The FDA has now approved Eli Lilly's new drug, Cymbalta, for treatment of depression. The new drug is expected to generate peak annual sales of about $2 billion, and is being described as a "much-needed boon for Eli Lilly after the sales of its former top-selling antidepressant Prozac fell due to generic competition." Let's take a closer look at the dynamics here. The big news being focused on in the mainstream media isn't that there is some new drug that can help people with depression -- the big news is that this is a new revenue generator for Eli Lilly. In the world of pharmaceuticals, it's always about profit and sales, and almost never about actually helping patients.
In this case, its top-selling antidepressant Prozac is even now being regarded as a loser because generic medicines at lower prices are now readily available to patients. In a public health sense, if the drug were a benefit to patients, that should be considered something good -- i.e., more patients have easier access to a lower-priced chemical that does the same thing as Prozac. But in terms of Eli Lilly and pharmaceutical companies in general, that's considered a major problem. They no longer have a monopoly on the drug, and they can't charge whatever they want and generate billions of dollars in revenue for their brand name drug.
None of the discussion about these antidepressants mentions some of the numerous problems found with antidepressant drugs, by the way. One of the problems is that antidepressants are now known to cause people to commit suicide and commit violent acts. This was, of course, swept under the rug for years by both the FDA and pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies were engaging in a cover-up that can only be accurately described as criminal in nature: a crime against humanity.
The big picture of all this is that most antidepressant drugs are fraudulently prescribed and marketed to consumers in the first place. People who have mood swings or feel depressed all the time don't need drugs in order to balance their brain chemistry. Of course, the drug makers and many psychiatrists have made a tremendous amount of money by convincing people they need drugs to balance their brain chemistry. In reality, what people need is exposure to natural sunlight -- a powerful antidepressant therapy that's available free of charge -- avoidance of foods that cause nutritional deficiencies, such as white flour and refined white sugars, and outstanding nutrition from superfoods and superfood supplements containing spirulina, chlorella, wheat grass, medicinal herbs and other sources of high-density nutrition. Physical exercise also goes a long way toward reversing and preventing the symptoms of mental depression.
The bottom line is that the drug industry preys upon the public by giving them disinformation about the true causes of depression, and then hooking them on potentially dangerous drugs that are known to increase their risk of violent behavior, including suicides and killing the people around them. But from the point of view of the drug company, it's all about profits -- they've got to come out with the next new big drug to generate more revenues, create more profits for shareholders, and put more money in the bank. It is a sad, sad, system of medicine, and this system continues to grow and expand its influence. There seems to be no limit to the number of patients who are going to be victimized by the drug companies before this whole charade comes crashing down in the years ahead.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. He's also author a large number of health books offered by Truth Publishing and is the creator of numerous reference website including NaturalPedia.com and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. His websites also include the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the innate healing ability of the human body. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Friday, August 06, 2004
Email this article to a friend
