Big Pharma, Part 4: To Cure Or Not To Cure, That Is The Question

THE TRADITIONAL MEDICINES

Ayurveda, literally meaning "science of life", is the Hindu mind-body health system. It encompasses acupressure, herbal medicine, yoga (meditation/exercise), and massage to balance the body and mind. It is rooted in 5000 years of Indian wisdom. When Charaka, one of the ancient Hindus, first described Ayurveda, he used neurological qualities. He understood that the main control system was the brain. Modern medicine started to focus on brain research only since the 1990's! In allopathy (modern medicine), mental disorders are treated by putting the mind to sleep with sedatives and sleeping pills. But in Ayurveda, it is quite the opposite, the mind must be awakened before getting treated. And before awakening the mind, the body must be awakened with herbal treatments to cleanse it. This is one aspect of the Ayurvedic system. It can treat thousands of disorders with over 25,000 effective plant-based formulations. It can even cure certain forms of cancer where allopathy has failed.

Ayurveda takes decades of training and learning ancient texts. Most practitioners prepare formulations by their own recipes and dispense to the patients, through a knowledge passed on to them by generations of Gurus. They can transform poisonous elements like mercury and arsenic into medicine. Early Gurus used to eat the medicines before prescribing them. They never tested on animals! I'd like to see my doctor ingest the drugs he prescribes! When you go to consult the practitioner, if you have the means you can pay with a penny or a dollar; if you can't, you're treated for free and can go home with the medicine in your hands. How wonderful is that?

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is another powerful and popular system dating back to more than 2500 years. Developed in China, it focuses on the body's vital energy or Qi (Chi). According to TCM, disease occurs when the Qi is out of balance, and healing is achieved by restoring that balance. There are several branches in TCM, including acupuncture, massage, Qigong, herbal medicines and food therapy (a healthy diet for a healthy body).

TREAT, NOT CURE.
Considering China and India have respectively 1.4 and 1.3 billion in population, it's easy to understand why Ayurveda and TCM hold such an important place in those countries. Ayurveda and TCM have one thing in common, they try to cure the body and mind by targeting the source of the disorder. In opposition, Big Pharma does not care about curing anything, but is more interested in treating the symptoms. Keep the people sick and provide temporary relief to guarantee continuous business. And of course, keep discrediting traditional medicines and homeopathy for their "clinically unproven" methods to scare people away from them.

Funny, if traditional medicines are unproven, why do they still work after millennia of trial and testing? Besides, Big Pharma is not interested in natural medicines because anything coming from nature cannot be patented (cannabis anyone?), so they won't fund any studies on them. Moreover, the FDA won't approve a drug unless it's been tested for safety and efficacy. Therefore, anything natural will be considered by the FDA as unproven. And that completes what I call "the circle of disapproval".

GENE THERAPY

I'm sure many of you have heard about gene therapy. Although a controversial and complicated topic, it's a really simple and feasible process. Scientists can easily create genetic modifications in bacteria, cells, mice and rats to study AND reverse a disease by correcting a defective gene. Labs routinely work with transgenic cells and animals to study many diseases. It's so easy, it's like changing pants. What is a defective gene? It's an error in the DNA sequence that creates a partially or totally inactive protein/receptor, which can cause congenital disease or premature death.

Science has made tremendous strides in the field of genetics in the last two decades, more and more scientists are understanding the mechanics of failed genes, and yet, we're still far from any practical application of gene therapy. Oh, "it's a challenging task to accomplish in humans, we're struggling with ethics", they say. No it's not, one way of doing it is to use a retro-virus, splice the corrected gene in it and administer that to the patient. The retro-virus will permanently embed the fixed gene into the DNA, and the patient will start making the good protein in no time. You can bet your butt they will be cured. But, that's not what Big Pharma wants. "Cure" is an esoteric word they don't like to hear, and they will do anything to defend their imperium: merge smaller companies, buy their patents and lock them away.

INVENTING NEW DISORDERS

Testosterone, the masculinity and libido hormone, starts to slowly dwindle after 30 years of age. By the age of 40, testosterone would have dropped by more than 50%, and therefore the sex drive will take a hit. It's a normal process.

But Big Pharma has plans. Why not call it "Erectile Dysfunction" and offer a pill for it? Viagra came to the rescue (by accident), and the rest is history. Not enough? Have some testosterone treatments to make you feel like 25 again, and don't worry if your heart is getting too old and cannot keep up with the excessive testosterone, have some pills for heart disease, and you'll be humping like a bunny.

• A loved one died and you feel sad?
  You're not in mourning, you are depressed, take a pill.
• You're going to get married and you feel super excited?
  You are hyperactive, take a pill.
• You love eating ice cream and you gained a little weight?
  You are obese, take a pill.

Adults are not the only ones targeted by invented disorders, children are on the menu too. Your children are playing too much and jumping around like monkeys with their friends. That's "not normal", they have ADHD and must take a pill to calm them down. Funny, when I was a kid (a long time ago) I used to do those same things like any other kids, and we all grew normally without needing any medication to "play nice".

It's not enough to blame Big Pharma because the medical establishment is in on it. Doctors now have the duty to gather a bunch of "symptoms", stitch them together into a new disorder, call up Big Pharma for the pill, and prescribe. Happy days, $$$ for everyone.

Recommended reading: Indian Traditional Ayurvedic System of Medicine and Nutritional Supplementation
One heartwarming documentary I also recommend is Ayurveda: Art of Being (2001).

I hope you enjoyed this series about Big Pharma. By now you should have better understanding of its corrupt world. This part concludes it for now, but I'll be writing various articles about natural remedies, alternate medicines and therapies in the future (among other topics). I hope you'll enjoy those as well.

image source

If you missed the previous posts, here they are:
Big Pharma, Part 1: My Awakening
Big Pharma, Part 2: The Drug Development
Big Pharma, Part 3: The Business Must Go On

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