Would the pharmaceutical industry conceal a cure?

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

I've been on medicines my whole life and will be until the day i die. Luckily for me i was born in the UK and have my medical needs taken care of by the NHS.

I was just thinking the other day, the amount of money that is made from the healthcare industry around the world must be astronomical, and it crossed my mind that a Cure for an illness that requires constant medication would spell bad business for this industry.

So let's hypothosize that a pharmaceutical company scientist discovered a cure for one of these illness'. Would the higher-ups cover it up in the interest of their cashflow or do the right thing to help mankind and release it?

 

[karamazov80]

Yeah, they would, and no doubt do so. Same with renewable energy sources. Profit is what matters when you are a private firm. Other concerns are always secondary to that.

 

[wofford29]

Absolutely.

 

[thedarkknight]

They probably already have.

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

Yeah, they would, and no doubt do so. Same with renewable energy sources. Profit is what matters when you are a private firm. Other concerns are always secondary to that.

Absolutely.

Damn shame though, to think of the suffering that could be removed for good.

Don't look like we'll ever really grow as a selfless species.

 

[The Ween]

My mother used to say, "When's the last time you've heard of a doctor dying of cancer?"

 

[The Ween]

A lot might depend on the person discovering the cure. If glory would mean more to him than the millions of dollars the company would give him for keeping his mouth shut.

 

[crows]

Yeah, they would, and no doubt do so. Same with renewable energy sources. Profit is what matters when you are a private firm. Other concerns are always secondary to that.

exactly,

yep, there are cars that can run on water but they bought those and hid them, there are a lot of advances that are made in science technology medicine, that are either not safe enough to release or bought and hidden,
we would probably be amazed at all the crap they hide from us,
and about the cure being hidden, some people even think aids was man made, yeah it sounds like conspiracy theories it does, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the things we use are making us sick on purpose,

My mother used to say, "When's the last time you've heard of a doctor dying of cancer?"

Holy S__ Ween...

 

[shocktrooper_au]

Yes I believe they do, keep asking yourself more questions, cause theres a lot more answers out there

 

[plasmid303]

It's easy to be a pessimist and consider a conspiracy by big pharma to conceal the mythical one-shot cure (to cancer, I assume), but for that to be plausible, you'd have to ignore that an instantly effective cure for cancer is more implausible than the conspiracy if one is familiar with the nature of cancer. If anything, they'd downplay the effectiveness of the magical one-shot in order to push their long-term treatment which would provide a roundabout means of a cure, eventually.

The thing is, it's pretty difficult to cover up high-quality, peer-reviewed studies that present certain results. That sort of knowledge, once out there in academia, is practically like a disease in its spread.

Also, consider that if there were a concealed cure for a currently terminal ailment, wouldn't the wealthiest, most powerful CEO's not succumb to stuff like cancer?

Beyond that, I think the reaction to a 'cure' of any sort is dependent on the affliction, on a case-by-case basis. HIV? The common cold? Baldness? Tobacco companies would love a cure for mesothelioma and asbestos. Heck, even big pharma companies frequently targeted for lawsuits pertaining to Actos and bladder cancer would love for the heat to be taken off of them.

 

[crows]

It's easy to be a pessimist and consider a conspiracy by big pharma to conceal the mythical one-shot cure (to cancer, I assume), but for that to be plausible, you'd have to ignore that an instantly effective cure for cancer is more implausible than the conspiracy if one is familiar with the nature of cancer. If anything, they'd downplay the effectiveness of the magical one-shot in order to push their long-term treatment which would provide a roundabout means of a cure, eventually.

The thing is, it's pretty difficult to cover up high-quality, peer-reviewed studies that present certain results. That sort of knowledge, once out there in academia, is practically like a disease in its spread.

Also, consider that if there were a concealed cure for a currently terminal ailment, wouldn't the wealthiest, most powerful CEO's not succumb to stuff like cancer?

Beyond that, I think the reaction to a 'cure' of any sort is dependent on the affliction, on a case-by-case basis. HIV? The common cold? Baldness? Tobacco companies would love a cure for mesothelioma and asbestos. Heck, even big pharma companies frequently targeted for lawsuits pertaining to Actos and bladder cancer would love for the heat to be taken off of them.

that is true,
but, in general, there are probably hundreds of things that are hidden or will never see the light of day advances that are not taken out because they are not safe or they would not be good for current companies,

 

[JD18_92]

They can make a lightbulb that never burns out, but why sell it? Then no one would ever need to get another one again. Its all part of the game of making money. There is no doubt in my mind there is cures out there for all kinds of things, but its all about the money, and im sure they want to keep the population "under control"

 

[fosing]

this thread is begging to be OSCORPed.

 

[plasmid303]

that is true,
but, in general, there are probably hundreds of things that are hidden or will never see the light of day advances that are not taken out because they are not safe or they would not be good for current companies,

There's no doubt that there are materials sitting in some company's vaults that probably can treat or cure various diseases. There are likely tens of hundreds of compounds which show amazing efficacy and some of those have gone into animals to test for efficacy.

Beyond that, though, there are huge hurdles which are expensive and time consuming to overcome, which can halt the drug development dead in its tracks. Toxicity, stability, how the drug behaves in a living system) etc.

Long story short, there is a greater possibility that pharmaceutical companies aren't researching certain cures because of the cost in acquiring the patents and of course to invent materials and molecules for the purposes of healthcare. This of course does play into a lack of interest due to little return in profit, but it's at least an order of magnitude less in nefariousness than a company sitting on a complete cure-all because it would interfere with treatment plans like chemo.

It's hard to argue against the prevailing opinion that pharma companies' primary goal is to make money. That's because it's true. But that's the number one goal of most companies, regardless of industry. Could be wrong about this, but aren't corporations obligated by law to look after the shareholder's best interests or something along those lines? cures for minor diseases aren't pursued by big pharma since it doesn't pad their wallets and while from an ethics standpoint this ends up being a debatable decision, how would a pharma company support their employees and shareholders if they opt to research and develop for a disease that wouldn't earn them income?


And then there's the issue of competition between company A and company B. You don't think there'd be stiff competition between pharma companies to outdo each other? Or do these conspiracies take into the account the odds of many rival companies colluding together in some grand evil scheme?

I think if there were magic-bullet cures for certain ailments, there would be interest in pharma to pursue them in hopes to recoup the gargantuan costs of developing them in the first place and to generate a profit in the firm of preventative/preemptory meds. "hey, this cancer cure is pretty awesome, but wouldn't you want your kids to never live in fear of cancer/aids/allergies/whatever?". That's a market of 7 billion people.

 

[KitFisto]

The cure to almost everything is in the foods we eat. Most would be shocked to learn the level of health you can have by eating right and how many illnesses can be reversed as well.

I'm struggling to change my diet now and get away from the crap.

 

[xjamiex]

I hope Nova doesn't get randomly abducted by the government now

 

[mojo customz]

they not only conceal the cure------they create the illness-----

 

[steven.giunta]

No way,a company could never pull it off.yes they make a ton of money from people taking medicines every day but the people who usually work there are not evil.do you really think a scientist would discover a cure for cancer and then not tell anybody?it would be a dream come true for them to cure a major disease.some dedicate there lives searching for one.someone would eventually blow the whistle and then s%$& would hit the fan.if they do find a cure for a disease it doesn't mean the company will go under.people who get a disease would still need to buy the cure.

 

[Devil_666]

The cure to almost everything is in the foods we eat. Most would be shocked to learn the level of health you can have by eating right and how many illnesses can be reversed as well.

And most would be shocked at how many healty eaters/people out there die of cancer, MS, AIDS, etc like everyone else. Because it's more than you would expect. Most disease has nothing to do with your lifestyle or the foods you eat. They have to do with genetics. If your family has a predisposition to heart disease or cancer, doesn't matter how much bird seed and grains you eat, it's not going to change that.

 

[thenammagazine]

Is a frog's ass watertight?