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The Disappearing Flu Vaccine
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Nov 15, 2005 07:21pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| News Date | Tuesday, November 15, 2005 01:20:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The mess is systemic, not episodic, and so much so that the less than socialistic Wall Street Journal was recently moved to say, "Marketplace forces aren't providing some of the drugs the public needs most.... The same market forces that reward the production of Lipitor, Viagra and other drugs for chronic conditions have proved a poor way to provide some of the antibiotics and vaccines that the public needs most."
Over the years and at considerable expense, drug companies have learned that people will not pay big money to prevent a disease, only to treat it. It's been said that drug companies make twice as much selling AIDS medicine as they could make from an AIDS vaccine. After all, a totally effective vaccine eliminates the need for itself. From a drug company's point of view, polio and smallpox are examples of the fact that an ounce of prevention is not worth a pound of cure. To the contrary: Companies, no matter what the industry, do not want to be in the business of putting themselves out of business.
A similar situation exists with antibiotics. When a new antibiotic hits the market these days, doctors hold it back and use it sparingly to prevent bacteria from developing a resistance to it, as has happened with the promiscuous use of earlier antibiotics. That's good for health but bad for business. As a result, few antibiotics are being developed in an era when new kinds of staphylococcus are killing people inside hospitals and out. |
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