Thinking Pharma: "Greening Pharma"

Thinking Pharma would like to WELCOME its second Guest Blogger.

David Picking is a practicing medical herbalist and researcher and has flashbacks of a former life in Digital Pharma Marketing.

Posting at the Thinking Pharma Blog every other week!

Think of Switzerland and one thinks of Pharma.

Think of Switzerland and one thinks of a bastion of orthodox medicine.

Think again!

On May 17, 2009, 67 percent of Swiss people voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that supports the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Thus Switzerland becomes the first country in Europe to set out in its constitution, authority for the national government to integrate CAM into its health services.

It is an astonishing move and one that seems likely to set the model for other countries.

But what has CAM got to do with Pharma Marketing?

Surely the very naming of CAM implies an alternative that has little to do with mainstream medicine, a distraction at best, an unscientific and dangerous trend at worst.

However having just returned from running a weekend workshop for 50 pharmacists on the topic of herbal medicine - CAM is very much on the radar for this and a growing number of ‘orthodox’ health care professionals.

Why the Interest?

Is it because, as pharmacists there is concern about possible drug herb interactions and other safety issues?

That’s certainly one issue.

Is it because pharmacists are seeing such a high percentage of their patients’ self- medicating with some form of alternative medicine, whether it’s herbal, nutritional or homeopathic?

Most definitely – why else would 50 busy pharmacists give up a sun-kissed weekend to learn more about just one aspect of this rapidly growing sector?

Is it because pharmacists see a significant retail opportunity?

Again – definitely.

As pharmacists – many see both challenges and opportunities as they deal with increasing numbers of the public who self medicate with alternative medicines and who often feel unable or are unwilling to discuss such use with their orthodox doctor.

OK so just how big is this ‘Rapidly Growing Sector’?

In 2003 The World Health Organisation (WHO) were estimating that the global herbal medicine market alone was worth US$60 billion.

More recently a former economics advisor to the Bush Senior and Clinton administrations, Paul Pilzer, has predicted a sector with a worldwide value of US$1 trillion by next year.

Pilzer refers to this sector as the ‘Wellness Industry’.

But just What is it that’s Driving this Rapid Growth?

The WHO identifies a number of key drivers:

Concern about the adverse effects of pharmaceutical drugs.

A questioning of the approaches & assumptions of orthodox medicine.

Increased life expectancy and increased risk of long term chronic illness for which herbal and other alternative medicines appear to offer gentler treatment options

An explosion in access to health information fuelled largely by the internet.