Well, it's finally happend, and now in the open. It seems that the bottom line needs of the corporate pharmeceutical world outway the needs of those who need their product to stay alive.
Very early this morning as I was going about my business of getting ready for the day ahead, and I happened to be listening to the BBC news broadcast when this story came on that absolutely made me stop and think: What if a major life sustain manufacturer of a drug know as Insulin can stop delivering and providing a life giving drug to an entire nation, then what is next?
Well it has happened.
The nation of Greece, which we all know is in the throws of major financial problems, wants via a government decree, a 25% price cut in all medicines. Well it seems that the Insulin giant manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, doesn't like this as they claim it would take away from their bottom line profits. So what does a major pharmaceutical company that is the provider of Insulin do? They withdraw their life saving drug from an entire country, and in effect, give a potential death sentence via extortion on over More than 50,000 Greeks with diabetes that use Novo Nordisk's state of-the-art-insulin. This Insulin is injected using a syringe, pen style device, and it appears that this already economically hard pressed country in Nov Nordis's eyes is to be the firewall of punishment as Greece is key reference point for setting drug prices for many other countries.
It appears that International pharmaceutical companies are owed billions in unpaid bills. Novo Nordisk claims it is owed $36m (£24.9m) dollars by the Greek state as BBC stated this morning and their line in the sand to stop this profit hemorrhaging is to cut off an entire nation of their life saving product.
Let's read that again: They are owed $36 million. Now how long does it take for Novo Nordis to earn $36 million on their total product line?? Days, weeks, maybe a month?
The BBC print article went on to say:
"Pavlos Panayotacos, whose 10-year-old daughter Nephele has diabetes, has written to Novo Nordisk's chairman to criticize the move. "As an economist I realize the importance of making a profit, but healthcare is more than just the bottom line," he wrote.
"As you well may know, Greece is presently in dire economic and social straits, and you could not have acted in a more insensitive manner at a more inopportune time."
The Greek diabetes association was more robust, describing the Danes' actions as "brutal blackmail" and "a violation of corporate social responsibility".
The Danish chairman, Lars Sorensen, wrote to Mr. Panayotacos stressing that it was "the irresponsible management of finances by the Greek government which puts both you and our company in this difficult position".
People with diabetes in Greece have warned that some could die as a result of this action.
But a spokesman for Novo Nordisk said this issue was not about killing people. He pledged that the company would make traditional insulin products available free of charge to compensate."
"Free of charge"??? Hmmmmm...
Is this but the first peak into that dark window of the power of what a corporate life saving pharmceutical manufacturing giant can do over the lives of an entire nation that depend on their product? What's next? I think we all now the answer to that, and it’s has to do with the word "precedent".