It's Official: Big Pharma is Lobbying Against Electronic Cigarettes

[Anjaffm]

It's Official: Big Pharma is Lobbying Against Electronic Cigarettes


The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary: It's Official: Big Pharma is Lobbying Against Electronic Cigarettes


Now, an article in The Times - that is really something. We have known it all the time, of course, but that is not the same as an article in the London Times. - The article is behind a paywall, unfortunately, you can see the first part though - nice first part, for us

E-cigarettes can be gateway to tobacco, warns rival Glaxo

Tee hee, I love the way the British word things

The leaked correspondence from GlaxoSmithKline, whose nicotine patches, gums and lozenges are being undermined by the burgeoning e-cigarette market, reveals the opposition from the pharmaceutical industry to impending regulation of e-cigarettes across the European Union.

 

[DrMA]

I love it when we get these rare insights thru leaked internal documents into the greedy and malicious practices of corporations. But it also gives me pause, because "corporations" don't actually exist - it's the actions of the people in their leadership that dictate the agenda and "behavior" of corporations. I think it's time to stop personalizing imaginary entities such as the FDA, BP, BT, or ANTZ organizations, and start holding responsible the actual culprits for the ongoing attempted genocide of vapers and smokers: the people hiding behind the closed doors of corporate board rooms and bureaucratic committees. Flush those would-be 'desk murderers' out into the public light and expose their greedy agendas and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.

 

[Harlen]

Can't make money off of crap you don't sale .
Better too take them off the market and then go back and sale the crap you know don't work .

 

[DrMA]

Can't make money off of crap you don't sale .
Better too take them off the market and then go back and sale the crap you know don't work .

Yep. From today's news:
BBC News - Scrap plan to extend statin use, say doctors

 

[Anjaffm]

Yep. From today's news:
BBC News - Scrap plan to extend statin use, say doctors

Excellent news! And a very good read indeed. Thank you for posting it

But in a letter to NICE and ministers, the experts expressed concern about the medicalisation of healthy people.

The letter said the draft advice was overly reliant on industry-sponsored trials, which "grossly underestimate adverse effects".

And it added: "The benefits in a low-risk population do not justify putting approximately five million more people on drugs that will then have to be taken lifelong."

Yeah, statins. Drugs given to many perfectly healthy people who then have to take them for the rest of their lives. Not only mostly useless, but also potentially dangerous. Remember Lipobay?

Useless, dangerous - and highly profitable for Big P.

/edit:
I will be happy to explain the big huge lie behind the cholesterol scare, upon request.
Only so much now: high cholesterol increases a person's risk of heart attack by 2 percent (!) in absolute numbers. Poison my body for the next 30+ years and risk nasty side effects to avoid a 2% increase of heart attack risk? No thanks, I'll take a raincheck.

 

[Cap'nTripps]

Well, i can see why big pharma are worried: their range of smoke cessation products are garbage, and completely inferior to a decent e-cig imho. Their inhalers taste repulsive, same goes for their gum, and their patches burnt my arm and made me feel ill.

 

[rothenbj]

I love it when we get these rare insights thru leaked internal documents into the greedy and malicious practices of corporations. But it also gives me pause, because "corporations" don't actually exist - it's the actions of the people in their leadership that dictate the agenda and "behavior" of corporations. I think it's time to stop personalizing imaginary entities such as the FDA, BP, BT, or ANTZ organizations, and start holding responsible the actual culprits for the ongoing attempted genocide of vapers and smokers: the people hiding behind the closed doors of corporate board rooms and bureaucratic committees. Flush those would-be 'desk murderers' out into the public light and expose their greedy agendas and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.

Undermining of national security I say. Who is the traitor?

 

[Gato del Jugo]

We need more leaked memos..

Like, from the FDA & BP & BT & anti-tobacco groups like ACS, ALA, etc...


Come on, whistle-blowers & renegades.. Do your jobs!

 

[Anjaffm]

Oh and I just picked up a blog (?) article on the same subject. Ok, it's from 22 March 2014, but well worth reading.

A New Study Has the Potential to Kill the E-Cigarette Market

Indeed, one of the biggest forces working against the introduction of e-cigs is big pharma. Now, this will come as no surprise to some: Big pharma profits from treating disease, including diseases stemming from smoking. If there is less disease to treat, then their profits will fall, which is bad news for shareholders.

It mentions the same company, by the way. And its former "consultant".

 

[DrMA]

Well, i can see why big pharma are worried: their range of smoke cessation products are garbage, and completely inferior to a decent e-cig imho. Their inhalers taste repulsive, same goes for their gum, and their patches burnt my arm and made me feel ill.

The NRT revenue is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. BP takes their lion's share from smokers in their old age, when all the chronic disease (COPD, cancer) sets in. You know the widely quoted 430K deaths/year attributable to smoking? Well, all those people don't just suddenly die off, first they spend a few years consuming expensive treatments from BP, netting (let's assume) an average of $10K/year going to BP. That's roughly $4.3 billion in revenue that will no longer go to BP. The NRT revenue is probably much less that 1% of that figure.