New diagnostic test for Alzheimer's

[Bmoboy]

What good is it with no effective treatment?

Oh yes, more sales of diagnostic tests and drugs like Aricept that "slow down" the progress of the disease.

Big Pharma strikes again.

[Big Blue Marble]

1. Yes, you are right.

It is only a test to put more people on expensive, dangerous, and ineffective drugs.

The best way to reduce your risk for mental decline is eat well, exercise, sleep well,
and reduce stress including not stressing about your mental functioning.

[Srkdqltr]

2. And choose your ancestors carefully.

[CountAllVotes]

10. No kidding!

My late husband came from a family of 10 children.

About 80% of them died from some form of dementia!



I never knew that dementia was an inherited trait!

Yikes!

[Raven123]

3. Absolutely correct.

May be useful in research trials, but clinically worthless

[Bmoboy]

4. Fear mongering

Another distortion of science to make money.

[Jirel]

5. It's useful.

It lets people know what’s happening, and they can work on improving their situation medically, financially, pre-arranging care, getting counseling and support, and many other ways.

Yes, Alzheimer’s drugs are useless. That doesn’t mean people can’t make other changes that good studies show will make a difference, all of which are about reducing inflammation. For some, they need the wake-up call.

And finally, any time I hear the words “big pharma,” I roll my eyes at the person who utters them. Shall we not use insulin? Chemotherapy? The cure for Hep C? AIDS meds? Those are all wonderful things that come out of “big pharma.” Whack them for screwing people on prices - that’s a real problem (only in this country, more or less). But don’t dismiss the great science and medicine the industry has done.

[Bmoboy]

6. Poor big pharma

Jacking up prices on insulin and Epi-pens, abandoning production of drugs for "orphan" diseases, massive ad campaigns for expensive drugs with horrible side effects, Oxycontin, Viagra, Ozempic, etc.

Hugè profits off drugs developed with tax dollars.

Poor big Pharma. Always getting credit for the research of others and screwing the public.

[Jirel]

8. That shoulder must hurt a lot

from carrying that hyperinflated chip on it.

Are those other academics manufacturing, distributing, and selling those drugs they invented or are involved in inventing? *crickets*

Are tens or hundreds of thousands of lives saved by the availability of those drugs? Hell yes.

Your complaint is invalid.

Quit griping about the existence of “big pharma,” and work to regulate their prices and patents. Just like every other industrialized nation.

[Bmoboy]

9. Not their existence

Their actions are what bothers me.

As a nurse for over 40 years, i never thought health care should be a money making enterprise.

[ShazzieB]

7. I hear you, Jirel.

Yes, Big Pharma does bad things, but they have also done very good things. The problem isn't the drugs themselves; it's the greed. Greed is what nakes them jack up process the way they do, and greed is why companies resist pulling drugs that turn out to have dangerous side effects off the market, until the cost of lawsuits starts eating into the profits too much. And on and on.

I don't know how to fix the problem of greed, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Without the drugs developed by Big Pharma, my allergies and asthma would be just about unbearable. Without antidepressants, I might not be alive today, because my history is such that there's a greater than 99% chance that, without these meds, I would have continued to have repeated major depressive episodes through my life like the ones I had when I was younger and didn't know why I felt so lousy. Untreated, those episodes would have continued to recur over and over, likely getting worse and worse, and I think we all know where that can lead.

I'm not defending any of the truly awful things Big Pharma has been guilty of. There are a lot of things that need to change, but just condemning Big Pharma and saying it's nothing but evil is NOT the answer. I know for a fact that products developed by "evil" Big Pharma have made my life more worth living, and I also know for a fact that it has made the lives of lots of other people I know more liveable.

There are problems with Big Pharma for sure, and those problems need to be addressed, so let's do that. But we can do that while still appreciating the products these companies make that really do help people, and making it possible for worthwhile things to continue be done.

Imo, the answer to what's wrong with Big Phatma is to fix Big Pharma. Just saying "Fuck Big Pharma" acomplishes nothing.

[Srkdqltr]

11. Bottom line. There is no cure. Live healthy and you can get it. Don't live healthy and you can get it.

It's a crap shoot.