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Drug Company CEO Blames Drug Industry For Increased Drug Resistance
BarbaraHudson writes Times Live is reporting that while doctors have usually been blamed for bacterial resistance because of over-prescribing, Karl Rotthier, chief executive of the Dutch DSM Sinochem Pharmaceuticals, claims lax procedures at drugs companies are the real cause. "Most antibiotics are now produced in China and India and I do not think it is unjust to say that the environmental conditions have been quite different in these regions. Poor controls mean that antibiotics are leaking out and getting into drinking water. They are in the fish and cattle that we eat, and global travel and exports mean bacteria are traveling. That is making a greater contribution to the growth of antibiotic resistance than over-prescribing", Rothier said. "We cannot have companies discharging untreated waste water into our environment, contributing to illness and, worse, antibacterial resistance. We cannot accept that rivers in India show higher concentrations of active antibiotic than the blood of someone undergoing treatment."
We cannot accept that rivers in India show higher concentrations of active antibiotic than the blood of someone undergoing treatment.
You're looking for quotes? See my journal.
It's not like drug-resistant bacteria are going to rise up and kill us all at once some day in a weird, snotty epidemic, but it really is important to limit antibiotic use and exposure because the more that's in the environment, the more bacteria is going to become accustomed to it and then soon enough, everyone's going to have to use the nasty mushroom-based antibiotics that don't go down sweet like the big guys we use now do. Clean up your plants, pharmaceutical companies, I'd like to stave off strep throat without vice-grip stomach cramps.
Is apparently on the good drugs that doctors don't over-precsribe to us.
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Poor controls mean that antibiotics are leaking out and getting into drinking water. They are in the fish and cattle that we eat, and global travel and exports mean bacteria are traveling.
And those fish, cattle and even people are getting those antibiotics for *free* - seriously impacting our bottom line and tight-fisted control over drugs that, in reality, don't really cost as much as we say they do to research and manufacture, but we sell for a metric fuck-ton of cash.
According to this NY Times article, $2.6 Billion to Develop a Drug? New Estimate Makes Questionable Assumptions are an "estimate that drug companies could have made more money if they used their research investment for things other than drug development."
In both of these announcements, a significant amount of the costs to develop the drugs were opportunity, or time, costs. They are the returns that might be expected, but that investors went without, while a drug was in development. When a drug company invests in research and development, it is tying up money that could otherwise be invested elsewhere. In this announcement, the Tufts Center says that $1.2 billion of the $2.6 billion is time costs.
The end of the article notes:
In 2010, a systematic review of studies that looked at the cost of drug development was published in Health Policy. The review found 13 articles, with estimates ranging from $161 million to $1.8 billion (in 2009 dollars). Obviously, methodology matters.
That's a far cry from $2.6 Billion.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
So, lemme get this straight.
A drug company CEO is blaming manufacturing companies in third world countries (which the big drug companies use to cut costs) for having shoddy practices. This hand wringing goes so far as "I wish they'd clean up their act." But then stops, of course, because it's not OUR fault - it's those people over in India and China that are to blame.
It's not like we hire them (or, in some cases, employ them as wholly owned subsidiaries), so we're in an excellent position to dictate policy (and ENFORCE policy) for them. Nope. It's all their fault. Nothing to do with us at all.
This is Apple putting the blame on Foxconn for unconscionable conditions in their manufacturing plants. Or western garment companies who contract their manufacturing to Bangladesh shaking their heads at Tazreen.
Shame on those other people in countries we choose to do work in because of lax regulation and cheap unskilled labor for having poor regulation and lacking skilled quality control people! It's all their fault.
A drug company CEO taking this position, but not accepting any blame, disgusts me.
Exactly WHO decided to manufacture in China, that would be the big Drug companies as a guess.
Exactly WHO should be monitoring their manufacture, that would be the big Drug companies as a guess.
Exactly WHO encourages over subscription, a pill for everything, that would be the big Drug companies as a guess.
My guess is something went wrong somewhere and they are starting the smokescreen already to divert attention.
But it is the truth.
we should all keep in mind that it's easy to level accusations at your competitors for doing things you don't do as a means to differentiate yourself in the market place. These things don't even have to be true to benefit him as it puts all of his competitors on the defensive. Just because his competition has facilities in these countries doesn't necessarily mean they are doing what he says, or responsible for the concentrations in the environment. He is by no means an unbiased commentator. Bad publicity for his competitors is good for DSM.
Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.-Oscar Wilde
Blaming the same countries they're outsourcing to because it's less expensive? (and killing local economy since the staff is part of the outsourcing)
Besides, how many people just throw old pills in the *garbage* ? I'm pretty sure that's the main reason for drug resistance.
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
Corporations said they would always act in the best interest because they're held accountable by stockholders and consumers? Is he saying that unregulated corporations are doing things which may be harming the population in general because of a short-term profit motive? Say it isn't so!
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I also find it hard to accept a wide array of wacky statements. Whenever I see a statistic or comparison that would be interesting if true, I assume it's not true. Usually such statements are, at best, highly exaggerated.
Anti Virus Company CEO Blames Anti Virus Industry For Increased Malware Resistance
News flash! Drug company CEO blames the other manufacturers of drugs for problems adversely affecting their supply and demand ratios; stock holders and the media swallow it, hook, line and sinker. CEO is quoted as saying, "But don't worry... that's totally not us. You need to regulate our competitors -- err... ummmm... I mean, those other drug companies, over there... we're totally fine here. These aren't the drugs you're looking for. Move along."
The whole reason they're produced in places like India and China is because they don't have to do to the trouble of keeping their product out of the environment.
Two thirds of all antibiotics go to perfectly healthy farm animals. Not to cure them of anything, but to make them fatter for market, and make more money for Agrobusiness.
Get rid of that, and you will reduce the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria by 2/3.
"We cannot have companies discharging untreated waste water into our environment, contributing to illness and, worse, antibacterial resistance. We cannot accept that rivers in India show higher concentrations of active antibiotic than the blood of someone undergoing treatment."
I'm just happy that Monsanto is not one of these drug companies. They'd probably sue everyone on the planet for drinking water that may contain their product and not paying for the privilege of consuming their pollutants.
not cures lol - we dont care how many people die or suffer constantly in pain. All we care about is making profit for shareholders.
cures would ruin our business model.
Graphics in linked articles show the effluent of Indian wastewater treatment plants. Few public wastewater facilities can, or were designed to, remove antibiotics from our waste. They are designed for household waste, not industrial waste. Most antibiotics and other drugs pass straight through a typical wastewater plant unharmed. In the USA, Industrial PreTreatment is required for businesses that would otherwise discharge toxic or damaging substances to a public treatment plant. Usually the offending business builds, runs, and pays for pretreatment. Unless, of course, the "good ol' boy" system can unload the cost onto local residents.
America and India have the same problem; India just has more metric tons of it and far less regulation.
FYI: licensed wastewater operator (retired).
I didn't desert Windows; Windows deserted me: BSOD
There's no need for regulation...
So is he saying that doctors should keep prescribing antibiotics for illness where they are unnecessary, and that prophylactic application of antibiotics in agriculture should continue? That is, the only thing that needs to be fixed is the manufacturing leakage?
Of course that's the only problem. Because, in India and China, those problems aren't likely to be fixed any time soon (perhaps if ever). If over-prescription isn't the problem, doctors and agricultural users can continue purchasing unnecessarily large quantities of the drugs, guilt free. That's a convenient stance for a drug company CEO to have.
I'm not saying that mishandled wastage at a drug plant isn't an issue. It appears that it is. The CEO said so. But I'd me more interested in seeing facts that back up his claim that overuse is not the issue causing antibacterial resistant bacteria. The overuse is probably more widespread than the factories, and probably more likely to be the cause of the superbugs in your area (unless, of course, your area is near these factories).
This sounds like a big problem but beyond the manufacturing plants, about 80% of all antibiotics are fed to animals to make them grow faster (more profits) and these also end up in rivers all over the world. Also, animal farms are incubators for drug resistant bacteria.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
The next superbug that comes out will kill many million people, will destabilize the world so much all those drug companies would go bankrupt. So it is self correcting, in that sense.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
This really intrigues me because it never struck me that this could be a mechanism for antibiotic resistance. It is even more interesting to me knowing the first CRE (Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae)
clearly arose in India [source]
but the reasons weren't clear to me and I just naively assumed it was a random mutation. India, also according to to that same paper has quite a problem with antibiotic resistance which one wouldn't expect as there isn't so much of a problem with antibiotic overuse as there seems to be in the West. So, maybe not so random and maybe we have honed in on a legit reason for growing resistance.
Argh. The laws of science be a harsh mistress.
Livestock are fed an enormous quantity of sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to stimulate weight gain.
Those animals piss and shit those drugs where it eventually ends up in the water supply.
The difference between industrial agriculture and pharma factories in India/China is that agriculture pays for the drugs.
Mission: To provide products that consume time and energy as entertainingly as permitted by the laws of thermodynamics.
It is even more interesting to me knowing the first CRE (Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae [cdc.gov]) clearly arose in India.
Funny thing was the response of Indian politicians was that naming of the NDM-1 resistance factor was "malicious slander". The acronym of course standing for New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase. I happen to agree that geographic and ethnic names should no longer be used for disease entities, but nationalistic outrage is not a useful response to a problem.
but the reasons weren't clear to me and I just naively assumed it was a random mutation. India, also according to to that same paper has quite a problem with antibiotic resistance which one wouldn't expect as there isn't so much of a problem with antibiotic overuse as there seems to be in the West.
Don't be so sure of that, when antibiotics are (or maybe were until recently) common non-prescription OTC products in India and other parts of south and south-east Asia, and often much cheaper than in the West.
Why am I not surprised? These companies have one objective, and that is to maximize their profits, chasing after the God Almighty Dollar! That there aren't strong international regulations on the manufacture of this stuff is beyond me, other than the fact that countries cannot agree on just about anything except how to kowtow to Big Business!
It is interesting to hear an executive of a pharmaceutical company admit that the industry is rotten, but not all that surprising. But of course, he's not really saying that; he is trying to blame the developing world, again not all that surprising.
Adding antibiotics to live-stock feeds has been a well known practise in the West for decades - I first heard about it in the 70es, and it must have been going on for a while before it got into the news. There was a public outcry back then, so the industry started calling it 'growth enhancers' instead; or they invented 'medical reasons' for it, such as taking suckling pigs away from their mothers too early - they would then get diarrhea, which the vet would prescribe antibiotics for etc.
And it is also a well documented that pharmaceutical companies shift drugs that are banned in the West to developing countries, where the rules are that much easier to live with, and where you can get away with marketing practices that would land you in very hot water in the West. All in all, I think it is a bit rich to blame developing nations for something the companies clearly are complicit in, if not the prime architects.
Just one further point in this debate: look up MRSA, where it originated (hint: the West) and why.
Isn't it about time for the FDA to require all drugs sold in the US be made in the US?? We are told all the time that companies go over seas to get more competitive, yet the prices for their goods go up and up and up and up. They tell us it's so consumers get a better price that they crave. That is all complete and utter BULLSHIT. It's all to increase profit, lower operating costs, and fuel the people on wall street.
what a MORON this CEO is-livestock are feed high doses of the same antibiotics to allow the animals to survive a life cycle until slaughter in factory like farm facilities where they are so crowded together.
Impose Tax On Corporate Revenues, Not Profits And See The Result;
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