The Rise of the Fourth Reich - ThereAreNoSunglasses

GUNS, DRUGS, AND EUGENICS 273billion),” she states. “Over the past two decades, the pharmaceutical industryhas moved very far from its original high purpose of discoveringand producing useful new drugs. Now primarily a marketing machine tosell drugs of dubious benefit, this industry uses its wealth and power toco- opt every institution that might stand in its way, including the U.S.Congress, the FDA, academic medical centers, and the medical professionitself.” Dr. Angell, also author of the 2004 book The Truth About theDrug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It bringsfocus to the argument that the current power of the pharmaceutical industrycan be directly traced to its phenomenal growth during the Reaganyears.“The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 was perhaps the fundamentalelement in the rapid rise of Big Pharma—the collective name for the largestdrug companies,” wrote Angell. Dr. Angell and a number of otherstook note of a strong pro-business attitude shift during the Reagan-Bushyears—not just in government but within American society.There was a time in the not-so-distant past when educated persons ofclass looked upon commercial businessmen only slightly more kindlythan they had once looked upon theater folk. They also had a slight disdainfor enormous inherited wealth. Scientists, teachers, public servantssuch as firemen and policemen chose their careers for service andcommunity- betterment rather than for lavish salaries and retirement benefits.But times and attitudes change. Today, the corporate mass mediaportrays the race for wealth as practically virtuous. The wealthy are consideredwinners while everyone else is a loser. “The gap between the richand poor, which had been narrowing since World War II, suddenly beganto widen again, until today it is a chasm,” remarked Dr. Angell.She went on to say that before 1980, pharmaceuticals was a good business,but afterward, it was a stupendous one. From 1960 to 1980, prescriptiondrug sales were fairly static as a percentage of U.S. gross domesticproduct, but from 1980 to 2000, they tripled. “They now stand at morethan $200 billion a year,” said Dr. Angell. “Of the many events that contributedto the industry’s great and good fortune, none had to do with thequality of the drugs the companies were selling.”The success of Big Pharma has more to do with marketing than with the