Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-10
Cost of Drugs

oS
Star Reporter Miriam Often
berg's penetrating article
about the bankrupting cost of
miracle drugs and the convinc-
ing evidence of price fixing by
manufacturers is a fine public
service to the exploited con-
sumner. Congress and the
Federal Trade Commission are
wondering why the manufac-
turers may not have lowered
the costs through increased eff
ficiency and productivity. The
answer is they have. The
simple truth is the consumer
need and the consumer de-
mand for miracle drugs, vita
minis and all varieties Of
sundry nostrums has not only
become supersaturated but
overwhelmingly deluged.
To stimulate consumer de-
mand for mounting surpluses
and stock piles of vitamins.
antibiotics. tranquilizers and
the steroid compounds, these
manufacturers have resorted to
every trick of salesmanship
known to advertising ingenuity.
Doctors are overwhelmed with
samples. advertising and tes-
timonials Of competing prep
arations which are almost
identical in their alleged heal
ing virtues. and chemical
structure.
To enhance their alleged
miraculousness the manufac-
turers conjure combinations of
antibiotics. tranquilizers, vita
minis and steroids that are as
irrational and unneeded as
green snow or perfumed OK
ygen. The minute one manu-
facturer exploits his grab bag
OF super panaceas. his worried
competitor dreams UP a rival
that is supercolossal. No more
does the doctor have to dag
nose an ailment and write a
prescription that is suitable to
an individuals age. weight and
constitution. All that he has
to do is to write the trade
name Of some nostrum that
makes the pharmacist little
more than a dispenser Of orig
inal packages and the co-op-
Grating doctor a salesman for
the most convincing advertiser.
And II the doctor happens to
be too old-fashioned to gear
his practice to modern drug
merchandising. T-V campaigns
and advertising techniques will
soon expose his mediocrity.
The modern doctor who isn't
up on his T-V pharmacology
and therapy will soon learn
that until his patient really
gets sick. he has an unlicensed
competitor who does a better
job separating patients from
their money than in promoting
healing. This situation is be-
coming national menace to
both patient and doctor. All too
frequently the doctor uses a
machine gun to kill a mouse.
And the gullible patient either
deluges his body with costly
nostrums he does not need or
invites all the hazards of self
medication for an illness he
may not have or which the
nostrum might aggravate.
So what Is the desperate,
overstocked manufacturer 60
ing to do? II all of them start
dumping their mountainous
surplus Of similar or identical
m erchan disc at cut-throat
prices. the bottom will drop out
for everyone. To save their
glutted industry from bank
ruptcy they have initiated the
diamond monopoly: BY COM
mon agreement they Ak prices
OF comparable merchandise
just above a profitable mini
mum. They will plead that
unless this is done. their in
dustry faces ruin. On the face
Of II, the issue seems to be an
antitrust violation. which 1t
obviously is. But the real is
sue is far more significant:
Must this Nation consume or
provide a profitable market for
the overstocked manufacturers
Of vitamins, antibiotics, tran
uuilizers and nostrums? Or
should production be reduced
to rational need?
Thomas Z. Mattingly, M. d.