Blockbuster Depression: Drug Deals for Drug Makers

On July 14, in an unprecedented alchemy of corporate drug deals synthesized behind closed doors, a $60 billion transaction allowed Pfizer Inc. to acquire Pharmacia Corporation, creating the largest pharmaceutical company in the world. With anticipated annual revenues of $48 billion, the newly concocted Pfizer-Pharmacia mega company will have unsurpassed global dominance on some of the most lucrative pharmaceutical drugs available on the market. The potential side effects of the merger on consumers seem to have gone unnoticed.

When my pharmacist asks me if I would prefer the generic version of a particular prescribed drug, I, like millions of other drug consumers, count my blessings in so many dollars saved in multiple pharmacy co-payments. When only an expensive trademarked version of a drug, such as the anti-depressant Zoloft, or Celebrex, an arthritis drug, is available, there is little choice but to buy, and buy dearly.

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Wrye Sententia is a fellow of the IEET, and director of the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics (CCLE), a nonprofit research, policy, and public education center working to advance and protect freedom of thought into the 21st century.