Other than Big Tobacco and Big Oil, I hear more complaints about Big Pharma (the pharmaceutical industry) than any other major type of business. However, I think most of these gripes are unjustified. I know these firms charge what seem like exorbitant sums for the drugs they produce. I have heard people say things to the effect of, "those little pills can't possibly be worth all that money." The pills themselves probably aren't, but just look at all the money that had to be spent in research and development just to make them possible. The companies who bring these lifesaving medicines to the market have to be rewarded for it some way. Therefore, I don't begrudge their profiting from the production of quality medications.
What I do have a problem with are their sales people, who invade the offices of doctors while they are seeing patients. Obviously, they make these visits to lavish their freebies on physicians and to try to persuade them to prescribe their company's pills, serums, creams, jells, and what-have-you as often as possible. I see that as a somewhat questionable practice in and of itself. Doctors should be free from undue pressure and influence when deciding on what medications to prescribe for their patients.
That issue notwithstanding, doctors shouldn't be bombarded with sales calls while they are seeing patients. When someone visits a doctor due to an illness or injury or simply for a checkup, he or she needs that doctor's undivided attention. The last time I visited my doctor, he was called out of the examining room to see a drug salesman, leaving me sitting in there alone for over 30 minutes! Doctors should set aside separate blocks of time for visits from pharmaceutical representatives peddling their wares.
On the other hand, Terry, some of those "freebies" have made it into my hands, saving me the expense of having to pay for a prescription that did nothing for me, and in several cases allowing me to avoid paying for a prescription altogether. But I agree with you that Big Pharma (sounds much cooler than Big Drugs) is doing a bang-up job and needs to be left alone to continue doing so.
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