If a natural compound is already in use and works, drug companies have an interest in testing derivatives which can be made more effective or lower in side effects, and which can be patented. Aspirin and all forms of opiates are well known examples of drugs originating in this way.
"Drug companies can't patent natural compounds, so they don't bother to research them" is a commonly used excuse by alternative medicine industries, but in fact drug companies frequently do test natural compounds. It can be done cheaply with a small sample size, because they don't have to investigate all the potential side effects or whether it stacks up to all the drugs currently on the market, just whether it works well enough to merit being made the focus of further research to create new medications.
I would like to see sources that show drug companies to be far-reaching and impartial in their exploration of traditional medicines. A good question then is, since there are also a lot of medicine companies which promote traditional remedies, why are the larger pharmaceutical companies, which exhibit undeniable biases and pay out billions in false advertising lawsuits each year seen as the more valid side of the fence? Many of these natural health companies employ fully trained doctors and receive patronage from fully trained doctors, and are a growing ind...
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