"Boron Elgar" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 12:03:59 GMT, Stark > wrote:
>
> >In article >, Nancy Young
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Good for you. I think they get sucked into the 'give them a pill'
> >> routine, or maybe patients are 'what pill will fix it' ... who knows.
> >> Next thing you know (just from my observation) you're on the
> >> doctor visit/more pills for every little thing/side effect roller
coaster.
> >>
> >> Of course, I'm a little extreme in my fear of medical types and I have
> >> to say, it's not really all that misplaced in my experience, but if
people
> >> do need stuff, of course they should take it. I'm just talking about
> >> the quick, okay, you're going to be on this lifetime drug. Woah,
> >> back up there, partner.
> >>
> >> nancy
> >>
> >>
> >Ulcer medication used to be a "lifetime" drug, until their patents ran
> >out. Then the medical industry "recognized" a thirty-year-old study
> >which proved ulcers were a viral infection and could usually be cured
> >in one month using antibiotics and one of those "lifetime" drugs.
>
> If you are going to complain about the medical profession, I recommend
> you have your facts straight. Certain ulcers are caused by bacteria
> called heliobacter pylori. The definitive work was done in 1982, by J.
> Robin Warren and Barry Marshall. Had the cause and effect been known
> 30 years before that, I rather doubt the state of antibiotics in the
> early 50s would have made much of a difference in treatment.


The treatment involves bismuth and tetracycline. Both very common
medications and have been around for decades. So yes, probably even in the
60s ulcers could have been cured with available technology.

And the whole reason it took so long for this to become a common treatment
is that the drug companies were very effective in suppressing any research
that would have led to treatments not involving their very expensive
medications. It is not a coincidence that ulcer cures were finally approved
in this country when patents for ulcer drugs like Zantac ran out and the
meds were sold over the counter.

Cures are not nearly so profitable as the disease. Keep the patient sick by
only treating symptoms and you have a customer for life. That is the way it
works in this country and many others. Not to digress too far but this is
also why marijuana is a long way from being legally prescribed despite it
having proven and valuable therapuetic properties. It's just too cheap to
make, it's just a simple plant and you can't patent it.

Paul