Active Learning: Go chat with your local drug rep

So I was chatting with a new friend who works for a pharmaceutical company. He takes a medication that his employer makes. Recently, his company created a new version of the medicine he's taking. This new version of the medicine causes less side effects and less kidney damage, hooray!

Here's the part of the story where it gets weird. I didn't record the conversation but I'll paraphrase it as best as possible:

Me: "So they have a new medicine that causes less issues? That's great!"

Him: "Yeah, I'm really excited about it but the insurance denied it so we'll have to wait and see."

Me: "What!? Really?"

Him: "Yeah, it's a new medicine so I figured that would happen." Me: "Wait, let me get this right. You work for the drug company and they pay you to go out and tell people about this medicine. Your doctor thinks it's a good idea to switch. Yet when you go to get it filled, your company, which is the SAME COMPANY THAT MAKES THE MEDICINE, doesn't cover it?"

Him: "Yeah."

Me: *blink* *blink*

If an employee of a drug company can't even get his meds covered, what chance do you have?

#BigPharma #pharmaceuticalcompanies #PSYCHplan