Well, there went all my wife's work: Bayer CEO: "We did not develop this drug for Indians"

[Recursion]

Yeah, there we go. Thank you, 1%, those of us on the front lines really appreciate this kind of shit.

Bayer CEO: New Cancer Medicine for Rich People, Not Indians

The extent to which I hate stupid *********ers has increased of late...

EDIT: I had to take this off my Facebook after a tactful hint, so this may have to go soon too. Just wanting to get people's heads up.

[Fumesucker]

1. Cynicism is your best defense against this shit

Expect the worst and on those rare occasions it doesn't happen you can actually feel happy(ish).

It's not that they're actively stupid, they just don't give one nanofuck about anyone but themselves.

[Recursion]

2. Damn, that's true

Good point.

[Fumesucker]

3. Optimists never get nice surprises

Pessimists never get nasty ones.

A touch overstated but it's a rule of thumb.

When I find myself becoming dangerously optimistic I listen to a little Tom Lehrer, that fixes me right up.

[mac56]

6. Brilliant.

Stealing.

[CanonRay]

11. Goals are a mistake; the unaimed arrow never misses

That's my personal favorite.

[awoke_in_2003]

37. My favorite Homerism...

"Trying is the first step in failing"

[ReRe]

16. Gawd... I remember Tom Lehrer! :-) n/t

[dballance]

4. Given what Nestlé' CEO said about water this wouldn't

surprise me. I looked on Snopes. Nothing there yet.

[Recursion]

5. No, no I have the quote

It's right here on Indian TV, quite explicit.

Good job, dude.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. They just pulled it.

I was watching the video and before it got to the quote, the screen went black and it said, "there is no content posted with this term." The pharmaceutical companies don't make meds for poor people, period. It's obvious to me. If I didn't get a plan through Medicare, there's no way I'd be able to afford my medicine. There are a lot of people who would like to see that taken away, too. Rich people already live longer than the poor. In the future, we're going to see that gap widen considerably.

[lostincalifornia]

8. There is no doubt of the racism of the Bayer CEO. However, what is frustrating the pharmaceutical

companies is that their patents are being violated:

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/drug-companies-india-prime-minister-patents-97400.html

and even in India, this issue is not necessarily uniform:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/02/india-gsk-idUSL4N0G318920130802


On a different subject:

In addition, it should be noted that there are also major quality issues going on with some of the generics that Indian Pharmecuetical companies are producing:

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today notified Ranbaxy Laboratories, Ltd., that it is prohibited from manufacturing and distributing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from its facility in Toansa, India, for FDA-regulated drug products. The Toansa facility is now subject to certain terms of a consent decree of permanent injunction entered against Ranbaxy in January 2012.

The decree contains, among other things, provisions to ensure compliance with current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements at Ranbaxy facilities in Paonta Sahib and Dewas, India, as well as provisions to address data integrity issues at those facilities. In September 2013, the FDA added Ranbaxy’s Mohali facility to the CGMP provisions of the decree.

Under the decree, the FDA has issued an order prohibiting Ranbaxy from:

distributing in the United States drugs manufactured using API from Toansa, including drugs made by Ranbaxy’s Ohm Laboratories facility in New Jersey;
manufacturing API at its Toansa facility for FDA-regulated drug products;
exporting API from Toansa to the United States for any purpose; and
providing API from Toansa to other companies, including other Ranbaxy facilities, making products for American consumers.
For more information, please visit: Toansa Facility

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm382736.htm

The CEO from Bayer should be fired for his comments.

However, the underlying issue needs to be debated, and is now lost with the CEOs racist rant.

[kristopher]

12. Do you believe the for profit model is the best way for society to develop pharmaceuticals?

[lostincalifornia]

27. Ideally the government should subsidize this, but looking back at the way the ACA became a reality,

I am very doubtful in this environment that will be a soon reality.

There are drug companies who actually subsidize, or provide at virtually no cost some of these drugs to people who do not have the means or insurance.

The times are a lot different from when the polio Salk vaccine was developed. For one thing there are not many people who have the compassion and humanity as Salk. That starts with education, and from my cynical outlook, the education system, especially higher levels, is directed equating success with money, and ethics is not part of the agenda unfortunately.

It can take anywhere from 5 to 10 years before a drug gets approved. Ignoring the profit aspects, it is still quite expensive in todays terms just for the costs. Who would cover that? no private company will.

[kristopher]

33. Is there a direct answer in your reply?

I didn't say anything about subsidies, I asked if the for-profit model is the best way for society to develop pharmaceuticals.

Since you are advocating subsidies, I am even more eager to hear a clear yes/no and then your (expected) justification for the existence of the drug companies.

Given the degree to which investment in pure research is publicly funded, I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the matter.

[lostincalifornia]

34. I don't really have a yes or no because I do not have a full grasp of everything involved. I do

believe that NO ONE should be deprived of life saving medical treatment because of lack of means

[El_Johns]

36. Pharma sector profit margins run about 20%. Which suggests there is little "risk" in their business

[elzenmahn]

17. You'd hope that somebody on the Bayer board...

...would have a conscience enough to recognize the truth of your last sentence, and call out the sheer idiocy of the CEOs statement.

In a just world, the CEO would be out on his ass. But we don't live in a just world, I fear.

[lostincalifornia]

28. absolutely, but I doubt that will happen

[Hotler]

20. "The CEO from Bayer should be fired for his comments."

Fired hell! This man needs his ass kicked.

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. "major quality issues going on with some of the generics "

I was wondering about that.

After one of my generic scripts was re-filled, I noticed it did not seem to be effective.
I checked the bottle and saw the manufactuer name was different than the previos scripts.
So doc phoned in a refill, to a pharmacy that said they carried the generic company's meds.
Problem solved.
for now, at any rate.

[lostincalifornia]

31. They are suppossed to be biochemically equivalent, and go through similar testing, but I can tell

you from personal experience that is NOT always the case.

The problem is some insurance companies will NOT cover brand name if there is a generic equivalent, and the cost for the brand name without is usually significantly more. Which is why a lot of folks in the Northern states go over to Canada.

Many generics are fine, but it really depends from individual to individual

[wyldwolf]

9. this disgusts me. I've watched family and friends die from cancer and this guy is telling me...

...none of those ne'er do wells were good enough for this drug?

Was this medication developed in any way on the taxpayer's dime?

This calls for more than massive boycotts. I'll throw the first brick into the window of their corporate headquarters.

[elzenmahn]

14. You better believe that taxpayer dollars helped in developing this drug...

...considering the tax breaks that Big Pharma already gets, along with much of the research/development which was sourced from federally-funded institutions of higher learning.

I don't advocate violence. But I would look into where Bayer has business lines and avoid buying their products as much as possible.

Also, this isn't the first time I've heard Bayer being associated with nefarious activity. Try Googling "Mike Papantonio" and "Bayer" - he's got a lot to say about this outfit.

[Octafish]

10. Kind of NAZI.

For details on eugenics and America's leading, read Edwin Black, author of "IBM and the Holocaust" and "War against the Weak."

[ReRe]

15. You..

... you keep mentioning these books, I buy them, and I can't seem to get caught up on my reading! Thank you, Octafish.

[Octafish]

22. I met the author's best friend...

...the man is prominent in the Detroit community and thinks the world of his work. Here's something online we can learn for free:

Please download this PDF of a 1975 article on The Chicago Plot against JFK, ReRe -- it is most illuminating and will help us pass the torch forward:

http://www.thechicagoplot.com/The%20Chicago%20Plot.pdf

...same M.O. as Dallas, ambush, high-power rifles, high-rise, and one patsy by the name of Thomas Arthur Vallee, a USMC veteran from a U-2 base in Japan. The plot was broken up by the Secret Service in Chicago. Not that they wanted to, they sort of had to when the local cops got a call from a landlady with the guns, passports, maps and "parade route" in Highlighter still on the bed. An important name still with us: Abraham Bolden.

Thank you, ReRe! Readers are leaders.

[ReRe]

23. Stop!

I have to sleep sometime, not to mention all this housework that's piled up around me. Just kidding... keep it coming. I learn so much from you. I had no idea about that foiled assassination attempt in Chicago against JFK. I will watch your Edwin Black doc. Go watch Jeremy Scahill's Dirty Wars (link in sig line.)

[ReRe]

38. Knowledge is Power! n/t

[lostincalifornia]

29. You are right on the mark

[NewJeffCT]

13. what an asshole

What about rich Indians? Or, only for rich white people, Herr Dekkers?

[elzenmahn]

18. I'm curious about the nature...

...of the tactful hint you received. I hope it wasn't from Bayer or somebody associated with Bayer in any way.

[ReRe]

19. Have you noticed....

... how the 1% keeps making these incriminating statements, of late? Think they are rubbing salt into the wounds of the 99%? I do.

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. I think they are getting so cocky they don't care what they say

Used to be these assholes would be quietly in the background, plotting their nefarious deeds.
Somewhere in the last 1-0-15 years, they all seem to have gotten the idea that being more public
is fine and dandy.
guess they have no fear of backlash, since there are seemingly no consequences for fraud on a massive scale.

[uponit7771]

25. They don't have to care, If he gets fired tommorrow he's still rich. I pray India takes the drug and

... sells it at such a low price that it helps a lot of people

[Ed Suspicious]

26. You're so evil!!!! j/k

[ReRe]

30. Well, they ought to be quaking in their Italian imported boots...

... because looks to me like the world is pissed. If they think for one minute that the people are going to forget September 14, 2008, they better go to their psychoanalysts and get a reality check, pronto. Thom Hartmann says there's going to be another belly-up in our economy in 2016. True what you said about them not being held accountable. Two sets of laws in this country. One for the haves. One for the have-nots. "Equal justice under the law?" Nope, it's unequal justice under the law.

(Please read my sig line!)

[Sunlei]

32. But U.S. Pharmaceutical Companies aren't afraid to Test Drugs on India’s Poor

[lostincalifornia]

35. FYI, Bayer is NOT a U.S. Pharmaceutical company. Also, at least for U.S. pharmaceutical

companies they have to go through extensive safety testing before it goes through clinical trials which are broken up in phases of which the first phase is safety, and these trials are done only with informed consent. There have been plenty of trials stopped during the process because of unacceptable adverse reactions. Some by the FDA, some by the company itself.

[Roland99]

39. Why did you remove it from your FB page?