Medication that does not work?

I see Johnson & Johnson have been hit with a class action for "knowingly selling medicines that do not work". Really?

There will be plenty of people who will put their hands up to be part of the action. I am not sure how they will prove they have taken things like "Codral" and "Benadryl" but I suppose it is possible. They might get a cent or two in "compensation" if the action works. It might bankrupt Johnson & Johnson I suppose...or it might not.

Of course the entire pharmaceutical industry relies on us taking medication to "cure", "recover", "treat", "control" and "live a normal life" for longer. And why do the hard work of going on a weight loss diet if that new wonder drug will do it for you?

Of course the pharmaceutical industry has produced some things of great benefit. They have taken the work of scientists and turned it into life-saving items like insulin, blood pressure medications and vaccines for otherwise deadly diseases. All that is surely to the good? At least one doctor friend reading this will tell me if I am wrong.

But there are other things I am much more concerned about. Anti-biotics should not be failing us - but is that the fault of the pharmaceutical companies or ours for over using them and diminishing their efficacy? I am fortunate in that I have not had cause to take an anti-biotic for well over twenty years. If I did get a bug that needed treating then how well would one of the current anti-biotic medications actually work?

When my grandparents were born "cholesterol" was not an issue. It may have been noted as far back as 1759 by de la Salle in France but it was not until 1955 that doctors started to express concerns about it. My paternal grandparents lived to their nineties. They ate red meat and drank full cream milk all their lives and never used cholesterol medication. Now they would probably be told to cut down the red meat or, preferably, not eat it at all. They would be told to drink only fat reduced milk, substitute plant based "margarine" for butter and never eat cream. On top of that they would be given "cholesterol lowering medication".  Perhaps they would have lived to 100?  

The pharmaceutical industry is there to make money for those who own the companies concerned or for their shareholders. As long as we recognise that first then perhaps we might cure ourselves of believing taking a pill or potion can provide an instant cure for everything?