Yes, pharmaceutical companies have done some bad coverups in the past.
…but… You do realize scandals happen in literally every industry right? Am I supposed to never use computers ever again because an IT company scandal happened once? Should I freak out and be irrational and never take any medicines again just because some douchebags at 1 pharma company did something dishonest in an industry once?
I guess you can’t watch any movies ever again because of Weinstein.
I guess you can’t drive on any roads because a road scandal happened back in 1879!
I guess you can’t use any hotels because of the Marriott scandal with investors back in the 1940s.
Are you starting to see how irrational you are throwing the baby out with the bath water? By condemning an entire industry because of a few scandals in it?
Let’s be rational, yes some people do bad things… but to say that this is the norm is dishonest. Merck didn’t disclose AEs, that is a crime that most companies wouldn’t dream of. It also cost Merck billions of dollars in fines and reputation, they lost money by being dishonest at the end of the day, they lost lots of money. Their stock price was cut in half within a few years of the incident.
That is not the norm in pharmaceuticals whatsoever. Stop using an outlier example of 1 scandal to condemn an entire industry as that is irrational.
If this is the truly how you feel, condemning an entire industry because of a few bad actors, then don’t ever take any medicine ever again. No antibiotics, no pain relievers, nothing from the medical side. At least be consistent. You also can’t drive in any roads, use any computers/technology, let alone get any surgeries because there was a dishonest doctor once. No electricity for you either because of Alexander graham bell scandals.