Time to Nationalize Pharmaceuticals
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:44 pm
A troubling new projection sponsored by the British government has predicted that by 2050, 10 million people will succumb to anti-biotic resistant infections. Thats more annual deaths than cancer today.
The economic cost could be in the tens of trillions.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30416844
The most disturbing part about this dire news is that it isn't some new pathogen coming to kill us all, it is bacteria we already know becoming more resistant and achieving superbug status.
Our misuse of current antibiotics, such as their application in livestock and for incomplete treatments, is part of what is driving this path of resistance.
Furthermore, not enough new drugs are coming on the market because antibiotics aren't as profitable as, say, cholesterol medication. Antibiotics you take for a limited amount of time, while other drugs require you to take them indefinitely. In a profit driven industry, companies will strive to make drugs that give the biggest returns (read: not antibiotics).
Healthcare should not be controlled by issues of narrow profit, but the good and wellbeing of the collective. I think nationalizing the pharmaceutical industry today could save trillions of dollars and millions of lives tomorrow.
The economic cost could be in the tens of trillions.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30416844
The most disturbing part about this dire news is that it isn't some new pathogen coming to kill us all, it is bacteria we already know becoming more resistant and achieving superbug status.
Our misuse of current antibiotics, such as their application in livestock and for incomplete treatments, is part of what is driving this path of resistance.
Furthermore, not enough new drugs are coming on the market because antibiotics aren't as profitable as, say, cholesterol medication. Antibiotics you take for a limited amount of time, while other drugs require you to take them indefinitely. In a profit driven industry, companies will strive to make drugs that give the biggest returns (read: not antibiotics).
Healthcare should not be controlled by issues of narrow profit, but the good and wellbeing of the collective. I think nationalizing the pharmaceutical industry today could save trillions of dollars and millions of lives tomorrow.