Big Pharma

“Big Pharma” is a term used to refer collectively to the global pharmaceutical industry. “Big pharma” was cited in the San Francisco (CA) Examiner on June 29, 1993, and on April 24, 1995.
 
Unfavorable nicknames of Big Pharma include “Big Harma” (Big Pharma + harm) and “Big Pharmafia” (Big Pharma + mafia).
 
 
Wikipedia: Big Pharma conspiracy theory
The Big Pharma conspiracy theory is a group of conspiracy theories that claim that the medical community in general and pharmaceutical companies in particular, especially large corporations, operate for sinister purposes and against the public good, and that they allegedly cause and worsen a wide range of diseases.
   
History and definition
The term Big Pharma is used to refer collectively to the global pharmaceutical industry. According to Steve Novella the term has come to connote a demonized form of the pharmaceutical industry. Professor of writing Robert Blaskiewicz has written that conspiracy theorists use the term Big Pharma as “shorthand for an abstract entity comprising corporations, regulators, NGOs, politicians, and often physicians, all with a finger in the trillion-dollar prescription pharmaceutical pie”.
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
big pharma n. (also with capital initials) major, multinational pharmaceutical companies collectively (usually with singular agreement).
1994   Business Week 26 Sept. 71/3   It’s more efficient and increases flexibility for big pharma to contract out more research instead of carry a huge R&D infrastructure.
2003   Independent 3 Sept. 16/5   Its paymasters in Big Pharma..would suffer eroded profits.
   
Newspapers.com
29 June 1993, San Francisco (CA) Examiner, “Biotechnology industry grows up” by Sally Lehrman, pg. B-1, cols. 3-4:
“Big pharma has a pipeline problems,” said Steven Burrill, information director of manufacturing/high-technology industry services at the accounting firm Ernst & Young.
 
Newspapers.com
24 April 1995, San Francisco (CA) Examiner, “Drug giants grab Bay Area biotech,” pg. D-23, col. 1:
Alejandro Zaffaroni, founder of Affymax, says, “My goal from the very beginning was to transform our company into a lead discovery center for big pharma.”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Big pharma
Author: Jacky Law
Publisher: London : Constable, 2006.
Edition/Format:   Print book : English
Summary:
Taking the reader on a journey through the pharmaceutical business, the author shows how the public is concerned about conventional medicine. She tells a story of regulatory failure, high prices, betrayal of the public interest and growing awareness that things could be different. She urges us not to be passive consumers, but be informed citizens
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Big bucks, big pharma : marketing disease & pushing drugs
Author: Loretta Alper; Peter Brandoli; Jeremy Earp; Amy Goodman; Sut Jhally; All authors
Publisher: [San Francisco, California, USA] : Kanopy Streaming, 2014.
Edition/Format:   eVideo : Clipart/images/graphics : English
Publication: Media Education Foundation Collection
Summary:
Big Bucks, Big Pharma pulls back the curtain on the advertising tactics of the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose how it uses, manipulates, and sometimes creates illness in the pursuit of profit. With the help of health professionals and media scholars, the film dissects some of the most striking pharmaceutical ads on television, in the end revealing how the industry exploits people’s emotions to promote the use of prescription drugs.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Big pharma and drug pricing
Author: Pete Schauer
Publisher: New York : Greenhaven Publishing, 2018. ©2018
Series: Opposing viewpoints series (Unnumbered)
Edition/Format:   Print book : Secondary (senior high) school : English : First edition
Summary:
Americans pay among the highest prices for prescription drugs, thanks to government legislation and the powerful pharmaceutical lobbies. The effect has been disastrous, with many citizens obtaining cheaper medicine from Canada, and others forgoing it altogether at the risk of their health. These crippling prices are set by “big pharma,” at the insistence of those who support free trade. Consumers call the pharmaceutical companies greedy and selfish, but these companies also enact change, through scientific research, curing of diseases, and community outreach. What is the answer to this complex issue? Readers will learn about the conflicts and potential solutions in this compelling volume.
     
Science Vibe
HOW ROCKEFELLER WIPED OUT NATURAL CURES TO CREATE BIG PHARMA
April 27, 2018 Science
You thought Big Oil was bad, but the Rockefeller Family also set the stage for Big Pharma destroying Natural Cures in the process. Author, Chris Kanthan, has written an amazing article on how the Rockefeller family undermined modern society in countless ways, but what most do not realize is just how much they wiped out natural cures. The family name has now been linked to the suppression of natural medicine to found big pharmaceutical companies and make big money.
 
Twitter
Robert Reich
@RBReich
As Gilead’s stock price rises on reports of remdesivir, remember that the drug was developed with a $37.5 million grant from the federal government paid for by the taxpayers.
Once again, Big Pharma is set to profit on the taxpayer’s dime.
11:02 AM · May 2, 2020·Twitter Web App