Another area where big pharma hasn't had any success is in changing patent laws, which they would very much like to do. They might spend a billion dollars getting a drug to market and by that time only have five years on the patent. That is why they charge 300 or 400 dollars for 30 tabs of abiliify. Most insurance companies won't make it a part of their formulary unless they can negotiate huge discounts and they think it will be beneficial. Once it goes generic it becomes dirt cheap and there is not money in it anymore.

Kaiser Permanente for example won't just except a brand new drug. They have a whole division that spends quite a bit of time evaluating and even doing their own clinical trials before adopting a drug. And then they will negotiate big discounts. Big pharma tries to influence them, obviously, but they are interested in patient outcomes. Kaiser is a non profit health care provider and insurance company all in one. They have a great model and are cutting edge.

Clinical Trials

The last I knew Kaiser was doing their own clinical trials on TMS before adopting it. I am not sure if they have adopted it. They need to see enough evidence before buying the machines even if all their patients are asking for it.

One thing big pharma will do to extend the life of a drug is market the active metabolite after the original drug goes generic. Pfizer, Effexor, and Pristiq is an example. Pristiq is just the active metabolite of Effexor with a better extended release coating. Pristiq is actually a "cleaner" drug but you don't have to take it. You can get Effexor dirt cheap.

Kaiser even has a section on energy therapies like reiki on their website. I don't know if they have practitioners. They are very very open to alternatives. They have different divisions and they are not all equal. I am very familiar with Kaiser of Northern CA and I can tell you they are very into preventive medicine and alternative therapies and are cutting edge. Evidence based.

https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org...S1vWc!/#ut1809