Pharmaceuticals

This page includes critical analysis of the pharmceutical industry and news about resistance to it. The pharmaceutical industry profits from the manufacture and sale of drugs. The sector maximises its profits by marketing these drugs as a commodity, sold for profit. Pharmaceutical companies patent life-saving medicines to prevent their manufacture by competitors, thus limiting their availability. When pharmaceutical companies test new products they often test them on animals, causing them intense suffering and death. The industry's marketing and public relations (PR) work aims to shape our perceptions about how drugs affect our health in order to convince consumers, whether they are individuals, pharmacists or health authorities, to buy company products. The primary concern of the industry's PR work is maximising corporate profits.