Quote:
Originally Posted by Thor
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so untrue. In fact its pennies. Say Chinese herb iforrealz is claimed to reduce stomach problems.. The pharm company spends a few hundred thousand to study if there is any hint of truth to this. If it yeilds any results they spend more, if not they don't..
lol, yeah no money in something that works. Right.
You really really really really need to watch and read Ben Goldacres bad science.
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A few hundred thousand is pennies? They will never make that back unless they manage to create a method of extracting the agent that causes the reduced stomach problems, or find a way to cost effectively create the compound synthetically. They can then patent the extraction method or synthetic compound and sell those. Outside of this there is no way to make money on it, so no reason for big pharma to pursue them, especially considering they are working on finding cures for things like cancer and other diseases that, AFAIK, naturopaths, etc don't claim to be able to cure. (I'm assuming the natural product doesn't claim to cure cancer, or an other chronic, deadly, or acute condition)
There are many smaller companies, most relatively new, that are researching how to extract/synthetically produce the compounds that work from plants that have a lot of anecdotal evidence. Usually they will focus on a plant with potential (ginseng, ginger, etc) and see what they can do with them. The results of these have hit the shelves in the past few years with brands selling off the self versions of products made with natural extracts instead of drugs. The drugs in these cases usually are used for more severe conditions and only available over the counter, or with a prescription, and the extracts provide a easier to access alternative.
I'm not saying that even 10% of what some Naturopaths and related professions claim to be able to do actually works, just saying that they can (not will) improve some people's quality of life, although usually less than eating better and exercising more would.