Why Does My Medicine Cost So Much

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To understand why medications cost so much you must first understand the process involved to get a medication on the market.

When you see a new medication being advertised on a television commercial you have to know that there is really nothing “new” about it. On average most medications take an average of 10 to 13 years to go from initial development to the drug store shelves.

Once a new chemical is developed by a pharmaceutical manufacturer it then has to register a patent to protect it. The patent is good for 20 years from that point. The developer then has to submit applications to the FDA to recognize the new chemical. Next is setting up clinical trials. This where this new chemical is tested to determine it’s safety and effectiveness. Once that is verified the chemical is given to selected patients who have agreed to participate in the study. There are several phases to these studies. If all of these phases are successfully completed the FDA then votes to approve the new medication. If approved the drug company will then begin a heavy marketing campaign to promote their new medication.

But here is something you don’t hear on the commercials. On average, for every 5000 new chemicals developed only 5 will make it past the safety test. And out of those 5 chemicals only 1 will actually make it all the way through the clinical trials and get approved. So for every commercial you see for a new medication you can know that there are 4,999 “commercials” that didn’t make it.

So what does this have to do with the cost of the medicine? Well, by some estimates the cost to bring a new drug from the lab to the pharmacy is ~ $900 million…. for 1 drug. And we also need to remember the other drugs that didn’t make it. I’m sure less money was spent on those, but all totaled there is a lot of money invested in drug development.

Once the new medication hits the market the drug company now aims to recoup their expenses. Obviously they do this by charging high prices for their medicine. Also keep in mind that the average new drug has only 7 to 10 years remaining on it’s patent. The drug companies know exactly how much time they have left, and they price their medication accordingly.

Interesting Facts About Renaissance Doctors And Medicine

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Do you usually link Renaissance to advances in medicine? Typically, when we talk about the Renaissance period, we talk about an explosion of learning and creativity. From paintings to music, this was a tremendous time for the arts in particular. However, the era of the Renaissance, which lasted from the middle 1400s until the 1700s, also featured major developments in European medicine. Here are some of the important facts surrounding the Renaissance period and medicine:

1. New knowledge and inventions improved medicine

A flurry of new knowledge and inventions helped to advance medicine quickly, during the Renaissance. There were no instruments yet to observe bacteria, and thus create a need for cheap urbane scrubs. However, diagrams of the human body and the printing press both had a huge influence on the world of medicine. Thus, doctors had a better comprehension of how the human body functioned, than during any previous era in Europe’s history.

2. Galen was no longer king

During the previous Middle Ages, the medical world considered Galen’s writings to be infallible. Galen was an ancient Greek living in Rome, who had developed the concepts of Hippocrates, “The Father of Medicine.”

However, during the Renaissance, doctors took a more practical and academic approach to training in their profession. Medical students studied from books with realistic diagrams of humans. In addition to better books, doctors-in-training also had access to more of them, thanks to the invention of the printing press. In fact, universities even permitted students to dissect humans, towards the end of the Renaissance. This practice had previously been limited to animals.

3. Science began to supersede spirituality

During the Renaissance, people still held to some spiritual reasoning regarding diseases. For instance, people were unaware that bacteria existed, and could spread from person-to-person. However, logic became king, due to a new wealth of knowledge available, and an efficient way to distribute it faster-the printing press. In addition, the training for surgical procedures greatly improved. Apprentices would learn surgical techniques, from an active surgeon. Interestingly, universities themselves failed to supply doctors-in-training with these skills. Nevertheless, the improvements in textbooks about human anatomy significantly boosted the complexity of the surgeries that doctors did.

4. Many did not embrace advances in medicine

While the Renaissance ushered in a new era of medical knowledge and skills, not everyone was impressed. During the Renaissance, home remedies remained a vital aspect of medical treatment, for many people. In fact, some people still sought treatments from local shaman who lacked formal training in the medical profession. Also, many “old-school” doctors and the Catholic Church still adhered to the teachings of Galen. However, within time, medical advances during the Renaissance would revolutionize the whole professional.

The Renaissance was clearly an era of enlightenment and developments. Besides the fantastic output in the arts, the medical profession flourished as well. While doctors were yet unaware of bacteria or the need to wear scrubs during surgeries, they were nonetheless learning. Essentially starting with the Renaissance, spiritual doctors were becoming scientific doctors!

Ways You Can Use Ayruvedic Medicine For Arthritis Natural Treatment

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Ayruvedic medicine is an ancient system of natural medicine from India that has been practiced there for centuries. Dr. Deepak Chopra has helped bring this ancient healing art to the North America. Now you can have arthritis natural treatment using Ayruvedic medicine.

With regard to arthritis, most pains are caused by the aggravation of one of the three doshas, (vata) and a build up of toxins (ama).

Fasting is a great way to expel toxins and the fast should be accompanied by taking two teaspoons of lemon juice with a teaspoon of honey in a cup of warm water every day once in the morning and again in the evening.

Here are the 7 ways:

Reduce inflammation and pain (vata) with a body massage using sesame or mustard oil.
A light exercise routine is recommended. Listen to your body. If exercise causes you pain after one hour then stop even if youre only walking.
For skeletal pain, take orange juice, lime juice or vitamin C.
There is an Ayruvedic herb called guggul and this can be taken with warm water twice a day after meals.
Foods that can help:
Vegetable juices and soups, which are easily digested. Also carrot, cucumber and red beets juice. Green salad with lemon and salt. Cooked vegetables include zucchini, squash and pumpkin. Fruits include apples, oranges, grapes and papaya. Spices for cooking: cumin, coriander, fennel, turmeric, ginger and asafetida.
Foods to avoid:
Fried food, spicy food and foods that form wind like okra, spinach, potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli. Dont indulge in an excess of tea or coffee, alcohol, white sugar, yoghurt, chocolate and cocoa. Sweets generally should be avoided as should smoking.
Your Daily Routine:
Dont sleep during the day and dont stay up late. Avoid emotions such as excess fear, anxiety, worry, grief and stress.

You should consider the wisdom of Ayruveda if you have arthritis. These steps are simple to do and could ease your arthritis pain. Arthritis natural treatment using Ayruvedic medicine is very significant. Naturally, it is important to consult your doctor before doing this.

Holistic Medicine An Overview

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Practitioners of holistic medicine believe that treating illness and injury doesn’t stop with conventional methods. Instead, they practice the art of healing with the mindset that the whole individual should be included in any treatment. The mind, the body, and the spirit are all a part of the healing process. There is also considerable effort put toward preventing illness and disease through these practices. Practitioners often describe the optimal condition being one in which unlimited life force energy is allowed to flow freely throughout the body.

When one applies the practices of holistic medicine, they don’t stop at the superficial cause of the illness or the injury that brought them to need healing in the first place. In order to achieve a sense of well being as well as treat the specific ailment, they incorporate a variety of safe modalities in order to get to the root cause. This includes looking at the physical aspect of the treatment, their intake of nutrition, the environment in which they live, and then examining their spiritual lifestyle as well.

Many people are under the mistaken notion that holistic medicine is somehow at odds with conventional surgery and prescription drug treatments. This isn’t the case at all. The practice includes looking at alternatives to be sure, but conventional methods and factual science have always been a part of the lifestyle. One of the main differences between this form of practice and traditional methods is the focus on finding the root cause of an illness, rather than simply treating the symptoms, which is what much of modern science has become.

Adhering closely to the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, practitioners find it much more cost effective to look at preventative methods with at least as much ferocity as they look for ways in which to treat the already ill. When possible, the best methods involve using the patient’s own healing abilities and exploiting them so that they can prevent and fight most diseases on their own. When illness does occur, it is usually seen as a sign of a larger dysfunction.

In addition to promoting lifestyle changes from within, there is also an emphasis on improving relationships with others. This not only includes relationships with friends and family, but finding a better way to coexist within an environment, if not changing that environment altogether. Practitioners believe that a person’s surroundings have much to do with that individual’s continued wellness.

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Should You Use Alternative Medicine

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The popularity of alternative medicine is on the increase with each passing day. One may ask what exactly is alternative medicine. It has a different meaning to different individual. Any methods of health care and products that are not considered conventional medicine. For example you choose to use alternative medicine as a healing option instead of visiting a traditional doctor. Alternative medicine is usually used for treating allergies, skin cancer, colds and even cancer.

In alternative medicine you treat the patient as the whole person. It is considered less harmful for the body and more economical over a long period. In a lot of cases these alternative treatments have very positive results. The general public have nowadays increased information on alternative medicine made available to them. There are an increased number of doctors applying alternative medicine in their practices.

For those who oppose to alternative medicine they think it a waste of time. They argue that it has not been demonstrated as effective. Another objection of theirs is that because of the lack of scientific research alternative medicine is therefore harmful and unproven.

However, consumers and professionals worldwide are embracing alternative medicine with each passing day. There is a huge market for this treatment and is growing rapidly. At unconventional schools and naturopathic medical schools alternative medicine is taught as part of their curriculum.

In my opinion alternative medicine has never been a waste of money and time. Unless it costs you a lot of money and you are feeling worse. For minor health issues alternative medicine is not harmful. In some situations it is best to use alternative medicine to compliment other treatment methods.

Today alternative medicine is accepted as less invasive, less harmful, cheaper and better over long term than conventional medicine. There are more research data available to the general public. There is growing interest in alternative medicine by more and more medical and health professionals.