Letter to pharma companies

Dear Madam, dear Sir,

These last few days, we have been thinking more intensely about what you do.

About why you do what you do and about what you do not do.

Why have we been thinking about it more?

Because last week our mother was prescribed a medicine that has made her extremely ill.

We are sure you would not want to see your mother or anyone you love, react in such a strong way to a medicine – even one that you or your company made.

The leaflet accompanying the medicine, does indeed say that there is a 1 to 10% risk of complications.

And what kind of complications or side-effects?!

Yes, of course, most of us do not read the leaflet – often in a very small letter type as well.

Until the medicine hits you or someone you love, like a hammer on the head.

Then you ask yourself why and how companies can sell those kinds of medicines – or should we say poisons? The side-effects are often worse than the illness the medicine is supposed to cure.

Of course, you do make medicines that help people. We are grateful for that.

But, many of them have a lot of side-effects – some of them of the worst kind.

Our mother has stopped taking the medicine she had only taken for a week in a small dose.

Yet, after 5 days the side-effects have not yet disappeared.

If we could, we would want to take a picture of your own mother and then photoshop her to a mother that looks like ours now.

You would not be able to contain your tears.

You would not be able to contain your anger.

If we could do that, you would feel very sad to see a nice, caring lady, loved by family and friends, being brought to such misery, pain and illness so fast because of a medicine she was given.

If we could do that, you would be more careful about marketing such a kind of medicines with such potent side-effects.

So, please read this story again, picture you and your mum in it and rethink your business and the products that you make. Also think of how much money is made from it all.

Please be more careful and do not sell products with such extreme side-effects.

Please inform the doctors more thoroughly about the side-effects and the effects of combining your medicines with other medicines.

Be more careful about the possible users and less worried about your company’s financial results.

Thank you and please pray with us for the recovery of our mother.