Posted by Dan Perkins on December 10, 2004, at 14:20:05
In reply to Why do we never learn from the past???, posted by ed_uk on December 10, 2004, at 10:24:02
ed_uk,
You are 100% correct with everything in your post. Fact is that this is standard pharmaceutical industry practice for all of their meds, not just ones involving mental health. As one class of drugs is coming off of patent and profits are about to evaporate, they both trumpet a new class of drugs as being superior and do a hatchet job on the outgoing meds which were once trumpeted as being superior themselves.
It really is amazing how we, the drug takers, never seem to notice this pattern and just line up to take the newest drug. Cymbalta now is supposed to be the answer to our prayers, but many of us seem to have forgotten that the same promises new hope and of a better drug have been made to us so many times before.
Drug companies are for-profit entities whose only responsibility is to maximize value for their shareholders, not to do what is in the best interest of their customers. How many more broken promises and Vioxx-type scandals (tally so far is 55,000 Americans killed by Vioxx - roughly same number of Americans killed in Vietnam) will it take for us to wisen up and be a little bit more skeptical about promises made by drug companies?
poster:Dan Perkins
thread:427180
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041206/msgs/427307.html