The Cancer Industry:
The Classic Expose on the Cancer Establishment
New Updated [1996] Edition
© 1996 by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
Published by Equinox Press
(All rights reserved. Please see
Copyright notice.)
[WEBSITE NOTE: This is section 4 of the Preface. It concerns some of the
underlying problems that exist in alternative cancer medicine, which hinder
its acceptance. See also our many Cancer Chronicles articles on the
economics of cancer.]
4. Underlying Problems
But all will not be clear sailing. Unfortunately, the fact that the government
is finally encouraging a serious study of alternative methods do not render
the main conclusions of this book invalid. Before alternative medicine can
receive a fair testing, or be accepted, certain major obstacles have to be
overcome. The biggest of these, in my opinion, is the entrenched opposition
of the "medical-industrial complex."
Monopoly is a long-standing problem. As early as the 1950s and 1960s, five
major companies, whom the Federal Trade Commission described as a cartel,
were convicted of fixing the prices of then-new antibiotics. Since 1989 there
has been an unprecedented wave of mergers: SmithKline and Beecham; Bristol-Myers
and Squibb; Glaxo and Wellcome; Pharmacia and Upjohn, etc. In early 1996,
Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy announced that they were "rushing into each others'
arms" (Wall Street Journal, 3/7/96) to create a giant with a market value
of over $60 billion.
Such mega-mergers have turned the pharmaceutical industry "upside down in
the past three years" (ibid.). Each of the top ten companies now has annual
sales of between six and twelve billion dollars. These mergers raise the
specter of even greater monopoly, patent abuse and the stifling of
innovation--all things that are disastrous to that spirit of open inquiry
in which alternative medicine thrives.
The immediate result of the mergers of the 1990s may be layoffs and other
cost-cutting measures, raising their profitability in the short run. But
they do not solve the industry's underlying problem, which many analysts
identify quite simply as too few good ideas.
The Cancer Industry Introduction:
1. Intro | 2. OTA Study Pt.
1 | 2a. OTA Study Pt. 2 | 3.
OAM | 4. Underlying Problems | 5.
Role of FDA
Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. is the author of eight books
and three documentaries on cancer-related topics. He is an advisor on alternative
cancer treatments to the National Institutes of Health, Columbia University,
and the University of Texas. He researches and writes individualized "Healing
Choices" reports for people with cancer. For information on
Healing Choices, you can send us an instant
message or contact:
Coordinator Anne Beattie
@ 144 St. John's Place,
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Phone 718-636-4433
Fax 718-636-0186
E-mail: mail@ralphmoss.com
Web site: http://www.ralphmoss.com
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