Eh, I'd say it's likelier without even researching it that big pharma knew how bad they were and just didn't say anything. It's not like that's what the tobacco companies did with cancer, or the alcohol companies did with cancer and abuse, or the lead and gas companies with leaded gas and mental defects, or the fracking companies with earthquakes, or the banking industry did on the ramp up to the market collapse, or the food industry with cancer and obesity, or like big pharma already did repeatedly with all of those other drugs they've made.
You can almost always guarantee that a company knows how bad it's product is long before anybody else finds out about it and they will ALWAYS protect the company and profits before the public.
I mean big pharma has already been caught doing this very thing with dozens of drugs. They've been found to have released drugs that they knew weren't safe that then went on to kill tens of thousands of people and they simply didn't tell anybody about it and the only reason we know is due to governmental inquires.
Oh and those disgustingly perverse incentives to prescribe those opiates came from big pharma in the first place.
1. Agree that big pharma probably played a fairly major role in the significant use and probable overuse of drugs, and downplaying negative effects of addictive drugs like opiates.
2. Agree that Big Tobacco knew the whole time that their products were addictive, that they marketed and sold products to teens, etc.
3. I disagree that alcohol companies have done anything meaningful about alcohol abuse and addiction, the 'enjoy responsibly' campaign is stupid, and booze continues to be glamorized in all aspects of our society.
4. I disagree with your general claim about leaded gas, 'mental defects' and the companies and industries that introduced them to the market. I think you are trying to lump this with the rest, when there isn't really much evidence for foul play. I don't think there is nearly enough evidence of what you seem to be claiming.
5. I completely disagree with your claim about 'fracking companies and earthquakes', because any claim that you could possibly make from that initial statement is untrue on its face, impossible to prove, and I don't agree that fracking causes earthquakes. Again, your claim is vague, so I'm not sure what you're trying to say.
Finally, I don't think your last two paragraphs are factually accurate. I might agree with the general claim that drug companies withheld important information from doctors. I don't agree that kickbacks or incentives were any different than any other drug or significantly more than what could be described as normal. I believe there would have been red flags if doctors were getting kickbacks or fees or whatever term you want, if they were getting significant amounts of money. I simply don't buy that this was normal for a specific drug, class of drug, treatment, or anything else. I believe this was simply the culture when these drugs were brought to market.
I think the drug Vioxx is a good example of a bad behavior of a pharmaceutical company that took advantage of doctors. Are you familiar with the Martin Report from 2006?
Next, kickbacks, chemo bonuses, etc, are all things that seem like dirty little secrets and payoffs between drug companies and doctors, all engaged in a vast conspiracy to make doctors and drug companies rich at the expense of patients. The trouble with that argument is that dead addicted patients can't buy more drugs. I disagree with the general notion that kickbacks from opiate manufacturers were significantly different than any other drug. I think we would be able to easily see if this was the case.
With regards to Vioxx, "On September 30, 2004, Merck withdrew rofecoxib from the market because of concerns about increased risk of
heart attack and
stroke associated with long-term, high-dosage use. Merck withdrew the drug after
disclosures that it withheld information about rofecoxib's risks from doctors and patients for over five years, resulting in between 88,000 and 140,000 cases of serious heart disease." How can you hold doctors accountable and responsible for a drug company withholding information like this?
Reading your post again, I agree with most of what you said, with the exception of doctors knowingly prescribing dangerous drugs. The bits and pieces, the nitty gritty details with regards to opiates and kickbacks etc, might be a little tedious for this thread, but I'm game if you are. I would be eager to see if you can find any documentation of doctors and kickbacks with regards to opiates versus other medications. I guess I have a hard time believing doctors would act like this since they aren't making their income from kickbacks or rebates or incentives or whatever label is used.
I also think it's important to note that I am not talking or interested in discussing already illegal activities like pill mill docs etc. I am only talking about kickbacks as you seem to be describing them, and that I don't think doctors are at fault, most of the time.
https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/18/opioids-pain-prescribing-physicians/
"On the surface, payments linked to pain scores are relatively small. Pain management accounts for less than 5 percent of Medicare incentive payments. (About 30 percent of a hospital’s total performance score is determined by patient satisfaction scores, only one-eighth of which is based on pain management.) But quantifying the dollar amount allocated to specific survey questions may ignore the outsized influence that these scores can have on prescribers’ psyches. Some polls have found that between
half and
three-quarters of physicians feel increased pressure to prescribe opioids because of pain-related questions on patient surveys."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5494184/
"Prescription opioids are an important tool for physicians in treating pain but also carry significant risks of harm when prescribed inappropriately or misused by patients or others."
and
"Physicians bear responsibility for careful and conscientious prescribing, which includes patient assessment, communication, and education.
25 In practice, that responsibility may be heightened in the case of opioids. Physicians can face serious legal sanctions for inappropriate prescribing, including malpractice liability, medical board discipline, and criminal convictions.
26"
