Big Pharma conspiracy theory

The term Big Pharma is used to refer collectively to the global pharmaceutical industry. According to Steve Novella the term has come to connote a demonized form of the pharmaceutical industry.[3] Professor of writing Robert Blaskiewicz has written that conspiracy theorists use the term Big Pharma as "shorthand for an abstract entity comprising corporations, regulators, NGOs, politicians, and often physicians, all with a finger in the trillion-dollar prescription pharmaceutical pie".[1]

According to Blaskiewicz, the Big Pharma conspiracy theory has four classic traits: first, the assumption that the conspiracy is perpetrated by a small malevolent cadre; secondly, the belief that the public at large is ignorant of the truth; thirdly, that its believers treat lack of evidence as evidence; and finally, that the arguments deployed in support of the theory are irrational, misconceived, or otherwise mistaken.[1]

In a New Statesman article, Robert Bartholomew, a sociologist specializing in mass hysteria, observes that although conspiracy theories have always been around, social media enables them to spread faster and have more staying power since it is far easier for people to construct their own version of reality through social media. In the same article, Mike Woods, a psychologist specializing in online conspiracy theory techniques, points to alienation, a lack of control, and a sense of uncertainty about the world as common traits of conspiratorial thinkers. He goes on to say that “basically conspiracy theories are a way to try and make sense of the world that in that moment doesn’t particularly make sense” and that lets the theorists "allege that things that are happening are basically controllable".[4]

The conspiracy theory has a variety of different specific manifestations. Each has different narratives, but they always cast "Big Pharma" as the villain of the piece.[1] Some of the most prominent variants include the following:

Novella writes that while the pharmaceutical industry has a number of aspects which justly deserve criticism, the "demonization" of it is both cynical and intellectually lazy.[3] He goes on to consider that overblown attacks on Big Pharma actually let the pharmaceutical industry "off the hook" since they distract from and tarnish more considered criticisms.[3] In his 2012 book Bad Pharma, Ben Goldacre criticises the pharmaceutical industry but rejects any conspiracy theories. He argues that the problems are "perpetrated by ordinary people, but many of them may not even know what they've done."[16]

An argument against the U.S. government taking part in the suppression of cures is the Orphan Drug Act of 1983 wherein incentives are created for developing treatments for disease which the treatments have no profitable outcomes for the companies involved.[17]

A common claim among proponents of the conspiracy theory is that pharmaceutical companies suppress negative research about their drugs by financially pressuring researchers and journals. There are in fact papers critical of specific drugs published in journals on a regular basis.[18] A prominent and recent example was a systematic review published in the British Medical Journal showing that paracetamol is ineffective for lower back pain and has minimal effectiveness for osteoarthritis.[19]

• List of conspiracy theories
• List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
• Bad Pharma, a 2012 book by British physician and academic Ben Goldacre
• Big Pharma, a 2006 book by British journalist Jacky Law
• Sicko, a 2007 American documentary film made by Michael Moore
• Vaccine controversies
• Homeopathy
• Evil corporation