There would be a conspiracy by multinational pharmaceutical companies to have a product declared harmful as soon as the patent expires, so that they can replace it with another newly developed, patented and expensive product, thus preserving profits.
Of John B – 08/07/2014 – Journalism
… not even Aulin, a well-known anti-inflammatory drug that has been used by millions of Italians for decades. The reason why we talk about it in this column is given by the fact that the drug has been at the center of a "conspiracy theory" which demonstrates once again how the phenomenon of conspiracy is characterized by the ability to interpret any fact according to its own particular logic which always has the ultimate goal of attacking certain targets, in this case the pharmaceutical industry. To clear the field of doubts, it is good to make some preliminary clarifications. Drugs are never, or almost never, good for you.
lesser evil – They must always be considered as a "lesser evil" than the evil they should oppose, and it is this consideration that should always form the basis for assessing whether, from time to time, their assumption is appropriate or not. The aspirin, for example, or acetylsalicylic acid, is also used for its anticoagulant qualities to prevent heart attacks and thrombosis but this characteristic at the same time favors bleeding. It is clear that its administration will have to be taken into consideration by evaluating the weight of the two risk factors. If the risk of heart attack or thrombosis is assessed as higher and more serious than the risk of hemorrhage, Aspirin constitutes a lesser evil and therefore acceptable. The speech is the same for any drug. Another premise is that there is no doubt that an immense market moves around the pharmaceutical industries in economic terms. When we talk about a turnover of over 600 billion euros year there is little room for do-gooders and correctness, so it is taken for granted that the protection of consumer health matters only to the extent that it generates profits and it is equally taken for granted that the former takes second place to the latter, every time must make a choice between the two. However, this is also a lesser evil.
RESEARCH - Pharmaceutical research has very high costs (mostly also imposed by consumer protection laws) and only the pursuit of profit can make the investments necessary to finance it available. However, this research has made it possible to invent, test and place thousands of effective drugs on the market to combat countless pathologies. Just to stay in the historical field, it is enough to mention antibiotics, cortisone, the contraceptive pill, insulin, polio. Research is always evolving, it takes new paths, hundreds of thousands of people today have a hope of living normally thanks to research pharmaceutical and they trust in it to cure the pathologies they suffer from. The fact that the pharmaceutical industry moves above all to obtain profits rather than putting the interests of consumers first is another lesser evil than research being held up by lack of investment. With that said, let's talk about theory conspiracy theorist concerning the Aulin. The theory starts from the fact that Aulin hurts, is harmful to health and would have been withdrawn from sale in many European countries (but not in Italy). Well, some might think that blocking the sale of Aulin constitutes an obvious setback to the pharmaceutical multinationals and that sometimes the independent control mechanisms on the drugs on the market work. In short, it should be anti-conspiracy news and instead it has become another workhorse of conspiracy theorists, who argue that the criticisms of Aulin began precisely when its patent expired and the drug became much cheaper (going from 12 euros to 3 euros).
THE PLOT – According to this view, there is a conspiracy by multinational pharmaceutical companies to have a product declared harmful as soon as the patent expires, so that they can replace it with another newly developed, patented and expensive product, thus preserving profits. The theory shows that conspiracy theorists are capable of enslaving any fact and news to their own theories, there is always a conspiracy, in any event. Even Aulin has become a holy and miraculous drug, in order to support the conspiracy theory: "Aulin was put on the market, in fact, in 1985. Since then, millions of people have used it: the molecule, nimesulide , is very effective and works on all types of inflammation even at half doses. My son is living proof of this: Aulin saved his life when he was still in his mother's belly. Two simple half sachets of Aulin a day for 15 days saved the pregnant mother from a very risky operation. Needless to say, neither of them suffered the slightest side effect: and we're talking about pregnancy!" Having made this observation, it must be admitted that, read in this way, the theory has its own captivating and convincing logic. But are the facts really those? According to conspiracy theorists “it was around 2005 that people began to talk about the “dangerousness” of Aulin. One of the best-selling drugs in the world, which in that year went from the price of around 12 euros (in Italy) to the paltry figure of 3 euros: the patent has expired, the generic can be sold, the active ingredient can be marketed by anyone and so here is the crash of the price and the related earnings”. Well, the starting news, the one on which the whole theory is based (“around 2005 we start talking about the dangers of Aulin) is false. Already in 2002, therefore well before the patent expired, the Finnish authorities suspended the administration of the drug because it was considered dangerous and the European Commission, invested with the matter, issued a binding directive to limit its administration to subjects at risk. So the danger of Aulin manifested itself well before the expiry of the patents, a fact that debunks the conspiracy theory a priori. And while conspiracy theorists praise Aulin claiming that it is a harmless panacea for health, another current of thought in the environmentalist world he argues that Aulin is extremely dangerous and should be immediately withdrawn from the Italian market, accusing the pharmaceutical industries of hiding the truth and bribing the officials in charge of controls. In short, whether Aulin is harmless and pharmaceutical companies would like to withdraw it, or whether Aulin is harmful and pharmaceutical companies would like to continue selling it, there is always a conspiracy theory adaptable to the circumstance. And therefore, it can be concluded that even among conspiracy theorists, or at least a large part of them, the health of citizens takes second place to the need to support one's cause. In fact, arguing that Aulin is a harmless medicine is a real attack on public health, given that Aulin, like any other medicine, cannot be defined as harmless and cannot be taken lightly, as if it were water. . Nimesulide, the active ingredient of Aulin, damages the liver if taken for prolonged periods but in occasional use it is no more dangerous than other drugs in the same category, this is the conclusion of the scientific committee which examined the matter after the reports from the Finland and other European countries, for which the Italian position (which is to allow the marketing of Aulin provided that it is under medical supervision and with a ban on its administration for prolonged periods) appears balanced, is that "lesser evil" which characterizes the whole matter . The final advice is to drop conspiracy theories and rely on common sense: avoid the use of medicines if it is not really necessary, follow the instructions of those who are prepared and paid to give them (doctors) and always carefully read the indications and contraindications attached to any drug.
TO
