Quote: Richie "Unlike the state, big business (why do you differentiate from small business here?) can't force you to hand over your money. AFAIK, Glaxosmithkline produce drugs, rather than prescribe them.'" When talking about Big Pharma, they pretty much can. When death or Illness is the alternative. You are kind of over a barrel. www.phillipsandcohen.com/P-C-New ... ment.shtml Big Business, doing what big business does. I can only ask again, who would you trust to prescribe you the best drugs for you. Your local NHS GP, or friendly local GSK sales rep?

Quote: Richie "Unlike the state, big business (why do you differentiate from small business here?) can't force you to hand over your money. AFAIK, Glaxosmithkline produce drugs, rather than prescribe them.'" When talking about Big Pharma, they pretty much can. When death or Illness is the alternative. You are kind of over a barrel. www.phillipsandcohen.com/P-C-New ... ment.shtml Big Business, doing what big business does. I can only ask again, who would you trust to prescribe you the best drugs for you. Your local NHS GP, or friendly local GSK sales rep?

It exists solely to MAKE money, it normally does this in exchange for goods or services, if people don't intrinsically trust a company it fails.

What has happened in the last decade is big business having failed to grow their market, are in a saturated market or a shrinking market have looked at way of growing the bottom line without expanding the business, this has meant squeezing wages of the majority of its work force, finding new and not always legal ways to evade tax and their social responsibilities.

This is by no mean all big businesses and many major companies have invested in the work force, treated them as valued employees and let them have a say in the direction of the company, John Lewis for instance, makes good gross profits, treats its employees fairly, pays them a fair wage all while still maintaining a good bottom line.

Most of us are not completely anti big business (I'm certainly not) and see its place in the world as one of bring benefits, however big business does need reminding of its responsibilities not only to shareholders but to its stakeholders too, its employees, suppliers and its customers.

We should be looking to the entrepreneurs of the past such as Lever, Roundtree and Cadbury to see how businesses can thrive and build huge brands while not being dicks.

I think there is space for a variety of approaches here. Whilst some customers like the behaviour of JLP and Richer Sounds and will pay a premium for it, there are others who prefer the likes of Aldi and Ryanair. Horses for courses etc,

Well done for completely ignoring 99% of my point and focusing solely on price, oh BTW Richer Sounds is a discounter not a premium retailer.

I was being nice and agreeing with 70% of it I was focussing on value and service BTW.
Has Richer changed? I haven't used them since I left Leeds 13 years ago. They used to be known for charging more but having good advice, facilities to test and try products, and treating their staff well - one perk being the loan of a nice car for good performance, which probably had the ulterior motive of wanting to create a desire to own such a car and so work harder, sell more stuff and earn more money to be able to buy one.

Any with a patent on a particular drug.

Because big businesses arent the same as small ones.

What did their customers do before they developed that drug?


How? What? Why? Where? What's the differentiator? Are there medium businesses? Or is this just black and white?


Exactly, because that's his role.


Their careers do at least.

I am not sure what Scargill would make of all this.
Was he on drugs at the time he decided not to hold a national ballot?

Died.

Yes, there are small, medium and large businesses. Small Businesses are different to medium which are different to large. There is no need to pretend they are the same.

So considering my question [iis as valid as asking who would you trust to research and develop new medicines and i have given a valid and accepted answer. Can you answer my question?

My career is not as important as my life. My health is not a business. My life is not for profit. Frankly if you were to sell something not in that companies best interest to someone because it made you a little extra money, I would think you were a bit of a dick, but it would pale in to insignificance compared to a Drug company paying Dr’s to prescribe a drug, which didn’t best treat that patients symptoms, wasn’t cleared to be used for those symptoms, and was cleared for use for the symptoms it was used for using incomplete and cherry picked Data. People, literally and directly have died because of the behaviour of Big Pharma. Because of their chasing of profits, people who would otherwise be alive aren’t

So for them, the pharma industry has worked quite well. Much better than if it wasn't in place.



Why did you only answer one of seven questions in that paragraph?



Of course I would go to my GP for a prescription. I can't believe you really thought that was a question worth asking.



In an earlier post you were stressing how we should trust a doctor to prescribe us medicine. Now you want to stress that they're corruptible to the point that they prescribe drugs that didn’t best treat that patients symptoms, wasn’t cleared to be used for those symptoms, and was cleared for use for the symptoms it was used for using incomplete and cherry picked Data and people have died because of their willingness to accept (presumably illegal, bribery does tend to be illegal) payment from companies simply to earn more money. I wouldn't do that with IT infrastructure so I am disturbed to find doctors are so corruptable.
Perhaps I'll seek another alternative to a GP or a sales rep.

He was on drugs until he had them sequestrated.

Just been updating myself on poor old Roy Lynk who returned his well deserved OBE after feeling betrayed by the establishment who greased his palm with 30 pieces of silver.
Bless.

No, because as has been proven, Big Pharma aren’t responsible for the majority for medicinal breakthroughs. Jonas Salk cured Polio, he did so as a researcher in a university in a government funded programme. The fact people now don’t have polio isn’t down to Big Pharma, it is down to the academia and the US government. The fact Eli Lilly made lots and lots of money from Jonas Salk’s work and US government funding and orders, that’s down to Big Pharma. Im pretty glad I don’t have Polio. Im not really bothered that Eli Lilly made a lot of money.

Because that one answer covered them all. Im not discussing small business, I am completely neutral in this conversation regards them. The How, what, Where etc are irrelevant. We are discussing big business, Small business is separate and in this case pretty irrelevant.


Why would you do this? You GP works for the NHS, a government agency. You advised earlier that we should never trust them. So why would you trust your Dr a government worker? Why would you trust your Dr to provide you with the right drug, but not the state to develop the right drug?

Well actually no. What I was highlighting was the difference between the UK and the US, where in the US medicine is run for profit, where Dr’s will prescribe treatments that make them money. In the UK this is less possible. It is far less possible precisely because of State interference. The state you are advising we shouldn’t trust.

You are protected from these excesses of Big Pharma because we have an NHS. US Dr’s were more corruptible because they don’t. State interference you called against is what means you don’t need to go find another GP.

So if they're not responsible for the breakthrough, why are the gov giving them a patent on the medicine? Or is something else creating a single supplier monopoly?


No it didn't.
Where and how do you differentiate between small, medium and large businesses? Why do you think different sizes of business behave differently? After all, they're still just people running them. If you say we're discussing just big business and not small business and medium business, you really should show how you define the different sizes, and why you think they behave differently at different sizes, if they do behave differently.
BTW, I would be more inclined to trust a big business with shareholders and public perception to worry about, than a sole trader.


Can you show me a serious post I made where I said I wouldn't trust a doctor and didn't believe the state should have any role in drug development?


No, you were condemning millions of doctors and people throughout the world as if they would let you die to earn a few more pence. It's a poor view of people and humanity you have.