“Hello, Leo. Have you heard of the Meatrix? Do you want to know WHAT IT IS?”

Does this sound familiar? Or is there something not quite right? It’s from the website called The Meatrix, and it’s the “story that we tell ourselves about where meat and meat products come from.” My wife read about it today in the Yoga Journal - in the “Karma credits” section where they write about good people doing cool things.

As a huge Matrix fan myself, I got such a kick out of this very clever spoof with Leo, the pig, and Moofeus, the cow. As I watched the four minute animation, the SkinnyChef (aka my wife) reminded me of what is happening in the farming industry. It’s a real eye opener, but no surprise for those of you who have read “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser. Let’s hope that Leo and Moofeus will continue to rage against the machine.

Many of my recent posts have dealt with the high cost of prescription drugs, drug reimportation from Canada, and pressures on U.S. based pharmaceutical companies to do something about it.

Jim Gilbert and Paul Rosenberg of Bain & Company recently addressed the World Forum at Davos, speaking on the topic of innovation divide. Specifically, Gilbert and Rosenberg talked about “Imbalanced Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry”, comparing Europe’s monetary contributions to pharmaceutical R&D with that of American companies.

“Europe seems to be in an enviable position. It spends 60% less per capita on pharmaceuticals than the US does - a gap that has roughly doubled since 1992. That trend has translated into major European savings: if Europe’s pharmaceutical spending per capita had matched the level of the US, Europe would have spent an additional $160B in 2002 and $840B cumulatively over the preceding decade. European governments are largely responsible for these cost differences. European regulations, which vary by market, have led to prices 25-35% lower than US prices for comparable drugs, while utilization rates for new drugs are 30% lower per capita than in the US.”

“Clearly, the “free rider” model creates direct, visible benefits for Europeans. The costs of the model to Europe, however, are equally real. They include less drug innovation; fewer high value-added jobs; loss of corporate research centers; and higher morbidity and mortality from diseases that could be treated with innovative drugs - if they were more readily available in Europe.”

There’s more in the article, but let me inject here some thoughts. Is Gilbert and Rosenberg’s decidedly long-term view really going to change anybody’s position over in Europe? Isn’t it always “Buy now, pay later?”

And although it is reasonable to assume that timely access to life-saving drugs can cut down on morbidity: what if European consumers (and their physicians) don’t know about these new drugs, and simply go about their business as usual? I somehow find it hard to believe that Europeans, given a choice, would collectively opt to pay more for universal access to cutting-edge prescription drugs vs. keeping their low monthly health insurance premium.

I have the suspicion that governments - on both sides of the Atlantic - will choose to solve this problem on the backs of the most convenient target…

Download Bain PDF article.

Many bloggers, including fellow medicinal chemist Derek Lowe, have frequently covered the debate regarding the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States. While not new, this issue has only recently captured the attention of main stream media - in part because it has been made into a convenient election year topic by the democratic presidential contenders. And the average consumer, looking at their own wallet, simply rally behind the politicians who charge that big pharma is inherently bad and only exists because they want to squeeze every little penny out of the consumer.

Without getting into a passionate declaration here, I would at least like to point out a few facts - or in this case point you to a good article by Lawrence Lessig, published in the latest issue of Wired Magazine.

Lessig discusses the question why “millions of people in developing nations around the world - who need lifesaving drugs - don’t get them.” But rather than blame the US pharmaceutical industry, he points the finger to the grandstanding politician.

If Congress is going to give away the monopolies we call patents, it should know something about how patents work - in particular, that if these companies can’t charge more in developed nations, they won’t charge less in developing nations. And if they won’t charge less in developing nations, then, as UC Berkeley economist Brian Wright succinctly puts it, “millions will die.”

Lessing goes on: What’s needed here is shame. Politicians know that most voters understand squat about how monopolies work best. They also know that there won’t be a rally on Capitol Hill in favor of price discrimination. It is therefore cheap to scold big pharma for the “windfall profits” made by charging so much more for drugs in the US than in other countries. Cheap, and criminal. This behavior by politicians simply denies medicine to those who need it most.

Well said, and there’s more. Read Lawrence Lessig’s entire Wired article…

Just the other day, I came across Cia B.’s website, all at ext212.com. You’re probably asking, “why should I care?” Well, I don’t know, maybe you like photography and clean design? Or maybe you like to read about other people’s travels? I do like both, and Cia aptly applies her design skills to this exact union of food, travel and photography!

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get paid for just that, doing what you like best? As I found out, Cia has managed to sign on with IgoUgo Inc., a unique community of travel enthusiasts sharing experiences through travel journals and photos. Their guides harness the power of word of mouth to provide the best travel information, the most inspiring stories, and the most useful tips on the web. It’s with these ingredients that IgoUgo has built a reliable network of travel providers and community experts, recognized as one of the top five travel sites in the January 2002 issue of Yahoo! Internet Life. Visit Cia’s site…