Big Pharma & Other Tales Of Woe
Most people thought of her as a witch. She lived in the forest and people came to see her for cures and remedies, which often worked. She knew about roots, herbs and fungi, and gave them to folks in return for money. She also had a small inn which wayfarers stopped at on their way. She had acquired a large fortune which she kept hidden in the ground around her compound.
It was true that she knew much about plants and growing things. She had learnt about their properties and uses over the years by what might now be called scientific investigation.
She then treated them to her cuisine. This depended on what she had been studying at the time. In those days people lived on berries and roots, fungi and greens which they found in the wild. Many died but some thrived. Our witch set herself the task of classifying these gifts from the earth. She had no bad intentions, but her priority was to make a complete list of what was beneficial and what was lethal. If it meant enriching herself, then that was what it was all about.
Her work was very systematic. When a wayfarer arrived, she cooked a root or a fungus that she was interested in. She was well-known for her fruit salads, and by using various combinations she had established that black and blue berries were usually safe to eat, but most white and yellow berries were
harmful. Once she knew that, she never put it on her menu. She disposed of the bodies of her “heroes who gave their lives to knowledge” as she called them dignified funerals and committed them to the bottom of the lake. She never set out to harm anybody.
When it came to fungi, she easily identified the good ones, the chantrels, the ceps, the morels etc. But there were some challenges. It was easy to learn about the nefarious effects of the destroying angel or the phalloid. She had tried them and found them to be deadly and naturally avoided them. Her
system worked well enough. Then one day she stumbled on a fungus she had not seen before. It was very attractive, had a richer brownish red coat than the lovely Cep. Surely it would be an excellent one, she mused. She was tempted to sample it right away, but she reminded herself of her rules. Never eat something yourself unless it has passed your rigid tests. So she waited.
A handsome hunter had hurt his leg in an accident and hobbled his way to her inn in the forest. She offered him a nice bed and did everything in her power to make him comfortable. Now I will try my new mushroom on him. I’m sure it’s a good one and will do him a power of good. She cooked it in some herbs which flourished around and the mixture had a nice aroma and looked very enticing. She served this to her guest who said that he had rarely eaten such an excellent meal. What is it called? Oh I thought I’d call it cortinarius orrellanus, she said. After my great grandfather, she lied. Next morning the guest said he was feeling much better, but he felt that he needed to rest his healing leg. Four days elapsed before he declared that he finally felt strong enough to leave, although he felt a sharpness in his stomach in the night, which had now all but disappeared. The witch kissed him on both cheeks and wished him god speed.
Another addition to my treasure trove, she told herself. If I’m lucky I’ll find more cortinarius and this time I’ll treat myself, she mused.
And indeed, shortly afterwards she did find a handful and she cooked it with parsnips (which grew wild behind her hut). Indeed the last wayfarer was right. It was a delicious. Strangely on the fourth night, she too felt a sharpness in her stomach, but it had gone in the morning. Next day she felt dizzy, but thought nothing of it. The next few days she felt nauseous and took some a concoction made of dried artichoke leaves, valerian and liquorice which brought some relief, but this did not last. From now on, she rapidly went downhill. She knew that there could only be one culprit: the cortinarius orellanus. Although she barely had any strength left in her body to breathe, she struggled to put down her findings for posterity. She usually wrote down the results of her studies on leather parchments which she kept under her bed. And everyday she jotted down the development of her condition, often managing no more than one letter of the alphabet per hour. The Diary of My Death, she thought wryly. She was well-versed enough in the workings of the human anatomy to identify that it was her kidneys which had been attacked. She knew that it was the end.
The history of the world is littered with events for which the above serves an an excellent paradigm. Take nuclear weapons. When Hiroshima and Nagasaki
were razed to the ground, many thought that it was war and a powerful weapon to destroy your enemy was acceptable. The mushroom clouds sprouted and nobody expected that the radioactive emissions would prove to be so deadly. Three-mile island and Chernobyl came and who knows what next? North Korea, Pakistan, Israel and many countries with enemies next door have the means to press the trigger. Many countries are led by people with dubious mental conditions.
Then there is big pharma. People all over the world wonder who among big pharma, insurance companies or oil producers are the worse spoliators around. This might be one example of 3 items A, B and C, where A>B>C>A. It was not so long ago that thalidomide destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of children and their parents through the aggressive marketing of insufficiently tested medicine. The Swiss giant Novartis sells zolgensma for $2.1 million for a one-off treatment, applied intravenously. The same company produces and sells Glivec, which now sells at about $2 in its generic form. Novartis used to sell it for $80,000 in 2011, but deciding that this was not enough increased this to $120,000. How do they explain this criminally exorbitant pricing? No, greed has nothing to do with this, without these astronomical revenues, they would not be able to finance research. Remember Apartheid South Africa! Some western countries who claimed that they abhorred the system could still not go along with a boycott of trade with the regime on the grounds that it would be the natives who would suffer most. We know that many pharmaceutical companies spend more money on lobbying
than on research. In the US alone, Big Pharma spent $194.5 million on lobbying in 2018! This often means luxury holidays for people in the medical professions, free flights, events like the US Open or Wimbledon. To say nothing of gifts of Rolexes, Escorts and outright financial incentives.
This truth must now be universally acknowledged: The aim of Pharmaceutical companies is not to come up with the best cures, but with the best profit!
