Sucker Punches

     I have usually avoided discussions about large corporations, knowing that they are in the business to make profit.  But recently I have become very disturbed with the tactics of two parts of the corporate world.  The first are the drug companies.  I have been aware of all that they spend and waste on advertising and free gifts and samples for doctors and their offices. Just observe all the sales reps that descend upon doctors' offices.  Of course these freebies just drive up the medical costs for us.  
     But a few months ago we were hard hit by one of their tactics.  For over 20 years my wife has suffered with ulcerative colitis and she must take very heavy and expensive drugs.  One of those drugs was Asacol which cost us about two thousand dollars a year, after insurance.  In March, when she went to refill her prescription, she was told that it had been taken off the market and was replaced by a new drug, Delzicol.  It is equally expensive.  What we have learned is that it is essentially the same drug as Asacol with just one inert element missing.  The problem was that Asacol was due to become a generic in 2014 and then would be available from a variety of companies at a fraction of its cost.  But Asacol was a staple of the one company that owned the rights.  In fact in 2011 it had generated $743 million in sales. What I read is that the company that owned the rights , Warner Chilcott Plc, "now has numerous sources of potential upside given minimal generic competition for its ulcerative colitis franchise and a strong pipeline. The launch ... of Dezicol ... would offset the generic threat to Asacol, which would lose market exclusivity ... Delzicol is considered to be a follow-on product of the company's core product Asacol, which would no longer be sold once Delzicol hits the market.  Notably, generic competition for the company's mesalamine based Ulcerative Colitis remains highly unlikely over the next few years, given the challenging pathway to approval."  So that, in a nutshell, is how the drug company has manipulated things to prevent a generic becoming  available and protecting its profit.  So much for caring for the poor folks, like us, who need the drug to maintain our health.  Let the buyer beware.  
     My second problem is one that we all face - the large oil corporations who control the price of gasoline in order to make excessive products.  Over the past few years they have fluctuated prices to condition us to higher prices.  First we got used to gas at a $1, then $2, then $3 and soon we will be conditioned for $4.  And if the price drops to $3.49 for a few weeks we become so excited, until it jumps 15 cents a week later.  Soon they will get us ready and condition us as they approach $5.  And while this happens, we are no closer to energy independence than we were years ago when the Arab boycott caused us to ration gas and buy on even and odd days. Do you remember those days? And as this price increase continues to happen, hampering our economy, the liberals continue to hold up things like offshore drilling and building a pipeline.  So what can we do when we need medicine or gasoline?  I guess we just "bite the bullet" and get used to being gouged.  Of course, I guess we could buy stock in these companies and enjoy their profits, too - if we had any money left to invest.