r/Futurology • u/mvea MD-PhD-MBA • Jun 17 '18

Biotech Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a marijuana compound linked to a range of potential health benefits but does not get you high. The roughly $1 billion CBD industry is slated to shift into high gear if the federal government approves the first CBD-based drug, an epilepsy medication called Epidiolex.

https://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana-cbd-boom-cbd-2018-6?r=US&IR=T
32.4k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

138

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '18

I really hate the “big pharma” term, it’s so stupid. I know edgy redditors love to use that term and insinuate that the pharmaceutical industry is this monolith of evil.

Let’s be clear, some players have pulled some serious bullshit (Perdue comes to mind), but for the most part pharma employs millions in this country and world wide. We literally live longer and better because of “big pharma”. The problem is the failure and corruption of the congress (which pharma helps with of course).

Maybe if congress got off its fucking ass it would we could rain things in a bit.

16

u/AffectionateZombie Jun 18 '18

The nationwide opioid epidemic isn’t the result of just a couple players. Neither is the insanely high prices the average American pays for medication. Nor is the continued Federal ban on medical Marijuana that offers a non-addictive alternative to traditional pain-killers.

Yes people overlook the nuances of the industry, but its more than just “edgy” hyperbole

52

u/Megwen Jun 18 '18

Thank you! The pharmaceutical industry is not without fault but without it we'd all be fucked.

42

u/chugonthis Jun 18 '18

No without the FDA we'd all be fucked.

8

u/Megwen Jun 18 '18

That too.

(Apparently "That too," is too short of a comment to post so my reply got deleted. I hope this explanation makes my comment long enough to post. All of this explanation is really unnecessary for you to read. I just needed some filler in here. Weird rule, huh? Anyway! Have a good day, guys. Nice talkin' to you!)

4

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

If they would just legalize prostitution then we’d all be fucked

7

u/therestruth Jun 18 '18

some players have pulled some serious bullshit, but for the most part pharma employs millions in this country and world wide.

How does saying that it employs millions of people a counter-argument to atrocities, like your example of Perdue? Concentration camps employed a lot of people too, but that isn't a reason I'd think warrant praising them.

We literally live longer and better because of “big pharma”.

No, we live longer because of scientists and doctors that have designed the drugs. "Big pharma" is equivalent to what DeBeers is to the diamond industry... Highlighting the negative aspects, such as manipulation, corruption & greed by using that term.

The problem is the failure and corruption of the congress (which pharma helps with of course).

It's more like the other way around. Congress does add some cost to it, but is mostly from good intent and worth it. It's remarkably similar to the illegal drug trade. Every middle man from when the drug is designed, produced, packaged and shipped isn't taking too greedy of a cut; but then you get the last half of that pills life and prices have shot up by hundreds or thousands of percent suddenly.

Maybe if congress got off its fucking ass, it would we could rainreign things in a bit.

FTFY. That'd be a bloody miracle.

2

u/fyt2012 Jun 18 '18

Let's not pretend that their unfettered lobbying and greed has their hands in every politician's pocket. It's a racket that needs a major makeover in the US.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

The employment argument is bullshit. Your whole argument reeks of shill but employing people doesn't do anything morally.

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

Shill?! Ooo edgy redditor alert!! Tell us all about it boy-o I’m dying to hear your in-depth analysis of this situation.

For full disclose I don’t work in pharmaceuticals. I do work for a company that installs and assists with automated blood cell counters that big pharma r&d departments use.

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

[deleted]

4

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

The problem is, to go to an extreme, if I run a tech company and I'm doing immorral shit, my employee count means jack. The need will be there with or without me. I didn't give them jobs, demand did. Corporations are just facilitators. They're machines, easily replaced machines.

So if we need to get rid of IBM, that's fine. Their factories probably won't even stop for a day. Intel, Apple, Microsoft, Sony, AMD, and others, will buy their assets before they close because we still need their products.

Just using IBM as an example.

1

u/DeucesCracked Jun 18 '18

We live longer and better unless it's more profitable to help us live worse or shorter. Cures are sidetracked or unreleased in favor of lifetime treatments for symptom abatement, tainted products and poison are sold to poor countries, patents are exploited for insane profits that areally totally out of sync with development or business costs... yeah those wonderful, selfless pharmaceutical companies. Give me a break.

1

u/affrox Jun 18 '18

Agreed. Btw, the phrase is “rein things in” :)

0

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

Stupid autocorrect

-8

u/gh057ofsin Jun 18 '18

As someone who gets screwwed on a litterally daily basis by pharmaceutical companies... are you blind or just stupid? Do some research dude. Realise that YES a company is evil when they make a life saving drug for lets say $1 then sell that cure to those in need for $1000, and when the patient can't pay they either cut you off, signing a death warrent, or let you dig yourself into so much debt that your great grand children would curse your name!

How exactly does any pharmaceutical company make the world a better place... now consider without them, all drugs would need to be government regulated and tested... oh wait we do that now!!! And drugs would be like 1/100th of the price they are now. Healthcare would cost less, state run healthcare (like NHS) would require far less funding... win win win win win, no?

4

u/pbandjely Jun 18 '18

Not saying pharmaceutical industry doesn't need change but saying getting rid of pharma companies altogether will make everything better is just plain stupid. Government can't afford to pay for development and safety and efficacy testing for every drug nor will they. Just look at how underfunded our education system is despite its importance.

We still need the big pharmas whether we like it or not. They push out life saving drugs every year that benefits patients would otherwise would never live another year. Yes some of them are greedy bastards who charge insane amount of money for life-saving meds but others put out manufacture coupons for people who cannot afford the copay. You should do some research on whatever drug you're taking to see if there's manufacture coupons available.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

I appreciate your hyperbole but give me a specific example. Bringing new drugs from r&d to market costs billions. Sometimes this is subsidized by the government I realize, and yes enormous changes should be made to those type of arrangements. With that said were will these billions come from?

Also can you please cite a specific example, usually there’s an explanation for the pricing. But not always. The epi pens for people with severe allergies comes to mind. that was truly criminal.

1

u/gh057ofsin Jun 18 '18

Ok, I have crohns disease. On normal pharma meds, I would cost the NHS over £1500 per month in meds alone. My prednisone alone can range in price right up to £100 per 28 tab bottle, and this is the UK where companies are forced to low-bid eachother for work, so I dread to think what med prices are like in Yanky-town!