PHARMACIA AND UPJOHN
TO MERGE

From The Cancer Chronicles #29
İ 1995 by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

The march towards monopoly in the drug field continues unabated. On August 20, the US giant Upjohn and the Swedish company Pharmacia announced plans to merge. The goal of the new company, called Pharmacia & Upjohn, will not just share product lines and sales forces but to cut costs. First thing, it will lay off 4,000 workers.

The new company will be among the worldıs ten largest drug firms, with around $7 billion in annual sales. The announcement came two days after Rhone-Poulenc Rorer launched a hostile bid for the British Fisons company. The Swedish government owns 14 percent of Pharmacia. One of the focuses of the new company will be anticancer drugs. "For its part, the Scandinavian group brings new products to the party--particularly in cancer care" said the Financial Times (8/21/95).

Some party!

Pharmacia has recently expressed interest in developing innovative immunological products for cancer. One can only hope. In the meantime, patients and alternative practitioners confront an ever-narrowing circle of ever-more-powerful allopathic drug producers.

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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
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