An interesting pharmaceutical discussion

While at my second job last week, I had a very interesting discussion with a pharmaceutical representative. Nurses, and I am no exception, are notorious about hitting up drug company reps for "the good shit". This consists of pens, notepads, arthritis squishy toys, frisbees, mugs, and other such items, all prominently emblazoned with the name of the drug in current heavy promotion. While the pens are cool (especially those that light up in different colours), and I love my gigantic duragesic mug for tea, I would gladly forgo them forever if it meant lower drug prices. More than once a patient has had less than therapeutic levels of their medications because faced with a choice between eating and getting medication, they compromised and took 1/2 the dose they needed (or less) to help free up money badly needed for food. What bothers me even more than the pens and other tchachkis are the large glossy print ads, and the television ads--those cost a LOT of money. The big drug companies whine that continued purchases of drugs from Canada (at vastly more affordable prices) cut into their funds for continued research and development of new medications. If the new medications are effective and have fewer side effects than the older drugs, they WILL sell, so the need for millions spent on mass media advertising is not justified in my opinion. How long did it take before Viagra became a household word? Not long at all. Phen-fen? Likewise, that combination became well known in a hurry. Did I hit that drug rep up for anything? Nope, not a single thing, though I did start the conversation about preferring lower medication prices in lieu of yet another pen, mug, or t-shirt. Surprisingly, he agreed with me, though he had to toe the company line and tout their products with tchachkis on a daily basis.