Tag: big pharma

How Big Pharma Hijacked Evidence-Based Medicine

I. Introduction

Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) is a relatively recent phenomenon. The term itself was not coined until 1991. It began with the best of intentions — to give frontline doctors the tools from clinical epidemiology to make science-based decisions that would improve patient outcomes. But over the last three decades, EBM has been hijacked by the pharmaceutical industry to serve the interests of shareholders rather than patients.

Today, EBM gives preference to epistemologies that favor corporate interests while instructing doctors to ignore other valid forms of knowledge and their own professional experience. This shift disempowers doctors and reduces patients to objects while concentrating power in the hands of pharmaceutical companies. EBM also leaves doctors ill-equipped to respond to the autism epidemic and unable to produce the sorts of paradigm-shifts that would be necessary to address this crisis.

In this article I will:

  • provide a brief history of EBM;
  • explain how evidence hierarchies work;
  • explore ten general and technical criticisms of EBM and evidence hierarchies;
  • examine the American Medical Association’s 2002, 2008, and 2015 evidence hierarchies;
  • highlight the corporate takeover of EBM; and
  • explore the implications of these dynamics for the autism epidemic.

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Johnson & Johnson Lead Scientist and Executive Admit Baby Powder Contained ‘Cancer-Causing Heavy Metals’

The O’Keefe Media Group on Friday released undercover video of a Johnson & Johnson lead scientist and executive admit that baby power contained cancer causing heavy metals.

This is the second undercover video in OMG’s series exposing Johnson & Johnson.

Joshua Rys, a Regulatory Affairs Scientist who managed Johnson & Johnson’s baby products spilled the truth to an OMG undercover journalist.

“When I started, actually I started working on the consumer group. Johnson’s was one of my brands. So I managed all the baby products. So actually, when that all happened, I was working on that,” said Joshua Rys.

Rys continued, “It wasn’t actually the product itself, it was an impurity. So naturally talc comes from mines, and the mines don’t have, I guess, 100 percent accurate standards. So the heavy metals, it’s not the talc itself that gives you the cancer, it’s the heavy metals that are in there.”

David Altman, Executive & Senior Clinical Analyst at Johnson & Johnson, said, “This is not your father’s J&J… they don’t really give a sh*t about people.”

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‘Their Rubber Stamp Is Reckless’: After AAP Endorses Weight-Loss Drugs for Kids, Prescriptions Soar

Prescriptions for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs for kids and teens grew substantially after the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in 2023 recommended them for childhood obesity, according to a new study published in the AAP’s flagship journal Pediatrics.

GLP-1 drugs, typically used to treat obesity or diabetes, include the blockbuster drugs Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Saxenda. Of those, only Wegovy and Saxenda are approved for children. However, several lesser-known GLP-1 drugs can be prescribed off-label for children.

Researchers with the health data and analytics company Truveta analyzed more than 310,000 health records. They found that prescriptions for GLP-1 drugs for children and teens ages 8-17 increased 65% immediately following AAP’s recommendation and another 5% per month after that, Axios reported.

The researchers found that before the AAP recommendation, the diabetes drug metformin was by far the most prescribed medication for weight loss in kids. However, after the new guidelines, prescriptions for semaglutide — the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic — surged, and prescriptions for metformin dropped.

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Nerve pain medication gabapentin possibly tied to dementia, study says

A drug used to treat seizures, nerve pain and restless leg syndrome might be linked with increased risk of dementia, a new study says.

Regular gabapentin use appeared to increase risk of dementia by 29% and mild cognitive impairment by 85%, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

What’s more, the risk was more than doubled in people normally considered too young to suffer from brain aging, those 18 to 64, results show.

“The findings of this study support the need for close monitoring in adult patients prescribed gabapentin to assess for potential cognitive decline,” wrote the research team led by Nafis Eghrari, a medical student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

“Moreover, this provides a foundation to further research whether gabapentin plays a causal role in the development of dementia and cognitive decline,” the researchers added.

Gabapentin has become increasingly popular for the treatment of chronic pain because it’s not nearly as addictive as opioids, researchers said in background notes.

But concerns have been growing that gabapentin might contribute to cognitive decline, since it works by suppressing communication between nerve cells, researchers said.

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The Profit Motive Itself Makes the Best Case Against the FDA

One of President Trump’s campaign pledges was to allow Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to “go wild” as head of Health and Human Services. Some welcomed the idea, scarred by memories such as covid lockdowns and government mask mandates that lasted well beyond the arrival of the vaccines. Others, well aware of Kennedy’s conspiracism and anti-vaccine views, dreaded the news. Agencies under Kennedy, like the FDA, are charged with maintaining standards of medical safety and effectiveness. Does “go wild” mean freeing Americans to make our own health decisions — or ramming bad advice down our throats?

As if to address the concerns of both groups, Kennedy’s FDA announced in May that it approves covid boosters only for those over 65 or in other high-risk groups. The vaccine remains available to everyone, but insurers are no longer forced to cover the full cost (about $150). If you want to get the covid jab with your flu shot, you’ll need to decide if a few extra days of health are worth the price. Leftists wailing about “access” notwithstanding, Kennedy hasn’t “taken away” this vaccine.

The measure seems reasonable until one hears the rationale: Officials described the old guidance as “one-size-fits-all” and based on the assumption that Americans “are not sophisticated enough to understand age- and risk-based recommendations.” First, millions were forgoing the shots. Second, the main impact is on insurance companies, whose job it is to know whether covering shots or treatments is profitable for any given group.

This comes across as an attempt to flatter voters who should be wondering: Why is someone, who sues vaccine makers and has no medical or scientific background or experience, in charge of what vaccines are available and what health insurers can or can not cover?

We know the short answer: Donald Trump wanted to reward Kennedy’s support for his presidential campaign more than he cared about the health of his voters — and nearly every Republican Senator (including four M.D.s !) went along with it.

But this dumpster fire would be impossible if the government weren’t running the biomedical sector of the economy, rather than just protecting our freedom like they are supposed to.

Contrary to the notion that we need a government to ensure safe and effective drugs, there is ample evidence that the profit motive is necessary and sufficient for this purpose .

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Weight loss jab patients facing deadly organ failure risk, experts warn

  • A nurse warns that weight-loss injections like Mounjaro are prescribed without crucial blood tests, risking pancreatitis, organ failure, and death.
  • UK regulators are investigating more than 560 reports of pancreas inflammation and ten deaths linked to GLP-1 agonist drugs.
  • Mandatory blood screening could identify high-risk patients, but corporate providers prioritize profits over safety, skipping safeguards.
  • Post-market data reveals severe risks, including contraceptive failure, muscle wasting, and blindness, yet manufacturers downplay dangers.
  • Experts demand stricter regulations, pre-screenings, and holistic obesity care instead of profit-driven pharmaceutical shortcuts.

A medical whistleblower has exposed a life-threatening oversight in the booming weight loss injection industry, revealing that thousands of patients are being prescribed potent GLP-1 agonist drugs like Mounjaro without critical blood tests that could prevent pancreatitis, sepsis, and fatal organ failure.

As UK regulators investigate more than 560 reports of pancreas inflammation and ten deaths linked to these “miracle” injections, frontline healthcare workers are demanding immediate reforms to protect vulnerable patients from Big Pharma’s reckless profit-driven protocols.

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Moderna To Ask For Clearance For Combination COVID-Influenza Vaccine

Moderna is going to ask regulators to approve its combination vaccine against COVID-19 and influenza, the company said on June 30.

The company said a phase 3 study evaluating its influenza vaccine candidate, mRNA-1010—which utilizes the same messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) platform as its COVID-19 vaccine—showed positive effectiveness.

In the trial, which featured 40,805 participants and compared mRNA-1010 to an existing seasonal flu vaccine in adults aged 50 and up, the relative protection from the candidate was 26.6 percent better. In a subgroup analysis among participants aged at least 65, the relative efficacy was 27.4 percent.

“Today’s strong Phase 3 efficacy results are a significant milestone in our effort to reduce the burden of influenza in older adults,” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, said in a statement.

Several companies, including Moderna, have been planning to introduce combination shots against COVID-19 and influenza.

Moderna, however, in May withdrew its application for approval for its combination vaccine, a move the company said came after consulting with the Food and Drug Administration.

Moderna at the time said it planned to resubmit the application before the end of 2025 after it received efficacy data from the phase 3 trial for mRNA 1010.

“An mRNA-based flu vaccine has the potential advantage to more precisely match circulating strains, support rapid response in a future influenza pandemic, and pave the way for COVID-19 combination vaccines,” Bancel said on Monday.

The trial results have been fully published or peer reviewed. Moderna said it plans to submit the results to a peer-reviewed journal.

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8 In 10 Marijuana Consumers Use It As A Substitute For Prescription Drugs, New Survey Finds

A whopping eight in 10 marijuana consumers say they use cannabis, at least in part, as an alternative to traditional prescription drugs, according to a new poll.

The survey from the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD, which was shared exclusively with Marijuana Moment, asked cannabis consumers a simple question: “Do you use cannabis as a replacement for prescription medication?”

Of the 485 respondents, 79.6 percent affirmed that they did, in fact, use marijuana as a substitute to pharmaceuticals, compared to 20.4 percent who said they did not.

“Pharmaceutical interests know the substitution effect cannabis has on their products is real,” Andrew Graham, head of communications at NuggMD, told Marijuana Moment. “Federal prohibition locks in a lot of demand for their addictive and potentially fatal drugs by depriving millions of Americans of legal access to the plant, and I can’t name a single interest aligned with Big Pharma that’s stated support for ending it.”

“Our newest poll shows the substitution effect may well be a lot higher than the pharma industry thinks that it is,” he said. “It estimates that around 40 million Americans use cannabis to some degree as a replacement for prescription drugs. That’s costing Big Pharma billions annually in lost profits.”

“I genuinely want Big Pharma to see this data and decide to spend yet more resources fighting against the plant. Because the more noise they make against cannabis, the more popular our movement becomes. They are that unpopular,” Graham added.

Notably, a majority of respondents in the survey sample did not report having a state medical cannabis card, indicating that the substitution effect extends beyond the registered patient population.

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The Plot to Get RFK

An apparent leaked minutes document suggests that a trade association held a meeting in April to undo the confirmation of Kennedy by the duly elected US Senate. It is embedded below. 

Caveat and Clarification

All references to individuals, statements, or actions attributed in the leaked minutes of the BIO Vaccine Policy Steering Committee meeting held on April 3, 2025, should be understood as excerpts from an internal document that has not been publicly authenticated by the named parties. These statements represent the content of the document as obtained and published, and do not constitute confirmed factual claims about the intent, conduct, or positions of any individual mentioned. The document reflects the internal framing and strategy of BIO and is presented here for the public to assess, interpret, and investigate. Readers are encouraged to seek independent confirmation, request public statements from the individuals involved, and draw conclusions based on full context and corroborating evidence. The document was received anonymously by whistleblowers and provided to Popular Rationalism for public analysis. Its provenance is under review.

On the eve before the US Senate reconvenes, a detailed secret trade-association memo plotting the removal of US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has leaked. It reads like a coup attempt against regulatory reform—and they are spending millions to make sure Kennedy is out of office by September.

It seems that the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), whose membership includes Pfizer, Merck, Novavax, Vaxcyte, and hundreds of biotech firms that profit from regulatory insulation, has a mole. This article critiques the documented lobbying behavior of the trade group BIO, not the internal operations or clinical data of its member corporations.

When the nation’s leading pharmaceutical trade group convenes a closed-door strategy meeting and openly discusses the need to “go to The Hill and lobby that it is time for RFK Jr. to go,” the issue is no longer health policy—it is democratic integrity.

According to the apparent leaked minutes, verified by the name of the creator of the file, on April 3, 2025, BIO held a “Vaccine Policy Steering Committee” (VPSC) meeting whose internal summary, soon to be publicly available thanks to whistleblowers, reveals a campaign of strategic deception, institutional capture, and psychological warfare and exposes a campaign of institutional deception, investor protection, and coordinated sabotage of the MAHA reform platform.

According to the leaked document, titled “BIO Vaccine Policy Steering Committee – April 3, 2025”, BIO has committed $2 million—half of its cash reserve—to counter what it calls the “threat” posed by Kennedy’s rise. But this is no ordinary PR push. It is a multi-pronged campaign designed to deceive the public, silence dissent, and preserve industry dominance through influence operations masquerading as science.

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DMSO – The Forgotten Medicine Making A Comeback

I first heard about DMSO about 15 years ago, around the same time I began my studies into Chlorine Dioxide. I was working at a local health food store, and one of my colleagues was very well versed on alternative, “suppressed” therapeutics. He showed me that Chlorine Dioxide (Cl02) can be used topically when mixed with DMSO acting as a carrier to draw the Cl02 into the body.

I went down to local feed store and picked up a bottle of DMSO, specifically wanting to use it with Cl02 and unknowing of all the potentials of DMSO itself. This bottle was originally made for horses, but there is a carryover between some supplements made for humans and animals. Granted, I’m not sure if the processing on this DMSO was the most pure, and being packaged in plastic and made for horses it may have had some contaminants in it – these days there are much more pure DMSO products available specifically for human use, and packaged more securely in glass containers.

I had used this DMSO a few times, but eventually it wound up in the back of my supplement cabinet for years. It may even still be back there somewhere. I had mostly forgotten about DMSO until the last 6 months when a resurgence of interest took place on social media. Alternative doctors like the Midwestern Doctor and health-focused influencers like Vigilant Fox have written articles on it, and I’ve been asked by quite a few of my own followers if I’m familiar with DMSO or where they can find a good source – so I’ve gone back down the DMSO rabbit hole, and have learned some new things along the way.

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