]]> http://www.bsodmyself.com/2008/06/24/warning-signs/feed/ 0 http://www.bsodmyself.com/2008/04/14/the-drug-industry/ http://www.bsodmyself.com/2008/04/14/the-drug-industry/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:56:25 +0000 bsodmyself http://therealjohnnycrawford.com/2008/04/14/the-drug-industry/ Tonight’s cases for strategic management concentrated on issues in “the drug industry.” Due to the high level of hypocrisy associated with the business of drugs, I tend to display a great deal of animosity in this regard. I took a lot of detailed notes during tonight’s presentation, since I was expecting to vote on which group I would choose to hire and why. For whatever reason, we didn’t have this type of discussion after the presentations. While each group was strong, I definitely would have hired the group that had three members that were in my group for another class. I forget if they were using the same team name, Team Kismet, but they were definitely one of the winning groups in my book. And here’s why:

First, this group most adequately communicated the importance of the regulatory and legal environment in the pharmaceutical industry. In order to win, you’ve got to know the rules of the game, and let’s face it — America has the best politicians that money can buy. More government interference in the process leads to longer development times and nonsensical requirements for drug manufacturers. While those politicians who like to claim to be guardians of the people cite that less regulation of this industry could lead to deaths, similar claims have been made that certain drugs not being on the market kills 100,000 people every year.

In addition to the abundance of regulations, Kismet also showed completeness in their analysis by emphasizing the existence of a trend toward alternative medicine. A lot of pharmaceutical companies are probably shying away from these areas because they don’t think they can make money off of it. I haven’t taken a close look at GNC’s revenues, but anecdotally I have seen people spend money hand-over-fist there. In fact, I have spent money hand-over-fist there. Mainly, I’m buying vitamins and milk thistle supplements to, in effect, subsidize my own poor personal lifestyle choices (such as eating a less nutritious diet and consuming large amounts of alcohol). This is similar to what the pharmaceutical industry already does, since they don’t make money if they actually cure you of a disease or medical condition.

But the gorilla in the room is marijuana. Marijuana is a substance that is intoxicating just like alcohol or tobacco cigarettes, except that marijuana has actual medical uses. And by changing the status of marijuana, the door would be kicked wide open for even more scientific studies to confirm such claims. One of my favorite slides in Kismet’s presentation was a 2×2 matrix comparing growth and revenue for different pharmaceuticals. Seriously, if Merck, Pfizer, or any other major pharma company (or tobacco or alcohol company for that matter) introduced marijuana in their “drug” lineups, would you think that marijuana would be that company’s worst product (the dog) or their best product (the star)? I guarantee that the very first day on the market, more weed would be sold than all the Viagra, Lipitor, and Prozac that has ever been sold.

Overall, Team Kismet’s strategy and recommendations were clearer and more concrete. They weren’t perfect, though. Of note, was the concept of people choosing to buy a brand name over a generic. In keeping with the marijuana train of thought, people might buy weed from a guy named Tim, but as long as it’s really weed, nobody’s going to care if the guy’s name was really Mark. Besides generics are a lot cheaper.

The other problem was discrimination associated with off-loading HIV and AIDS drugs to Africa. There’s an idea that African nations don’t have money to pay. In a sense, Africa has an unlimited supply of money that can be printed and borrowed from the developed world. But as former President Clinton said, it’s gobbled up by warlords before it gets to the people. That, and of course, failed policies of governments and people’s inability to accept modernity in order to stop the spread of AIDS through common sense procedures. If there is one thing I’ve learned from my strategic management class this semester, it is this:  American culture is so powerful that it can easily overwhelm native cultures around the world and destroy them, but American innovation can never be utilized by people within those native cultures. Or I think that’s what the professor was getting at…

Anyway, congrats to Team Kismet, for doing a bang up job on their presentation and handling a lame subject in a professional way.

This spurred me to think that Whole Foods might also have a couple of things that I could use to powder and capsule some of my herbs that wouldn’t work as well in a smokable form. When I got there, I headed to the fresh herb section where I picked up a mortar and pestle and some empty vegetarian capsules. I was so stoked that I forgot to get my vitamins. I’ll make up for it by getting some orange juice in the next day or so.

When I got home, I started working. I decided to try my hand at rolling my very first herbal cigarette containing an herb called Leonotis Nepetifolia (also called “klip dagga”). This tropical African herb can also be made into a tea, but it is pretty nasty in that form. It’s used for a number of medicinal purposes such as fever and coughs, in addition to it’s relaxation and meditative properties. Since I’ve never rolled any type of cigarette, I had to Google for some instructions. Not surprisingly, I found some instructions for rolling marijuana joints. I figured this would translate pretty well to my task. Normally, I would post photographs of my early efforts, but seeing as how I have absolutely no skill in such endeavors, I skipped the photo session and evaluated my first three models. It took moments to feel the relaxing effects. After about an hour or so, I also found movies much more humorous. I mean I don’t think that Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” was really meant to be a comedy, but it clearly came across that way after a couple of cigarettes. Better yet, my throat felt much better.

Anyway, I hope to continue my “Adventures in Herbology” tomorrow by grinding some herbs using my new mortar and pestle and making capsules. Judging by this evening’s success, I’m definitely looking forward to further exploration in this field.