The over-50's are a lucrative cash-cow for Big Pharma. Their cholesterol-reducing drugs have reaped billions of dollars for them, despite ever-increasing evidence that these drugs do more harm than good. Around a quarter of cholesterol resides in our brains. You don't have to be a medical expert to understand, if you mess with cholesterol, you mess with your brain.
Big Pharma has been targeting dementia and Alzheimer's for years. It promises to be the next big thing. Whether a drug works or not is beside the point. What counts is how much of it can be pumped into a person before he or she dies.
You may have heard that a new drug, Aduhelm, for the treatment of Alzheimer's has been approved by the FDA. The news was headlined all over the place with Alzheimer's Advocacy organisations praising the decision, ramping up pressure on Pharmac to fund its use in New Zealand. Do these advocacy agencies work for the betterment of Alzheimer's patients and their families, or are they working to increase the profits of Big Pharma when they lobby for yet another ineffective drug?
"The advisory committee, which convened in November, couldn’t have been more openly skeptical of the drug, also known as aducanumab. Ten of the 11 panelists found that there was not enough evidence to show it could slow cognitive decline. The 11th voted “uncertain.”
But the FDA still approved the treatment on Monday. On top of the potentially massive implications for patients, clinicians, and health care spending, the decision also raised questions about the role of the advisory committees — and what it meant that the agency, in its final adjudication, bucked the very panel it had convened."
I've been working full-time in health for over 45 years and there has been absolutely no improvement in population health in NZ, despite our going from almost zero reliance on drugs to now being one of the most medicated countries in the world. Health is declining across all age groups.
Apart from drugs like antibiotics, few other drugs target the root causes of ill health such as:
Poverty.
Food degradation due to industrial food production practices.
Toxins in our food and environment.
Excess sugar and grains.
Malnutrition.
Lack of sunshine.
Lack of daily exercise.
Excessive and unrelenting stress.
Instead of addressing these root causes, we are chasing symptoms and applying toxic bandaid drugs in ever-increasing numbers and potency. It is my firm opinion that this excessive use of drugs is what is accelerating the incidence and earlier onset of diseases of the mind such as dementia and Alzheimer's.
Our country's Pandemic Response is typical of this insane approach to health issues: the root causes of why we may be so vulnerable so many diseases are being ignored (poverty, malnutrition, immune suppression by drugs etc) while clearing out or suppressing effective off-patent treatments. In the case of the Pandemic, we have only one option left for escape from our self-imposed prison: the billion-dollar vaccine!
The manager of a rest home once said to me of the end of life elderly she cares for: "If we take them off their medication, they live longer". Go figure that one!