Incidentally, you might want to compare the figures that Belinda posted at the head of this thread with the fact that the MSS’s total expenditure in 2010 was £35.3m of which they spent 11% on research. That’s £3.88m.
And so, I repeat:
OMG! Seriously?!
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£3.88m is a drop in the ocean I would think.
I am starting Tysabri on Thursday and I do not care if a fat cat drug company is making billions out of it,Luffier himself could have paitented it for all I care. I gladly give money to the Society to fund research into treatments and cures and if one of those treatments turns out to be the Holy Grail, I’m not going to get my a*se out if the fat cat drug company don’t sing my praises from the rooftops in gratitude and recognition of the funds I gave them.
Very strange, research funding by the MS society, was one of the proposals for the AGM, I think it was the year before last, and as I understand the proposal was carried by a very small margin, so that indicates that there were many thousand, who voted against.
I for one am not afraid to stick my head above the parapet, so lets hear from some of the others, no need to hide, plus on all of the forums I post on, I use my own name, I have never posted anonymous , or used a pseudonym.
The MSS fund research yes, and I for one am delighted they do. But as far as I’m aware they don’t throw money at pharmaceutical companies, if you think they do I ask you again to back that up with facts and figures. The bottom line to me is, any research which leads to possible treatments or a cure has got to be worthwhile regardless of whether it’s our charity or a drugs company that funds it or who takes credit for it. This is irrelevant to the discussion, but since you raised it, I don’t post anon & I won’t be posting anonymous insults to you or anyone else Chris, even though you might deserve it. I don’t however, use my full name on forums like this because identity theft is a very real problem on the web as well as the many bitter & twisted nutters out there. HKFooey Superhero (not retired)
Yeah, of course Mhairi… who needs scientists, neurologists, researchers etc? Let’s just cure ourselves…
If it was that easy why are we all here on these Boards? Maybe because all the fad diets and crank cures on the internet aren’t effective at treating MS? At least the pharmaceutical treatments have been proven to reduce the severity of the illness. I am not saying they are perfect either which is exactly WHY we need to continue to support and fund research into MS treatment.
Why are people so paranoid about pharmaceutical companies? It isn’t just about profit on their part. There is actually a genuine interest in adding to scientific and medical knowledge.
An interesting story in todays news that scientists have found that simple old Aspirin may be beneficial in treating cancer. That oldest of the old generics that is out of patent is worthy of yet more research…
And what is the problem with any company making a profit? If drug companies don’t make a profit they cease to exist, hundreds of thousands of people suffer as a result. Where are you going with this argument?
I am confidant that a cash poor drug’s company cannot be named. In fact the owner of one such company, is in the region of the second richest person in the world !!. Chris, who is the owner of the drug company who is about the second richest person in the world? I have to say it is not a drug company owner I would have ranked in this position. Cheryl
£156Million. Which is stated on this very web site.
As to which company, I, you or any one else, would not have access to this information, as it would be confidential.
I never said I had a problem with any company making a profit, so I will return the question, where are you going with this argument, if that’s what you want to call it, I call it voicing my opinion, and if other people have a problem with that, sorry but I can’t do much about it.
Ah, right, well if you are getting your figures from this website a direct quote is:
“MS Society funded research grants can only be held by researchers from recognised NHS and UK academic institutions. The institutions are responsible for ensuring that the research is carried out to high standards and meets current ethical and governance requirements.”
And I apologise, argument was a poor choice of words. What I meant was, I didn’t understand your reasoning.
Ah, right, well if you are getting your figures from this website a direct quote is:
“MS Society funded research grants can only be held by researchers from recognised NHS and UK academic institutions. The institutions are responsible for ensuring that the research is carried out to high standards and meets current ethical and governance requirements.”
And I apologise, argument was a poor choice of words. What I meant was, I didn’t understand your reasoning.
First I apologise if I have the wrong end of the stick but if the majority of people are saying we should leave research up to the poor old drug companies sorry but the amount of money they profit from is obscene.
If anyone saw Panorama last night and the disgusting remarks made by some Americans at a meeting made me personally very upset at the greed of capitalism.
One man whose 2 year old hernia was likely to turn gangrene and kill him and because he could not afford the $20,000 for the operation to correct.
Drug companies are at the pinnacle of capitalism and like any business are in it to make money; a 23% profit I would think is very healthy.
Don’t tell me how wonderful drug companies are when there is an inexpensive drug they could give to African’s to stop Malaria AND THEY DO NOT.
No one’s claiming that drug companies are heros. The amount of money that all big businesses make is obscene. But if they didn’t, they’d stop doing it. So I for one am very very grateful that drugs are profitable - it’s the only way that things like Tysabri, Campath, baclofen, pregabalin, BG-12, Copaxone, etc, would ever have been developed.
Incidentally, Glaxo is currently investing hundreds of millions of pounds developing a vaccine for malaria that they fully expect to make a huge loss on.
But all of this is completely irrelevant with regard to the reason for the vast majority of the posts on this thread.
To make it quite clear, when the votes were requested for proposals to be put to the upcoming MS Society, AGM, which I think was the one before last. I voted against the MS Society, providing money for research, I understand that this proposal was only narrowly carried, so I say again there must be a great number of MS Society members, who voted the same as me.
If the vote was requested again, I would vote in exactly the same.
I trust that clears up any misunderstanding, on this subject. Making it quite clear where I stand.
The amazing thing is, there was a post a couple of weeks back, regarding MS help cards. I made a comment that these cards would be better, if they were user specific with an ID photo. Which a number agreed would be a good idea.
I realised that such a scheme would have an admin cost, so offered my services as a volunteer to carry out this admin work from home, which would then only involve the MS Society, with a nominal cost, which could be paid by the person requesting the card.
Did this evoke any response, from other members of the forum or the MS Society, no, of course not.
