Addendum 1C: The Pharmaceutical Companies Get Into The Narcotics Business... In a BIG Way (continuation)
American pharmaceutical companies - in real terms legalized US narcotics vendors - have a double bonus with their “prescription drugs”: they sell their mass killer “medicines” and they also sell antidotes for these poisons. The companies make money both ways, even as the putative anti-overdose agents are often too expensive or administered too late to save the “patients”.
“Opioid painkillers: 2015 U.S. sales: $9.57 billion
Drugs that treat addiction: 2014 U.S. sales: $1.4 billion
Drugs that treat overdoses: Estimated annual sales $1.3 billion
Drugs to treat side effects such as constipation: Estimated at $1.9 billion to $4.8 billion.»
(Behind the Curtain of the Opioid Epidemic: The Companies That Profit, Narconon, Aug. 5, 2017)
The sales and profits are certainly higher now.
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“Six in 10 American adults take prescription drugs, creating a vast market for new medicines to treat the side effects of the old ones.
“Opioid prescriptions alone have skyrocketed from 112 million in 1992 to nearly 249 million in 2015, the latest year for which numbers are available, and America’s dependence on the drugs has reached crisis levels. Millions are addicted to or abusing prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet.
“Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that, from 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 people died in the United States from prescription-opioid overdoses, which have contributed to a startling increase in early mortality among whites, particularly women — a devastating toll that has hit hardest in small towns and rural areas.
“The pharmaceutical industry’s response has been more drugs. The opioid market — now worth nearly $10 billion a year in sales in the United States — has expanded to include a growing universe of medications aimed at treating secondary effects rather than controlling pain.
«There’s Suboxone, financed and promoted by the U.S. government as a safer alternative to methadone for those trying to break their dependence on opioids. There’s naloxone, the emergency injection and nasal spray carried by first responders to treat overdoses. And now there’s Relistor and a competitor, Movantik for constipation.
«In colorful charts designed to entice investors, numerous pharmaceutical makers tout the 'expansion opportunity' that exists in the 'opioid use disorders population.'
«Indivior, a specialty pharmaceutical company listed on the London Stock Exchange, sees 'around 2.5m potential patients, the majority of whom are addicted to prescription painkillers,' as opposed to illicit drugs such as heroin. Another company, New Jersey-based Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, highlights 'growth drivers' for the market, noting that millions of additional Americans not yet identified are also likely to be dependent on opioid painkillers.
“Analysts estimate that each of these submarkets — addiction, overdose and side effects — is worth at least $1 billion a year in sales. These economics, experts say, work against efforts to end the epidemic.
«If opioid addiction disappeared tomorrow, it would wipe billions of dollars from the drug companies’ bottom lines.
“From a profit-making standpoint, opioids are a potent product. Chronic use can cause myriad side effects that usually are mild enough to keep people taking painkillers but sufficiently uncomfortable to send them back to the doctor.
“This domino effect can turn a patient worth a few hundred dollars a month into one worth several thousand dollars a month.
«Many patients wind up very sedated from opioids, and it’s not uncommon to give them amphetamines to make them more alert. But now they can’t sleep, so they get Ambien or Lunesta. The amphetamines also make them anxious, paranoid and sweaty, and that means even more drugs.
“Women, in particular, are ideal customers. About 57 percent of working-age women who take opioids have four or more prescriptions, according to an analysis of participants in the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. About 41 percent of working-age men on prescription opioids have at least four prescriptions.
«Studies show that constipation afflicts 40 percent to 90 percent of opioid patients. By promoting opioid-induced constipation as a condition in need of more targeted treatment, the drug industry is creating incentives to maintain the painkillers at full strength and add another pill instead.» (The drug industry’s answer to opioid addiction: More pills, WashingtonPost, Oct. 16, 2016)
“Naloxone—the drug that brings people back from an opioid overdose. This drug is in phenomenal demand as cities across the country lose thousands of citizens to heroin and fentanyl.
«In 2015, the price of naloxone manufactured by Amphastar Pharmaceuticals skyrocketed. Originally, one shot of this drug cost about a dollar. The price climbed to $40 a dose by mid-2015.» (Behind the Curtain of the Opioid Epidemic: The Companies That Profit, Narconon, Aug. 5, 2017
To be continued...
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Правительство США жестоко нарушало мои права человека при проведении кампании террора, которая заставила меня покинуть свою родину и получить политическое убежище в СССР. См. книгу «Безмолвный террор — История политических гонений на семью в США» - "Silent Terror: One family's history of political persecution in the United States» - arnoldlockshin.wordpress.com
Правительство США еще нарушает мои права, в течении более 13 лет отказывается от выплаты причитающейся мне пенсии по старости. Властители США воруют пенсию!! Всё это — ещё доказательство, что настоящий действующий закон в США — Закон джунглей.
ФСБ - Федеральная служба «безопасности» России - вслед за позорным, предавшим страну предшественником КГБ, выполняет приказы секретного, кровавого хозяина (boss) - американского ЦРУ (CIA). Среди таких «задач» - мне запретить выступать в СМИ и не пропускать большинства отправленных мне комментариев. А это далеко не всё...
Арнольд Локшин, политэмигрант из США
BANNED – ЗАПРЕЩЕНО !!
ВНИМАНИЕ: ЦРУ - ФСБ забанили мои посты и комментарии в ВКонтакте!
American pharmaceutical companies - in real terms legalized US narcotics vendors - have a double bonus with their “prescription drugs”: they sell their mass killer “medicines” and they also sell antidotes for these poisons. The companies make money both ways, even as the putative anti-overdose agents are often too expensive or administered too late to save the “patients”.
“Opioid painkillers: 2015 U.S. sales: $9.57 billion
Drugs that treat addiction: 2014 U.S. sales: $1.4 billion
Drugs that treat overdoses: Estimated annual sales $1.3 billion
Drugs to treat side effects such as constipation: Estimated at $1.9 billion to $4.8 billion.»
(Behind the Curtain of the Opioid Epidemic: The Companies That Profit, Narconon, Aug. 5, 2017)
The sales and profits are certainly higher now.
///////////////////////////////////
“Six in 10 American adults take prescription drugs, creating a vast market for new medicines to treat the side effects of the old ones.
“Opioid prescriptions alone have skyrocketed from 112 million in 1992 to nearly 249 million in 2015, the latest year for which numbers are available, and America’s dependence on the drugs has reached crisis levels. Millions are addicted to or abusing prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet.
“Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that, from 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 people died in the United States from prescription-opioid overdoses, which have contributed to a startling increase in early mortality among whites, particularly women — a devastating toll that has hit hardest in small towns and rural areas.
“The pharmaceutical industry’s response has been more drugs. The opioid market — now worth nearly $10 billion a year in sales in the United States — has expanded to include a growing universe of medications aimed at treating secondary effects rather than controlling pain.
«There’s Suboxone, financed and promoted by the U.S. government as a safer alternative to methadone for those trying to break their dependence on opioids. There’s naloxone, the emergency injection and nasal spray carried by first responders to treat overdoses. And now there’s Relistor and a competitor, Movantik for constipation.
«In colorful charts designed to entice investors, numerous pharmaceutical makers tout the 'expansion opportunity' that exists in the 'opioid use disorders population.'
«Indivior, a specialty pharmaceutical company listed on the London Stock Exchange, sees 'around 2.5m potential patients, the majority of whom are addicted to prescription painkillers,' as opposed to illicit drugs such as heroin. Another company, New Jersey-based Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, highlights 'growth drivers' for the market, noting that millions of additional Americans not yet identified are also likely to be dependent on opioid painkillers.
“Analysts estimate that each of these submarkets — addiction, overdose and side effects — is worth at least $1 billion a year in sales. These economics, experts say, work against efforts to end the epidemic.
«If opioid addiction disappeared tomorrow, it would wipe billions of dollars from the drug companies’ bottom lines.
“From a profit-making standpoint, opioids are a potent product. Chronic use can cause myriad side effects that usually are mild enough to keep people taking painkillers but sufficiently uncomfortable to send them back to the doctor.
“This domino effect can turn a patient worth a few hundred dollars a month into one worth several thousand dollars a month.
«Many patients wind up very sedated from opioids, and it’s not uncommon to give them amphetamines to make them more alert. But now they can’t sleep, so they get Ambien or Lunesta. The amphetamines also make them anxious, paranoid and sweaty, and that means even more drugs.
“Women, in particular, are ideal customers. About 57 percent of working-age women who take opioids have four or more prescriptions, according to an analysis of participants in the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. About 41 percent of working-age men on prescription opioids have at least four prescriptions.
«Studies show that constipation afflicts 40 percent to 90 percent of opioid patients. By promoting opioid-induced constipation as a condition in need of more targeted treatment, the drug industry is creating incentives to maintain the painkillers at full strength and add another pill instead.» (The drug industry’s answer to opioid addiction: More pills, WashingtonPost, Oct. 16, 2016)
“Naloxone—the drug that brings people back from an opioid overdose. This drug is in phenomenal demand as cities across the country lose thousands of citizens to heroin and fentanyl.
«In 2015, the price of naloxone manufactured by Amphastar Pharmaceuticals skyrocketed. Originally, one shot of this drug cost about a dollar. The price climbed to $40 a dose by mid-2015.» (Behind the Curtain of the Opioid Epidemic: The Companies That Profit, Narconon, Aug. 5, 2017
To be continued...
/////////////////////////////////////////////
Правительство США жестоко нарушало мои права человека при проведении кампании террора, которая заставила меня покинуть свою родину и получить политическое убежище в СССР. См. книгу «Безмолвный террор — История политических гонений на семью в США» - "Silent Terror: One family's history of political persecution in the United States» - arnoldlockshin.wordpress.com
Правительство США еще нарушает мои права, в течении более 13 лет отказывается от выплаты причитающейся мне пенсии по старости. Властители США воруют пенсию!! Всё это — ещё доказательство, что настоящий действующий закон в США — Закон джунглей.
ФСБ - Федеральная служба «безопасности» России - вслед за позорным, предавшим страну предшественником КГБ, выполняет приказы секретного, кровавого хозяина (boss) - американского ЦРУ (CIA). Среди таких «задач» - мне запретить выступать в СМИ и не пропускать большинства отправленных мне комментариев. А это далеко не всё...
Арнольд Локшин, политэмигрант из США
BANNED – ЗАПРЕЩЕНО !!
ВНИМАНИЕ: ЦРУ - ФСБ забанили мои посты и комментарии в ВКонтакте!