Praise Big Pharma Continued from Page 1 the Undercurrent Right to the Drugs That They Have This Is a Perverse Injustice
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the spring 2008 Volume 4, issue 2 the-undercurrent.com Undercurrent “It was as if an underground stream flowed through the country and broke out in sudden springs that shot to the surface at random, in unpredictable places.” Ayn Rand the business issue The Case for Stem Cell Research (3) praiseThe pharmaceutical big industry pharmadeserves to be glorified, Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest (5) not vilified Too Big To Bail (6) f you are sick, there is no better place and time to The Objectivist Academic Center (7) live than America in the 21st century. The past 50I years have witnessed an explosion of medical in- Speakers, Events, & Meetings (8) novation in the West. Drugs have been developed to lower cholesterol, fight AIDS, and altogether eradicate some diseases. Pharmaceutical companies have invested, and are investing, tens of billions of dollars each year researching new technologies to inside insider extend human life. Some day in the near future, trading by Dan Edge doctors may be writing prescriptions to slow your grandmother's Alzheimer's, to kill your father's brain tumor, or to vaccinate The nature and morality of your baby daughter against the virus that causes cervical cancer. (Actually, cross differential knowledge in that last one off the list—the HPV vaccine was invented a few years ago.) Just as our current era has been called the Information Age, the next era of human investing history may very well be dubbed the Biological Age. scientist working Yet, despite the obvious benefits pharmaceutical companies bestow upon for a pharmaceuti- mankind, "Big Pharma" is more vilified than almost any other industry. Critics calA company learns that charge that pharmaceutical companies, in their reckless pursuit of profit, pro- after decades of research and development, she duce dangerous and ineffective medicines. They claim that drugs are rushed to has succeeded in creating market without ample concern given to possible health risks. a drug that fights can- In fact, since the average drug takes 15 years and $500 million to produce, a cer. She wants to buy as pharmaceutical company puts its good name on the line every time it produces much stock in her com- a new drug. The risk of expensive lawsuits, and the accompanying loss of cred- pany as she can afford, ibility, always loom large. In the rare instances where drugs are found to have knowing that her efforts negative effects, they are taken off the market as quickly as possible. No drug by Rebecca Knapp will cause the stock price company would last five minutes if it disregarded the well -being of its custom- to sky-rocket. She wants ers. to take full advantage of her success—to invest in Big Pharma is demonized not because it profits by harming sick people, but herself. Yet if she buys stock in the company before because it profits from treating them. What critics imply, but never say openly, the news of the cancer drug is made public, she will is that there is something nefarious about making money by fulfilling a vital be liable for insider trading. human need. The CEO of a real estate development company Is there? Businesses earn profits by creating values to fulfill the needs of learns that the local government has denied him reg- ulatory approval for a huge new development project potential customers, and the more crucial the need, the greater the value. Big he has been pursuing for his company. Knowing his Pharma makes massive profits because it produces medicines that are of great daughter has hundreds of thousands of dollars in- value to sick people—of such great value that the sick are willing to pay top vested in his company, he wants to tell her to get it dollar for them. out before the stock price falls. But were he to do so, Does this mean, as Big Pharma's critics say, that drug companies are hold- under insider trading laws, both he and his daughter ing the sick hostage? Of course not. Such a view implies that sick people are the would face huge fines and jail sentences. rightful owners of the drugs, which pharmaceutical companies illicitly swipe Up until the late 1960s, there was no such crime as and hold for ransom. In fact, it is the pharmaceutical companies that have a "insider trading". Today, the Securities and Exchange (continued on page 2) (continued on page 2) OBJECTIVism The Undercurrent’s cultural commentary is based on Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism. Objectivism, which animates Ayn Rand’s fiction, is a systematic philosophy of life. It holds that the universe is orderly and comprehensible, that man survives by reason, that his life and happiness comprise his highest moral purpose, and that he flourishes only in a society that protects his individual rights. In these pages we hope to defend these values. To learn more about the ideas behind them, you can begin by reading Ayn Rand’s books, such as The Foun- tainhead and Atlas Shrugged, or by visiting aynrand.org. 2 praise big pharma continued from page 1 the undercurrent right to the drugs that they have This is a perverse injustice. created. There's nothing wrong with The Undercurrent is a student publication, produced and Life-saving medicines don't making money by servicing peo- distributed by college students at campuses across North grow on trees. The "miracle" ple's needs. Productivity is a vir- America. drugs that improve our health tue, not a vice. The fact that Big All inquiries regarding contributing, distributing, and extend our lives must be Pharma profits by helping sick and advertising should be directed to mail@ discovered. They would not ex- people is something for which it the-undercurrent.com. For more information on The Un- ist were it not for the enormous should be lauded, not derided. dercurrent, back issues, additional resources, and further investments of time and money So I say: Praise Big Pharma! commentary, visit our website at the-undercurrent.com. made by the men and women who work in the pharmaceutical Dan Edge is a 29-year old small industry. It takes the ingenious business owner living in Rockland Managing Editor Ray Girn effort of thousands of individu- County, New York. He earned a Editor als and hundreds of millions of Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy Stephen Donovan dollars to bring a single drug to from the University of South Caro- Staff Writers Guy Barnett market. As with any other com- lina, and is currently a Sophomore Kelly Cadenas modity, those who create these at the Objectivist Academic Center. remedies have a moral right to He keeps a weekly blog called "The Dan Edge set the terms of their sale. And Edge of Reason" at http://daned- Gena Gorlin to profit handsomely from their geofreason.blogspot.com. On April achievement. 5, 2008, Dan was married to Laura Mazer The enemies of Big Pharma longtime girlfriend Kelly Koenig. Noah Stahl disagree. On their view, achieve- The two of them are very active Advisory Editor ment is not to be rewarded, but and enthusiastic members of the lo- Ned Chalmers punished. And the greater the cal Objectivist Community in New Project Manager Rebecca Knapp value one creates, the less of a York. Layout & Design Tori Press: Red Queen right one has to it. Design Studio Webmaster & Business Manager Jared Seehafer insider trading continued from page 1 Web Officer Arthur Lechtholz-Zey Commission (SEC) spends a large do not punish the engineer who Distribution Manager Eric Brunner portion of its resources pursuing steals a file from his supervisor's insider traders. SEC regulations office, the lawyer who violates a mandate that anyone using non- contractual agreement to keep public, material information information confidential, or the about a company to buy or sell CEO who disregards his legal stock, before that information obligation to his stockholders to sponsors of the spring issue has been made publicly available, act in their interests (called a fi- Guy Barnett, Zev Barnett, Carl B. Barney, John may be criminally charged. The duciary duty). Such actions are Chappell, Prof. Allan Gotthelf, Ted Gray, Paul crime also applies to any type obviously illegal, but they were of "tip" given to others (family, illegal long before insider trad- Gruchala, Harris and Ellen Kenner, Peter LePort, friends, clients) concerning such ing entered the picture, and are M.D.: General and Weight Loss Surgery, information. prosecuted on the basis of differ- Maryallene and Don Otis, David Ragaini, Sandra Insider trading laws force ent laws. Insider trading laws, by Shaw, Rob Tarr, Christian Wenstedt. company employees, officers, contrast, were created precisely to board members, and those they penalize trading in which such Disclaimer. The Copyrights. Copyright care about to knowingly act criminal activity is not involved. Undercurrent is an © 2008 TU Publications against their own interests. De- If insider trading laws do independent student Inc. Each article is the spite the fact that our scientist not exist to prevent theft or publication and does not property of its author; all has spent years developing a life- fraud, what is their justification? necessarily represent, in other content is the property saving drug, the SEC tells her Those opposed to insider trading that she must not make a move imply that insider traders profit whole or in part, the views of TU Publications Inc. No to profit from it. Despite the fact at someone else's expense. To of the Estate of Ayn Rand, portion may be reproduced that our CEO knows his daugh- quote a speech from an SEC or the Ayn Rand Institute. in whole or in part without ter will lose the money she had officer, highlighted on the SEC's The views expressed and the express written consent hoped to use to send her kids to website: "[Illegal insider trading] facts contained in each of TU Publications Inc.