Pharmaceutical industry
Terrorists. No not that kind.
Aug/06/09 00:31 Filed in: Pharmaceuticals | Science
I’m going to digress from the healthcare reform debate (or what should be a debate but has degenerated into yelling, but I digress from digressing).
Last week animal right’s protestors burned the vacation home of Daniel Vasella, CEO of Novartis. This incident followed one where the same protestors desecrated his mother’s grave. Apparently, the protestors wanted Novartis to quit contracting Huntingdon Life Sciences for animal testing of its pharmaceutical products. Now Huntingdon has a checkered past in animal testing* from which it has recovered, and instituted ethical policies that are admirable.
I’m not going to get into an extensive debate on animal testing. Basically, there are no alternatives to testing medical products on animals. It is done in a safe and ethical manner. The industry cannot test vaccines, medicines, and medical devices for safety and efficacy, prior to a human clinical trial, in any other reasonable or reliable manner.
These terrorists, yes they are terrorists by any definition, seek to harm humans to further their agenda. Burning a vacation home or destroying the ashes of loved one is not going to change the fact that when these terrorists need medical treatment after being injured one day during their misguided activities, they will receive the best medical care because it was thoroughly researched and tested before being used.
I understand their motivation. I might even empathize with some of their goals. But we should never support violence to further a goal. Never. Read More...
Last week animal right’s protestors burned the vacation home of Daniel Vasella, CEO of Novartis. This incident followed one where the same protestors desecrated his mother’s grave. Apparently, the protestors wanted Novartis to quit contracting Huntingdon Life Sciences for animal testing of its pharmaceutical products. Now Huntingdon has a checkered past in animal testing* from which it has recovered, and instituted ethical policies that are admirable.
I’m not going to get into an extensive debate on animal testing. Basically, there are no alternatives to testing medical products on animals. It is done in a safe and ethical manner. The industry cannot test vaccines, medicines, and medical devices for safety and efficacy, prior to a human clinical trial, in any other reasonable or reliable manner.
These terrorists, yes they are terrorists by any definition, seek to harm humans to further their agenda. Burning a vacation home or destroying the ashes of loved one is not going to change the fact that when these terrorists need medical treatment after being injured one day during their misguided activities, they will receive the best medical care because it was thoroughly researched and tested before being used.
I understand their motivation. I might even empathize with some of their goals. But we should never support violence to further a goal. Never. Read More...
Scientific medicine and Big Pharma
Apr/08/09 08:42 Filed in: Medical devices | Pharmaceuticals | Pseudoscience | Healthcare Policy | Evidence based medicine | Medical products
I keep reading across the blogosphere that Big Pharma (for the sake of this discussion, defined as all medical products companies, including ones that don’t manufacture or market pharmaceuticals) somehow blocks either positive or negative results to further their profits. The accusations come from a wide variety of sources, some of the more vocal being the anti-science proponents, such as the anti-vaccination movement. Utilizing an ad hominem argument of personalizing the issues and then attacking the motives or character of others, usually those who dispute the claims made by pseudoscience. Read More...