Global Trade Practices
Many developing countries like India and China refuse to grant meaningful patent protection to drug companies because it is likely to raise the cost of prescription medications to levels far above the average person’s ability to pay for them.
Currently, the pharmaceutical industry in these and most developing countries consists mainly of chemical companies that copy and manufacture new medications developed by large multinational drug companies in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Only when countries like India and China finally pass meaningful patent laws will the clinical research flood-gates open up in these nations, and we will then find out which of these traditional
remedies really work for which disorders. Some of these traditional medications have been claimed to be effective against literally dozens of diseases, which is a little ridiculous. Systematic research is needed to find out which of these many claims is indeed valid. Unfortunately, the regulatory bodies in many developing countries have chosen to adopt an antiscientific approach in dealing with traditional medications. For example, the drug controller of India permits marketing of any
medication that is described in ancient Indian writings and does not require any evidence whatsoever of either efficacy or safety of the traditional medication in treating a particular condition.
Keep an Open Mind about Alternative Medications
Blanket support or disdain for the concept of ‘‘alternative” therapies is unwise.
Alternative medications do contain chemical compounds, but they are derived from natural sources, unlike most pharmaceutical medications, which are manufactured.
Some alternative medications are effective, a few are toxic and should not be used, and still others don’t work but are generally harmless.
The Roots of Ayurveda
During my medical school years, I read some of the Ayurvedic texts, translated from Sanskrit into English, that described a wide range of therapies: herbs and plant extracts, metals, and bloodletting for various maladies. The vedas, among which Ayurveda is only a small component, were both the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Bible of ancient Indian civilization. They were rooted in religion but contained a great deal of practical information and advice for everyday living. A number of Ayurvedic and related remedies have been “discovered” and subsequently used in Western medicine, including digitalis (digoxin) for congestive heart failure, rauwolfia alkaloids to extract reserpine (used to treat hypertension in the 1950s and 1960s), and several plant extracts with anticholinergic properties (to treat diarrhea, for example).
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