Corporate cost cutting to enhance profits is going too far!

[FormerRepublican]

I read about the recent clinical trials nightmare in the UK:

"Two of the patients, reported to be horrifically bloated, remained critically ill, while the four others were seriously ill, but showing signs of improvement, doctors said."

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1899832,00.html

The story horrified me, and I did a little more digging to see if I could find out about the companies involved. The German firm developing the drug is a 15 person company that started up in 2000. The company running the trials is an outsourcing company.

The drug development company:

"The company was founded in June 2000. Since then, TeGenero has raised a total of € 10.6 million in venture backing from Bear Stearns Health Innoventures, HBM BioVentures and BioM Venture Capital GmbH & Co Fonds KG and BioMAG. TeGenero is based in Würzburg, Germany, with a staff of 15."

http://www.tegenero.de/about_us/index.php

The outsourcing company:

http://www.parexel.com/about_us/about_us.asp

More on drug trials outsourcing:

http://www.acrohealth.org/acro_commentary_comments.php?serial=3

Reading about these events makes me wonder what role cost cutting plays in horrific outcomes like these. The cases in Britain are horrible, but we've had our own recent drug related nightmares in the US because drugs are approved by the FDA before they are proven safe, in many cases because of political pressure, as was illustrated in the aftermath of the Vioxx withdrawal.

"In his November 2004 testimony before Congress, Dr. Graham suggested that the FDA is reluctant to admit that there are problems with drugs it has already approved. The FDA responded to Dr. Graham's testimony with a public rebuttal. In December 2004, THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (JAMA) echoed some of Graham's criticism, publishing a series of papers which question the relationship of drug companies to the approval process. According to THE ECONOMIST, the makers of some of the drugs mentioned by Dr. Graham are feeling a financial effect. AstraZeneca's share price fell by 10%. Shares in GlaxoSmithKline fell by 6%. And as for Merck, the maker of Vioxx, traders have made a $40 billion reduction in the company's value. (Read Dr. Graham's testimony and the JAMA articles.)"

http://www.pbs.org/now/science/fda.html

When I evaluate the effects of corporate cost cutting on the country at large, it's largely through my own personal experience - like a recent experience where I bought a name brand frozen cherry pie, and while eating it noticed most of the fruit inside were discolored and I found a large number of cherry pits in the pie. Quality control in the case of my pie had taken a back seat to profitability.

Another example of this mentality is the refusal to test sufficiently for mad cow disease, creating the potential that our food chain can become contaminated with life threatening disease.

It's also clear that cost cutting measures are taking their toll in medicine. So as I read the story about the clinical trials nightmare in the UK, I wonder what role cost cutting played. We can't blame Bush politics directly for what occurred in Britain, but it does make me wonder how soon the same thing might happen here. The drive to make big profits trumps all in our country, and I fear that human welfare will continue to suffer as a result. And I believe this single-minded drive affects our health and welfare simply because the Bush Administration and Republican controlled Congress refuse to give weight to the health and welfare of Americans when campaign contributions are involved.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this can't continue for long without major health incidents occurring. I feel we're on borrowed time and waiting for the other shoe to fall...

[Ksec]

1. Profits over all/ profits over everything

Apparently you didnt get the memo.

People are expendable. Profits for the important few are much more important.

Welcome to the new America.

[gizmo1979]

2. The stock market promotes greed and

fear.If you miss your projection by a stinkin penny you get hammered.So you fire,steal,cheat whatever it takes to come out on top.

[FormerRepublican]

3. And just after I put together this post, I find this article:

"CHICAGO (Reuters) - Eleven patients have died while taking Alzheimer's disease drug Aricept during a clinical trial, Japan's Eisai Co., which makes the medicine, said on Thursday.

There were no deaths among patients who were taking a placebo, said Eisai, which markets Aricept with Pfizer Inc.

Aricept is already approved in most markets to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, but was being tested in patients with vascular dementia, the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

The news comes a day after Parexel International Corp. announced six people became seriously ill during a trial in Britain of an experimental drug for cancer and other inflammatory diseases. German firm TeGenero AG makes that drug."

Yahoo Link

Something is seriously amiss in the drug approval process.