Study Exposes Corruption of U.S. Health Care, How Big Pharma Manufactures Consumer Demand
Hanover, NH — Researchers at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice produced a damning report
on the U.S. health care system, describing how evidence-based research
has declined and how the pharmaceutical industry manufactures demand.
“The pharmaceutical industry has influenced medical
research in its favor by selective reporting, targeted educational
efforts, and incentivizing prescriber behavior that influences how
medicine is practiced, the researchers say. The pharmaceutical industry
has also spent billions of dollars in direct-to-consumer advertising
and has created new disease labels, so-called disease-mongering, and by
promoting the use of drugs to address spurious predictions.”
The degradation of health care is one of many ills brought about by
corporatism. When big government and industry moguls come together, the
truth and human rights suffer.
The authors note how “finance dictates the activity” instead of the
rigorous scientific process that guides research in other fields. It has
a direct negative effect on funding, on what gets published, and on
communication about harms and benefits.
Drug trials that show positive results are quickly published and
promoted, while trials that do not show beneficial effects remain
unpublished. Industry-supported trials dominate the field, with an
almost exclusive focus on health problems that expand market share.
