095.VIKING BOER – RESOURCES – THE POWER OF BIG PHARMA

Big Pharma – How much power do drug companies have?

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The pharmaceutical industry exerts a huge amount of influence on health policy. Some companies develop highly profitable drugs with public money, while others have been found to have covered up serious side effects.

The fight against Covid-19 is further fueling the greed of pharmaceutical companies. Does the industry’s influence threaten public health systems?

The industry has seen major changes in the last decade. Most of the world’s pharmaceuticals are produced by a handful of large corporations, so-called Big Pharma. They’re richer and more powerful than ever. In some cases, they can even call the shots on governmental health policies.

This documentary is the result of more than a year of research and brings together patients, whistleblowers, lawyers, doctors, and politicians, as well as representatives of the industry. Large laboratories are accused of concealing or downplaying research results to maintain their monopolies. Take the manufacturer Sanofi, whose epilepsy drug Depakine triggered a scandal throughout Europe. In the US, Johnson & Johnson has had to stand trial for driving millions of people into opioid addiction. And Novartis is one of several companies now facing huge fines over improper practices in the treatment of macular degeneration, an eye disease.

The pharmaceutical industry gets support from influential doctors. But only one-fifth of German doctors declare what they receive from drug companies. As the world battles the Coronavirus pandemic, this documentary also looks at the lobbying efforts of manufacturer Gilead, as it seeks approval for a promising drug developed largely with public money. Every company is vying to find the next miracle treatment that will help it succeed against the competition.
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The power of the pharmaceutical companies

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How much is a human life worth? An innovative cancer therapy promises to save lives. But it is extremely expensive. Will the insurance companies pay for it? What is the manufacturer’s return on investment? And do lobbyists drive up prices?

In 2018, the Kymriah gene therapy was approved in Europe. Immune cells are taken from the patient, genetically reprogrammed into cancer-killer cells, and returned to the patient as an infusion. The results of the Kymriah study only cover a period of 18 months. In 40 percent of patients, lymph gland cancer does not return during this time. It is not clear whether Kymriah has a long-term effect. The Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis offers the new therapy – it costs 370,000 Swiss francs per patient. Health insurance companies are not usually prepared to pay that much and are complaining about a lack of transparency.

But the killer cells were not invented in the Novartis laboratories, but at a US university. When Professor Carl June started his research almost 30 years ago, no pharmaceutical company was interested. It was only thanks to funding from tax money and donations that he was able to develop Kymriah at all. After a story went around the world about a girl with leukemia whose cancer disappeared thanks to Kymriah, the pharmaceutical company contacted Novartis and secured exclusive marketing rights. To launch Kymriah on the market, Novartis funded the necessary clinical trials. It’s not an isolated incident: Over 60% of newly approved medicines in the US are developed by small biotech companies or universities. Pharmaceutical companies today frequently act as capital providers, cooperating with universities or buying up biotech companies.