Predatory drug companies like Merck and Eli Lilly continue to pilfer Americans. Why do we allow them to exist even as they are immoral, inhumane, and parasitic?
Drug companies and pharmaceuticals.
I read the title of the article by Richard Eskow and immediately knew every point that should be covered in the article. The title, “Why Should Drug Corporations Like Merck and Eli Lilly Even Exist?” said it all. And the answer is simple. These companies should not exist. They are not risk-takers, not innovators. They are parasites and deceptive marketers.
Just turn on any cable or broadcast TV network, and you will immediately see these drug companies peddling drugs. Ironically, the side effects of these drugs that I believe they are mandated to tell you about sometimes sound worse than taking the drug at all. The truth is many times, the drugs’ efficacy is just trumped up. And Trumped up is apropos.
The following four paragraphs should draw the ire of all.
How do Big Pharma executives have the nerve to show their faces in public, much less threaten to sue the government that has enriched them with the treasure—and the lives—of the American public? Government-funded discoveries have given drug companies like Merck and Eli Lilly much, if not most, of their patented technology. The government’s lax attitude toward drug company predation and criminality has made them even richer.
A recent staff report from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and its chairman, Sen. Bernie Sanders, found that “the average price of new treatments over the past 20 years that NIH scientists helped invent is $111,000 – more than ten times the price that led the NIH to first introduce a reasonable pricing clause in 1989.”
And yet, at the first sign that the government might ask for something in return, these corporations bite the hand that feeds them. Unfortunately, it’s the public who bleeds.
Merck’s crass lawsuit and Lilly’s bombastic threat are only the latest reminders that these corporations prey on the lives and wealth of people in the U.S. and all around the world.
How rich is Merck? Its net income was $19 billion last year, an increase of 40 percent over the previous year. Its CEO received $18,469,835 in total compensation. On average, Merck’s senior executives received more than $10 million each in 2022. More than half of that was awarded in the form of shares, giving each of Merck’s leaders a multi-million-dollar incentive to maximize profits regardless of the human cost.
And yet, these senior executives don’t seem embarrassed. In fact, the global pharmaceutical corporation is suing the United States government to prevent it from negotiating prices on a handful of drugs as permitted under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed last year.
After reading the entire article, I made it the major topic of my Politics Done Right program. Please watch the included video clip or listen to the included podcast. I think most will find it enlightening and re-empowering.
