Drug Rehab Needs Will Increase In Spite Of Big Pharma’s Cut-Backs

                                                                                         

Big Pharma has lost billions of dollars recently, with plant closings and layoffs totaling 40,000 jobs so far and climbing. But the cut-backs among most Big Pharma corporations will likely lead to more, not fewer, prescription drug rehab programs being needed in the future.



While some companies are getting rid of non-pharmaceutical interests, others are closing down plants and reducing work forces to cut costs and bolster sagging profits. For Big Pharma, like all publicly owned corporations, the be-all and end-all is the bottom line. Being in the health improvement business isn’t a factor in the numbers game, nor is it of concern that millions of people are in drug rehab programs, or should be, because of their products.



An article in Guardian Unlimited says that Swiss drug maker Novartis AG announced a layoff of 2,500 employees - one of a series of cut-backs spreading across the Big Pharma landscape. Last week, Sanofi-Aventis of France announced spending cuts, and Bristol-Myers Squibb said it will cut 10% of its workers and close several factories. Most other Big Pharma companies have taken steps already to counteract business losses, including Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Schering-Plough, and Amgen - many of them names that drug rehab counselors, not just stock market investors, are familiar with.



Among the problems Big Pharma faces are research divisions producing too few new brand-name pharmaceuticals, with patents on many profitable brands expiring soon. Cheaper generic drugs will replace the brands, and those profits won’t go into Big Pharma’s pockets. There won’t be fewer drugs for sale, but they’ll be more affordable. As for addictive drugs, we will see even more addictions and more demands for drug rehab services.



Big Pharma has lost billions of dollars on drugs that have been assigned “black box” warning labels by the FDA, and more $billions on drugs that have been withdrawn from the market because of deadly risks. As a result, more people than ever have begun to distrust Big Pharma’s products and are avoiding prescription drugs that are even remotely similar to the known dangerous drugs.



For example, Merck pulled its arthritis painkiller Vioxx off the market in 2004 because of serious cardiovascular side effects. The withdrawal cost Merck $2.5 billion a year. Most of the former Vioxx users were expected to move to Pfizer’s arthritis drug Celebrex - similar to Vioxx but also with a black-box warning. Instead, half of them passed on Celebrex along with all other similar prescriptions. Not only did Pfizer not pick up the Vioxx business, but 60% of its Celebrex customers also walked away because of safety concerns. Pfizer’s profits on Celebrex, expected to be $4 billion a year, dropped to $2 billion.



Meanwhile, a new generation of drugs, with unknown side effects or dependency problems that could lead to drug rehab, are in development by biotech companies who aren’t Big Pharma players. They usually expect to be bought out or acquired, because these drugs represent a market threat to Big Pharma, and Big Pharma already has the marketing infrastructure in place. Such acquisitions are usually delayed until some testing shows they are somewhat safe and not obvious additions to the drugs well known at drug rehab centers.



So the need for drug rehab will certainly increase in spite of the cut-backs in Big Pharma. With millions of people already dependent on prescription drugs and in need of drug detox and drug rehab now, and with cheaper addictive drugs coming, we can expect to see an even greater need for drug rehab program facilities over the next few years.

About the author:
Rod MacTaggart is a freelance writer that contributes articles on health.

info@drugrehabreferral.com

http://www.drugrehabreferral.com


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