BIG PHARMA SEDUCED THE WORLD—TIME FOR DOCTORS TO MUSCLE IN
NEXT PROJECT UPDATE
I've got my next project on the go, and will be running a Kickstarter funder next week. The title is in the headline, and I'll be sharing it here when complete. Don't worry, I won't be chasing you to pledge, only asking you to share, if convenient.
WHAT ARE THE FUNDS FOR?
The funds will help create a treasure trove of evidence-based knowledge and learning about medicines, and the industry that supplies them. It will be free of any hidden agendas or vested interests.
The Big Pharma seduction referred to in the title has had a devastating impact on what doctors and patients know about medicines today. COVID -19 has brought that to the full attention of those concerned for their medical freedom, and that of their loved ones. The problem is, they don't have the means to challenge the pervading narrative with the right depth of knowledge, especially in relation to hastily manufactured and distributed products that could be compromised.
This project will create that knowledge, delivered digitally, for use on any device (phone, tablet, laptop, desktop) through any current operating system (Android, IoS, windows).
The platform is cloud based and is built, managed and hosted to ISO 27001 (Information security management) and all communications are encrypted. It is fully compliant with GDPR. Content will be uploaded in universal formats PDF (document), MP3 (audio), MP4 (video), PNG (image), JPG (image), or all/any of these in combination.
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT THIS?
Remember the Sanskrit proverb: “knowledge is more powerful than physical strength and no great work can be done without knowledge.”
Recent events with COVID-19 have seen the emergence of self-professed 'experts', claiming to have all the knowledge required. Epidemiologists, virologists, doctors, journalists, researchers, academics, and even politicians have piled in. Still the base of knowledge is no further forward, and people questioning this confused narrative are dubbed ‘conspiracy theorists’.
If it continues like this, how are doctors going to know the full story on the medicines they prescribe? How can patients be sure they are getting the right answers to their burning questions about the medicines they take?
The blunt answer is they won't, and if we think this lack of knowledge is damaging current generations, how will future generations cope?
HOW AND WHEN DID THE SEDUCTION START?
A definition of seduction is ”to lead astray.” Once we know and understand this is what Big Pharma has done - led astray key stakeholders who depend on their products - the answer to reform jumps out by studying the original path, prior to the turning of heads...
…and who better to reacquaint the world with that path? Let's travel back in time to August 1928, to join Alexander Fleming on his return from holiday...In his groundbreaking article The Discovery of Penicillin—New Insights After More Than 75 Years of Clinical Use, Robert Gaynes spills the beans on what happened after Fleming's 'eureka moment'. Here is a short pasage:
"Alexander Fleming, a bacteriologist at St. Mary’s Hospital, had returned from a vacation when, while talking to a colleague, he noticed a zone around an invading fungus on an agar plate in which the bacteria did not grow."
This single event created the myth that has endured to this day, that medicines are discovered by accident, through the work of scientists studying molecules.
This was Big Pharma's excuse for pushing doctors out of medicines development (note, the term doctors is used to cover all healthcare professionals - (HCPs)), to replace them with the vague title of 'scientists', with the job of patenting vast libraries of molecular compounds.
TIME FOR DOCTORS TO MUSCLE BACK IN
The pressing reason why doctors need to muscle back in is this. It is they that must interpret the needs of patients under their care, and deliver the appropriate treatment regimen. If you climbed on an aircraft, and learned the pilot didn't know anything more about the plane that the passengers, you would be somewhat surprised, if not terrified!
That is where we are in the world of medicines today—the patient information leaflet is all there is for both patients and doctors—ponder that for a moment.
Please then consider helping me re-educate the world in the ways of Fleming and other medical pioneers such as Edward Jenner (smallpox vaccine), Frederick Banting et al (insulin), and Jonas Salk (polio vaccine).
It may surprise you to know that Salk did not seek a patent, and famously said "Could you patent the sun?"
Banting and his two colleagues sold the patent for $1 each, $3 in total...
...and a gentleman named Andrew J Moyer patented the PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE for penicillin, not a molecular compound. Moyer was an employee of the forerunner to the FDA, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The cross-collaboration in all these examples was immense. Today, all we have is intense secrecy, in the name of bagging the patent rights!!!
Speak soon,
Hedley