Time For A Conspiracy Theory Or Two by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick (Drug companies & importation of drugs)

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Friday, January 22, 2010 8:42 am Email this article
‘Pharmaceutical companies are being led by "dinosaurs who are committing financial suicide" by opposing US residents' reimportation of lower-cost drugs from abroad, Peter Rost, a vice president of marketing at... Pfizer, said in a speech at the Minnesota Senior Federation Monday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.


(This article was written by Malcolm Kendrick, MD, author of the wonderful, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting book The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It .)

“Rost is an advocate of reimportation who has testified before Congress twice in recent months in favor of legalizing the practice. In his speech, Rost said, ‘Getting drugs to people who need them is about right and wrong. When millions of uninsured older or poor Americans get sick because they can’t afford their medications, that is morally wrong.’ He noted that most U.S. residents pay prices for medications similar to prices paid in Europe because U.S. insurers negotiate bulk discounts, but uninsured people in the United States ‘pay the full price—twice what you’d pay in Europe.’ Rost added, ‘Everybody negotiates bulk prices for bulk deliveries, everybody but the United States.’  He also said that pharmaceutical companies could increase profits by lowering prices and boosting sales to low-income U.S. residents. Rost said he once doubled sales in Nordic countries for a pharmaceutical company he previously worked for after he lowered prescription drug prices. The Star Tribune notes that Pfizer officials say the company ‘disagrees strongly with Rost’s views’.” (Wolfe, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 5/3/05).

I picked up this story this morning [May 2005] and blinked twice. I thought it was worth re-printing in full, so that you could run it around the glass a few times and inhale the heady fumes.

A man who works for Pfizer making a speech about pharmaceutical company issues that Pfizer strongly disagrees with! Call me an old sentimentalist if you like, but in my day if you made public statements that your company strongly disagreed with, your employment future could me measured in nanoseconds. Actually a nanosecond would be a bit long, but I can’t remember what is shorter than a nanosecond. A picosecond, a femtosecond?

Either Peter Rost is very near retirement, or he already has another job lined up, or has gone bonkers…. But he has testified before Congress twice in recent months…. And Pfizer still haven’t booted him out. Does he have the negatives of Pfizer’s CEO in compromising positions?

Conspiracy Theory?

Is this a conspiracy so that Pfizer looks like the good guy when the inevitable happens?

Or do my antennae twitch to the faint signal of ‘evil pharma conspiracy?’ (No offence to the pharma industry obviously).

I suggest the following conspiracy theory. It goes as follows…

Reimportation cannot be stopped, and trying to stop it is ripping apart any final shreds of goodwill felt towards the pharmaceutical industry. Thus, Pfizer are repositioning themselves for the inevitable. So they are allowing one of their own to slam the industry position on reimportation, who will then be in a good position to act on behalf of Pfizer in any coming discussions. He will be seen as a ‘good guy,’ on the side of the patients, and will be able to get away with twisting the new situation (whatever that may be) in favour of Pfizer.

 

Otherwise, It Does Not Make Sense

How could Pfizer let one of their own speak out against their best interest?

You think that I have become too paranoid? Seeing conspiracy where there is none?

What is the alternative? That Pfizer have become such a benevolent organisation that they are quite content for one of their employees to act, and speak, against their best interests, potentially helping to ensure that Pfizer lose billions of dollars through re-importation?

Now that truly would be incredible.

 

The Conspiracy Is Obvious

The conspiracy is obvious, a no-brainer

So, what’s the choice? Pfizer doesn’t care about public statements made by their employees that may cause them serious financial damage? Or, Peter Rost is acting with the full support of Pfizer, and his statements are part of company strategy? Frankly, it’s a no brainer.

‘Oh, what tangled webs we weave, when we practice to deceive.’

—————

 

Article Previous Published on THINCS.org

This article was previously published on THINCS.org

This article was previously published on THINCS.org (The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics).

I republished the article here with Dr. Kendrick’s permission.

 

Malcolm Kendrick’s Contact Info

Malcolm Kendrick’s Email Address—.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Malcolm Kendrick, MD is the author of the wonderful, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting book book The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It .)

.)

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Doctor - Malcolm Kendrick, MD author of "The Great Cholesterol Con"

• Drug Company Tactics