No sympathy for drug companies

Re “The myth of the big bad drug companies,” Opinion, Dec. 22

Thank goodness someone has finally come to the defense of those victimized, abused and overregulated pharmaceutical goliaths. It makes sense that Richard Epstein, a consultant for the drug industry, should be the one to do it. I look forward to his next piece in which he’ll explain how necessary it was for those giant companies to threaten to cut off supplies to Canadian pharmacies that sell their cheaper pills to American consumers.

How about the money the poor companies have to spend on advertising their drugs, currently more than on research? And the tax breaks the industry enjoys, especially during the research phase -- those are not really subsidies, are they?

Epstein clearly warns us that investors will flee the drug companies if these practices and others are curtailed. Yeah, right. How fat does the bottom line have to be before some restraint is applied by someone, since the industry has no incentive?

JACK DRAKE

Redondo Beach

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Epstein howls about the miseries of the pharmaceutical companies “suffering” from excessive regulation. In the Business section of the same paper was an article detailing the $180-million-plus in severance pay to Henry A. McKinnell, Pfizer’s retiring CEO, ousted by “investor anger about [McKinnell’s] rich retirement benefits.” Oh, how those pharmaceuticals do suffer!

TOM CLAYTON

Santa Clarita

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Epstein’s article appeared to be of no value whatsoever until I chanced upon an idea for an agricultural experiment. I intend to shred the article and spread it on a couple of plants on my balcony that have not been looking very healthy recently. If my suspicion is accurate, those plants will be flourishing in no time at all.

LYLE DAVIDSON

San Diego