Big Pharma protects its profits by attacking your rights
Whether you take a weight loss supplement or not, I would think that you support people’s right to take them. Unless, of course, you’re a pharmaceutical company with a weight-loss drug that stands to lose money from the competition.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one such company, and I can only guess that its product, Alli, isn’t doing quite as well as it had hoped. Now, GSK is putting on its “Big Brother” hat and trying to eliminate Alli’s competition in the name of the “public interest.” In a desperate move, the company filed a “citizen petition” asking the FDA to prevent manufacturers of weight loss supplements from claiming that their products help you lose weight. What?
GSK’s argument is that since obesity and weight loss are significant risk factors in certain diseases, ANY PRODUCTS promoting weight loss claims should be treated as drugs! It gets worse. The petition goes on to state that – and I quote – “there is no credible evidence whatsoever to support any type of health claim for a weight loss supplement.”
I know what you’re thinking: “Maybe Big Pharma’s got a point this time, Dr. D – there’s a whole lot of shady weight loss supplements out there on the market.” Maybe so. But look at the big picture with me on this, OK? Remember, this petition wants to classify ANY PRODUCT that has a weight loss claim as a drug – and that’s painting with an awfully broad brush.
Vitamin B, for example, has been known to bolster the metabolism which, it could be said, can promote weight loss. What if vitamin B was suddenly a drug and a prescription was required for this beneficial natural supplement? It would be more expensive and harder to get.
Most sickening of all, Big Pharma claims to be lashing out at the supplement business – not because of the growing popularity of natural and alternative medicines (which represent a direct threat to Big Pharma’s obscene profits) – but because of “concern for the public.”
Oh, PUHlease
Trust me on this: This petition has notion to do with “concern for the public,” and everything to do with the bottom line. The supplement industry must be making a dent in Big Pharma’s pocketbook. That’s good to know.
Most supplement companies do not float on a limitless pool of money, as drug companies like Glaxo do. So all the inherent legal paperwork and red tape that would come with their natural supplements suddenly becoming drugs would probably bankrupt many of these companies, or at the very least deal them a massive financial blow.
If, (heaven forbid) the FDA accepts this GSK petition, its effects on the dietary supplement business would be drastic, immediate, and incredibly damaging. If we’re not careful, it could only be a matter of time before everything from ginseng to St. John’s wort to valerian root to vitamin C would be under the control of the government – and their fat-cat buddies at the major drug makers.
The good thing about this citizen’s petition is that you don’t have to support it to comment on it. Plenty of people have written in saying things like: “the drug company is obviously concerned about its bottom line and nothing more” and “It’s very clear the pharmaceutical industry has undertaken a campaign to takeover the healthfood/supplement industry.”
The more comments against this ridiculous petition, the better. To add your own two cents, click here.
