The experimentation that kills

Since the dawn of time man has always been afraid of death, but even more than the physical pain and suffering. Today we have an infinite range of drugs that help us to heal our diseases, not all, not always, but certainly pharmacological research has made ​​great strides in the last century.

Some diseases have been completely eradicated in industrialized countries, just think of the plague cycle that halved the population of Europe in past centuries. But as it has come to this progress and at what price? According to a cautious estimate, once synthesized the active ingredient of a drug, it would take at least fifteen years to experience the effects on the human organism.

A very long time that manufacturers often can not afford to budget issues and why they say, in this period of time you could save many lives. Western countries have stringent rules regarding experimentation on human guinea pigs. It happens so often, notes that multinational drug companies - Big Pharma calls in Anglo-Saxon countries - bring their experiments in the poorest countries where there are fewer controls.

It happened, for example, in India in 2003, as reported by an official bulletin of the Who - the World Health Organization - which states the complaint of Dr. Chandra Gulhati, editor of the "Monthly Index of Medical Specialities in India." In his article, Dr. Gulhati reported the case of the trial of an illegal drug by Sun Pharmaceuticals. The product used was a copy of the drug recorded with the name of Letrozole by Novartis. According to Dr. Gulhati experimenters administered the drug to four women by telling them that it was a drug that increased fertility.

In fact, the Letrozole is a drug that by law you can only use for the treatment of breast cancer. It seems that neither the holding nor any of the doctors who administered the drug to patients, has been indicted so far. The reporter adds that in India there is a vast system of corruption that part by pharmaceutical companies and is aimed at doctors and complacent state apparatus in order to circumvent the law regulating experiments on humans. Normally there is no compensation for people undergoing experimental treatments that have suffered physical damage or for families of patients who have died.

Another unsolved case is unearthed in Portugal by Alfredo Pequito, a former employee of Bayer. In 1997 Pequito claimed to have evidence of corruption of two thousand five hundred Portuguese doctors. The drug companies would pay these doctors prescribe because their products. The survey ascertained that the Inspector General of Health in the same year Bayer Portugal had spent an amount between 5% and 10% of its turnover for gifts to physicians. In 2000, shortly before testifying in court against his former company, Pequito escaped two assassination attempts.

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In 2006, it was instead the Portuguese newspaper Expresso to speak again of Bayer. According to the newspaper, eight volunteers died during the trial of a drug for the treatment of heart failure. Following this complaint, Bayer immediately suspended the trial and the drug was not for sale. Bayer has never been prosecuted for corruption or unethical behavior in Portugal, but it must be said that at the time was defended by the law firm "Jardim, Sampaio, Caldas e Associados', respectively, the Minister of Justice, the President of the Republic and the Minister of Defence of Portugal.

A different outcome had two processes - both of which resolved in 2012 - in which he was accused GlaxoSmithKline, one of the most powerful multinational drug companies. The first of these processes took place in Argentina. The Gsk between 2007 and 2008 he experimented on over 24 thousand children under the age of five years, a vaccine against pneumonia, Synflorix. Fourteen children who had been undergoing treatment for what was called "Compas project" died.

However, GSK was not sentenced to a fine of 400 thousand pesos - about 50 thousand euro - for these deaths, because the doctors that they selected patients chose children from families who are illiterate and therefore could not understand the content of the document that was made twenty-eight pages their sign. The experiment was then presented as a normal vaccination and not as an experiment that could pose a risk to children.


The market for drugs each year produces huge gains for those who produce them
The second trial took place in the United States and was resolved with the highest fine ever paid by a multinational drug in that country. Three billion dollars were paid by GlaxoSmithKline, found guilty of not declaring certain side effects of a drug called Avandia diabetes.

The side effects were forgotten among others heart attack and stroke, not just a tummy ache. The pharmaceutical company was also found guilty of having encouraged the use of the antidepressant Paxil in pediatric, when its use is allowed only on patients with more than eighteen years. Another antidepressant, Wellbutrin, was sold to cure diseases completely different from those for which it was created.

The GlaxoSmithKleine has always declared innocent of the accusations made in these processes, claiming to comply with all rules and ethics indeed, always operate with the aim of improving the living conditions and health of all humanity.

The impression that you are venturing into the world of pharmaceutical companies is that in reality it is very difficult to monitor the behavior of the experimenters to understand whether they are ethical or not. Especially if these trials take place in developing countries, where people often become unwitting guinea pigs sacrificed any of money and profit.