1) The pharmaceutical industry continues to sell diseases, not cures.
Every time I open The New York Times, I read another example of this. For example, over the holidays, The Times (Saturday, December 29th), featured an article about the FDA’s recent approval of a third new anti-clotting drug—the third replacement for a 50+ year standard therapy named Coumadin—for patients with abnormal heart rhythms (e.g., atrial fibrillation). Since studies have yet to compare all four choices now available, today there is no way to know which one may be best suited for any given individual. Even so, the conclusion of the article was “…consumers and doctors should brace themselves for a marketing onslaught…I wonder whether the first commercials begin before the New Year.”
2) The pharmaceutical industry continues to focus on blockbuster drugs, but at a rate that continues to be slower as compared with 20-30 years ago.
The number of drugs that come to market has steadily been declining since the industry has adopted a more targeted, molecular approach some 20-30 years ago. The industry began requiring a complete understanding of the molecular mechanism of action for a potential new drug before spending the billion some-odd dollars required to bring it to market. If we chose this route 50 years ago, we wouldn’t have access to aspirin or Prednisone today, since no molecular mechanism of action fully explains their effects. Interestingly, knowing precisely how a new drug works is not an FDA requirement, but comes from the industry’s belief that diseases can be reduced to single targets that have very specific and reproducible effects, presumably in all patients taking a medication. In fact, nothing could be further from our experience. Most chronic conditions involve multiple reactions between multiple targets, governed by dozens to hundreds of genes. The different kinetics of each of these reactions create different effects in each individual—uniquely. So, for most Americans, our medications will continue to work very well for a few, but the majority of pharmaceutical users will continue to experience side effects, with little or no benefit from the therapy.
3) Consumers will continue to drive innovation in healthcare.
This trend is critical since healthcare must adapt to certain realities: Our healthcare system is the most expensive in the world; our outcomes are relatively poor; and, we are about to experience further health care cost increases over the coming years with more universal access to health care. We undergo more diagnostics and more procedures than citizens living in any other country, but the results from this increased testing leads to little or no improvement in care. Why?
In the book, Pharmageddon, by David Elias, the author writes that the original goal of our medical system—the care of our population—has been usurped by other commercial goals. These goals sustain the status quo, maintaining a system that sells more expensive medications and procedures, often for a disease or condition we didn’t know we had until a CT scan revealed it, or until a commercial created by a marketing genius evoked worry and concern leading to a new diagnosis. Just look at the DSM-5, and examine how many more diagnoses our experts have created in the mental health field. From social anxiety to new definitions for attention deficit, the majority of us gathering at a cocktail party now have at least one “treatable” diagnosis by age 40; often one requiring years of continuous treatment.
So, what innovation will be driven by consumers? It is the different approach applied at Anatara and other integrative medicine centers. First, the use of natural medicine will continue to grow as these herbal and botanical medications aren’t targeting a single receptor, but act more systemically. Another innovation is the use of observational science—a technique the pharma industry has largely forgotten. We make observations that are clinically useful; then test to see whether it is reproducible. Based on careful empirical observations, we have seen tumors shrink, autoimmune disease go into remission, arthritis, metabolic and hormonal disorders improve. To be sure, the public will only increasingly be seeking access to such data.
How much do you need to know about how a medication works to use it effectively? The FDA wants effective medications that are safe; so do we. Yet, since our “alternative” basket is full of medications that target hundreds of receptor targets at once (herbs, plants, nutraceuticals….), we accept that carefully tracking a positive result is “scientific”, since we will not likely ever fully understand how any drug really works. I believe that most of our senior medical doctors understand the disconnect between our current knowledge base and the deeper knowledge needed to fully understand how a drug will work for Alzheimer’s, an autoimmune condition, a chronic fatigue state, Lyme Disease, Parkinson’s, etc.
So, from me and all the Anatara staff, we wish you a healthy and joyful 2013, and hope to continue to empower you with knowledge about your bodies, your physiology, your unique archetypes, so that you can take control of your own health journey and take it in any direction you desire, with an educated perspective.