DISRUPTING PHARMA—ONLY POLITICIANS CAN DO IT, HERE’S WHY AND HOW

Part I

AN ARTICLE FROM 2017

I published DISRUPTING PHARMA—ONLY POLITICIANS CAN DO IT, HERE’S WHY AND HOW August 15 2017.

It begins:

“Politicians have been bearing down hard on Pharma pricing for some years now. Sadly however, skyrocketing drug prices are just the tip of a massive iceberg. We see $bns spent pushing brands on health-care professionals, the many clinical trial failures, $bn litigation over damaging side-effects, me-too drugs, shortages, counterfeiting, price gouging—a seemingly endless list of debilitating issues”

It then goes on to describe how the blockbuster era was ‘created.’

Return to the battle of the anti-ulcer drugs

In November 1976, Smith Kline & French (SK&F) launched Tagamet, a drug to combat stomach ulcers. It quickly took off and was dubbed the world’s first ‘blockbuster’ drug (≥ $1 Bn annual sales).

Glaxo launched a competitor product, Zantac, in 1981 and immediately targeted reportedly minor side-effects of Tagamet to pitch their case to doctors.

By 1987, Zantac had …