U.S. Government Sold Your Right to Jury Trial — to Insulate Big Pharma From Liability, by William Spruance

The government pays big pharma for their products and shields them from liability when those products harm people. It’s the perfect business model for executives and shareholders without a shred of conscience. From William Spruance at childrenshealthdefense.org:

The federal government sold the Seventh Amendment, designed to protect your right to a jury trial, to the largest lobbying force in the country: Big Pharma.

On Feb. 24, 1985, The New York Times published “Glory Days End for Pharmaceuticals.” The article cited growing competition and legal liabilities as signs that “the big drug companies have suddenly found themselves mired in the same sort of troubles that have plagued less-glamorous industries for years.”

“Inevitably some [companies] will face staggering liabilities and lengthy court cases on approved drugs that later turn into flops,” journalist Winston Williams wrote.

Of course, the glory days did not end for Big Pharma.

From 2000 to 2018, 35 pharmaceutical companies reported cumulative revenue of $11.5 trillion. A study found that this was “significantly greater than other larger, public companies in the same time frame.”

Pfizer’s annual revenue jumped from $3.8 billion in 1984 to a record $100 billion in 2022. The company’s COVID-19 products, including its vaccine and Paxlovid accounted for $57 billion of that income.

The U.S. Government provided a steady stream of taxpayer dollars for Big Pharma’s revenue and shielded the benefiting companies from the cost of litigation.

Federal purchases of Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have totaled more than $25 billion. The government paid Moderna $2.5 billion of taxpayer funds to develop the vaccine, and President Biden called on local leaders to use public money to bribe citizens to get the shots.

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