Who do you think decides whether you live or die. Most of you would say it's fate. But in our world, a pandemic ridden world, it's Big Pharma, a bunch of companies that make vaccines and medicines. They decide who lives and who dies, and that makes them dangerously powerful. Let me explain how Omicron cases are rising. There is talk of vaccines and boosters by all indications. Booster shots will be a regular feature in our lives, and we know who stands to gain Big Pharma. They're rolling in money, they're blackmailing governments, they're fueling inequity. They're setting arbitrary terms and conditions, jacking up prices, pushing secret deals. And yet we have little choice but to take their vaccines. That is the kind of power they wield, which is why I say in today's world. Big Pharma decides whether you live or die. 

How did they acquire this power? How dangerous can they be? And why is no government stopping them? That's what we'll discuss today. Hello and welcome to gravitas. Plus, I'm pallkki sha mao Pa and I have some stories for you. We'll start with the story of Martin Sharaley, this man. He used to be america's most hated man. What did he do? Sold this drug dara Prim. An important weapon in the fight against malaria. Also another serious infection caused by HIV. There was a time in this drug Dara Prim cost 13.5 dollarss. Then Martin Sch really entered the scene. He bought the manufacturing license for Dara Prim and jackgged up prices by 5 thousand percent. You heard that right 5 thousand. So the medicine that sold for 13.5 cent started selling for 700 and 50 dollars. People were furious patients, doctors, lawmakers. Everyone protested, but Charley could not care less. 

Eventually the law prevailed. Shacrley was convicted for securities fraud, sent to seven years in jail. Recently, he paid 40 million dollars to settle allegations of price gouging and this is a man who did not even make drugs for a living. He managed a hedge fund. When asked about the price gouging, he said. I would have raised the prices higher and made more profits. Now you have to understand where he comes from. As a head fund manager, his primary duty was to make money for his investors. Sharaley was driven by profit. He represented a system, a system that puts profits above lives, a system that wants to make money off illnesses, and a system that influences everyone. 

I'm talking about Big Pharma. They have unrivaled power, the power to push dangerous drugs into the market, the power to influence politicians and regulators, and the power to maximize profits at the cost of patients. How does Big Pharma do this with tools like misinformation case in point, america's opioid epidemic. What is an opioid? It is a painkiller. It affects you just like heroin. It blocks the feeling of pain, which is why it is habitforming. It's easy to get hooked to opioids. Earlier, doctors in the US kept a tight watch on opioid prescriptions, but in the 1990 S. Big Phoma sensed an opportunity. They began pushing an idea, a simple idea. They said opioids are not addictive. Big Pumas send sales representatives to doctors across the US. Their mission was quite simple, convince doctors make them prescribe heavier doses of opioids. The masters of this art were Perdue Pharma. Their opioid drug was called oxycontin. 

Purdue claimed Oxycontin did not cause addiction. It was a lie. Bureau never held a trial to prove Oxycontin was less addictive, and doctors did not bother to check here's what happened next. In 1997, doctors were writing 600 and 70 thousand prescriptions for Oxycontin by 2 thousand and two. That number shot up to 6.2 million prescriptions every year 6.2 million, nearly ten times more. 

Purine was making money hand over fist. Just one drug. Oxycontin, generated more than 30 billion dollars in revenue for this company. Pur you werent the only ones pushing opioids. Companies like Johnson and Johnson and Tikva Pharmaceutical Industries were making opioid drugs too. The crisis reached its speak in 2012. Doctors in the US wrote 200 and 55 million prescriptions for opioid pain relievers. In one year, thousands of people got addicted. From 1999 to 2016, more than 400 and 50 thousand Americans died from opioid overuse, and the crisis is far from over. Nearly 71 thousand drug overdose debts in 2019 involved an opioid period. Phoma, the company that fueled this epidemic, got away with a slap on the wrist when it faced thousands of lawsuits. The company declared bankruptcy. Its owners, the Slacker family, had to pay just a fine, no jail time for fueling an epidemic. Instead, they were given immunity. The Slackers piggybaed off the bankruptcy before declaring bankruptcy. In fact, they shifted close to 11 billion dollars in cash out of Perdue. When the settlement was finalized, they paid just 4.5 billion dollars. What a convenient exit. 

Can it be worse than this? Yes, it can. Big Pharma has the influence to push unpron cures with some help from their regulator friends, and that's exactly what happened in the case of Au Helm. 

Last year the US Food and Drug Administration approved this drug. Aie is made by a company called Bingen. It was sold as a landmark treatment for alzheimer's. The treatment was introduced at a price of 56 thousand dollars a year. Does it even work? There is little evidence that it does. The drug was first assessed by an FDA advisory committee. This committee has 11 members. None of them wanted this drug approved now. Usually the FDA just goes along with these advisors, but in this case it did not. To their surprise. AIE ELM was approved. 

Turns out Bingen had a closed relationship with the FDA, so officials met with the FDA several times before the decision day and the drug was approved. Even though there wasn't enough evidence that it works what was the rationale behind this approval? It is not clear three FD AD advises resigned in protest over the controversial approval. Here is what one of the AD advises said about the resignation. I did not think that the firm recommendations from the committee in this case were appropriately integrated into the decisionmaking process. So instead of listening to its own advisors, did the FDA choose to trust a drug manufacturer. Federal officials have launched an investigation into what really happened. The FDA is supposed to be a watchdog for the farmer industry should it maintain such a close relationship with companies it is supposed to police? The fact is a large chunk of the fdas funding comes from the industry. How much 45 percent of their entire budget? How can the FDA remain impartial when it is getting paid by Big Phoma. 

But American lawmakers are still letting this system continue because Big Farmer has bought influence in the US Congress too. Big Farmer bankrolls American politicians in the 2020 election, the world's biggest farmer companies wrote checks to 300 and 56 lawmakers. As much as 11 million dollars was given out as campaign contribution. More money is being spent on lobbying. In the last 23 years, the farmer and health products industry has spent close to five billion dollars on lobbying, and sustained lobbying has its rewards. Bylaw. Big Phoma can set prices off their drugs. There is no scope for negotiation. Big Pharma can charge whatever rates it likes. What happens when some lawmakers try to break this monopoly. Big Phoma strikes back, look at this. Politicians say they want to negotiate medicine prices and Medicare, but make no mistake. What politicians mean is that they'll decide which medicines you can and can't get. Call Congress. Tell them not to play doctor with your medicine paid for by Pharma. Keep the competition out, set the prices of your product, influence policymakers, and hire an army of lawyers and lobbies to fight back any challenge. There is only one business that closely resembles this description

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Drug cartels, drug companies and drug suppliers are operating by a dictionary definition of a carel. There is no other way to describe them. Big Pharma is the new Drug Mafia. 

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