of which listed their headquarters as 17 E 62nd St in Manhattan. His echo chamber gave the impression of independent messages about his drug offerings that came from many directions, when in fact, there were many voices singing from the same hymnsheet. He reached for control of every aspect of the pharmaceutical business,<\/p>\n