Brant English 15 1

Jessica Brant

Professor Geppert

English 15

13 December 2019

Bristol-Myers Squibb Gives Authentic Treatments for Cancer

Cancer has been around for many of years. The earliest known form of cancer dates back

to Egyptian times. People have been working on a cure for cancer, for plenty of years. A

conspiracy about big pharmaceutical companies selling customers treatments and medications

that are not up to the standards that they should be at, is a hot topic when it comes to the medical

field. If pharmaceutical companies were to give out ineffective medications, they could get into a

lot of trouble. When producing treatments for any kind of disease there are a lot of tedious steps

that you must follow. The strict process of creating treatments is not the only reason corporations

would not sell useless medicine, lots of researchers spend most of their lifetime performing

research to find an effective treatment, so for their company to not be selling their full solution

would think their work unimportant and useless. Bristol-Myers Squibb would not give out

ineffective medicine because it is impossible, they must go through so many legal processes and

the fact that their every move is in the eye of the public, their foundation was based off keeping

the public safe and healthy.

It would be almost impossible to sell a non-beneficial treatment. Cancer Treatment trials

must go through an approval process. This approval process includes a peer review, an ethical

approval, other checks, trial authorization, and a hospital approval. Cancer Research UK says “A

trial may use scans or treatment that would expose people to more radiation that they would have
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had otherwise. In this case, the team must get a certificate from a specialist committee to give

them permission to do this” (2019). The entire process of approval can take up to a year for it to

be complete. Even just filling out an application for this process takes a lengthy amount of time.

Solomon Garb states “the time required to prepare an application properly will usually vary

between two and six months, depending upon the experience of the investigator in making out

applications and the nature of the research to be conducted” (1968). Any kind of medicine or

treatment is also evaluated by the FDA for it to be sold. Once everything is ready to go and be

sold as a method of treatment the clinical trials must be published for the public to view. If you

wish to access the information on these trials, you can use websites like ClinicalTrials.gov or

Cancer.gov/clinical trials. So, after all this time and effort researchers cannot and would not give

out treatment methods to patients if they were not successful.

Big Pharmaceutical companies are believed to have their sole purpose of being

powerhouses when it comes to making money. Despite this belief, companies such as Bristol-

Myers Squibb were not built for that purpose. Bristol-Myers Squibb originally started out as two

different companies. Edward Robinson Squibb based his business off safety. Dr. Squibb

proposed a bill that would “Prevent the adulteration of food and medicine and to create a state

board of health” (1879). William Bristol and John Myers bought out the failing Clinton

Pharmaceutical Company. When they bought this business, they made a vow to “not sell quack

remedies” (1887). William Bristol and John Myers were firm believers is producing quality

products. Even though Bristol and Myers bought a failing pharmaceutical company they aspired

to become successful in turning around their newly bought company. Carter, McHale, Triscari,

and O’Rourke reveals that when the two men created the company they “strove to grow the

business in a challenging environment, maintaining two rules above all: an insistence on high
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quality products and the maintenance of the firm’s good financial standing at all costs” (“Bristol-

Myers” 2017, para. 2). Provided that both establishments made it clear early on that safety was

their highest priority, proves that their intentions are not all about the money.

Since the company has been around for about 132 years there has been many researchers

and scientists to work for Bristol-Myers Squibb. Harold E. Varmus, a very successful oncologist,

said “throughout the nearly two decades I have been associated with U.C.S.F, most of my

research interests have been focused upon the behavior of retroviruses” (2019). Some people

devote their lives to doing research, Varmus devoted 20 years doing research with the U.C.S.F.

Cancerresearchuk.org proclaims “there is no typical length of time it takes for a drug to be tested

and approved. It might take ten to fifteen years or more to complete all three phases of clinical

trials before the licensing stage” (2019). When someone devotes that amount of time to

something, they certainly would not be okay with giving patients a lower grade, and less

effective medicine for the company to make more money.

Basing the company's foundation shows that they care about the health and safety of their

patients and customers. Another reason that Bristol-Myers Squibb would not sell useless

treatments is that they would have to live with the fact that they are harming people on purpose

to make more money. However, that is the exact opposite of what they created their institution

for. Not only would they be hurting people that they did not know personally, but they would be

hurting their own employees. The mortality rate of cancer is extremely high. A study that looked

at cancer cases from 2011 to 2015, reveals that the mortality rate of cancer is 165.3 people per

100,000 men and Women each year The International Agency for Research on Cancer claims

“Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2012, there were 14.1 million new

cases and 8.2 million cancer related deaths worldwide” (2012). Since the company has over
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23,000 employees there is a good chance that their own employees have been diagnosed with

cancer. Bristol-Myers has had some of their own employees with cancer. On their website

BMS.com there is all sorts of information available to you. One of the most important parts of

their website is their media tab. On their media tab you can see what the company has been up

to. This section contains news articles, press releases, and information about their fundraising.

The media section also contains personal story about their employees who have had cancer.

Furthermore, if new patients are unsure about how they feel about Bristol-Myers Squibb, they

can use their website to find more information about them.

Bristol-Myers Squibb’s website is not the only way for someone to find information

about the company, many news reporters and journalists have done articles about them. If one of

the company's products is not doing well, a consumer can look up the information and find news

articles that have more details about why. Reports like Teresa Rivas have put out articles about

Bristol-Myers Squibb and a failing treatment method. Rivas says, “Bristol-Myers Squibb stock

fell in after-hours trading Wednesday, on the back of disappointing data for a combination

cancer treatment with its drugs Opdivo and Yervoy” (2019). The New York Times has over 483

articles about Bristol Myers Squibb. One of their newest articles is on company reports. The

New York Times says “…sales had slipped in its main pharmaceutical, consumer products and

infant formula businesses in the third quarter” (1993). Although Bristol-Myers Squibb post their

own press releases you can still find information about them through other news companies.

Because there are articles like Rivas’ out there, a consumer can find good and bad information

about any treatment method of interest.

Provided that Bristol-Myers Squibb’s every action is public they could easily lose money

from a bad press release. Keeping the secret of selling ineffective treatments would be
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tremendously hard to keep concealed. Since the company has so many employees it would be

significantly easy to exploit the company out of anger. The more effective treatment methods

make more money naturally, so the Bristol-Myers Squibb would not waste their resources on

producing a product that does not work as well and that does not sell as much.

In order for Bristol-Myers Squibb to be successful in the eye of the public they cannot

sell unauthentic treatment methods for cancer. Since Bristol-Myers Squibb directly deals with

the public everything they do must be seen from the eyes of the public. There cannot be any

secrets from behind closed doors. The company puts an immense amount of time and effort into

producing their products and treatments. therefore, Bristol-Myers Squibb would not give a

consumer a less effective amount of a medicine to profit from. The company's morals are not

based on making money they are based on keeping the public safe and healthy.
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Works Cited

“Bristol-Myers Squibb: Media.” Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, 22 Oct.

2019, http://www.bms.com/media.html.

“How Long a New Drug Takes to Go through Clinical Trials.” Cancer Research UK,

Fundraising Regulator, 22 Feb. 2019, http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/find-a-clinical-

trial/how-clinical-trials-are-planned-and-organised/how-long-it-takes-for-a-new-drug-to-

go-through-clinical-trials.

“Cancer Statistics.” National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 27 Apr. 2018,

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics.

Carter, M., et al. Bristol-Myers Squibb: Patents, Profits, and Public Scrutiny. SAGE

Publications, 2006.

“COMPANY REPORTS; BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB CO. (N).” The New York Times, The

New York Times, 21 Oct. 1993, http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/21/business/company-

reports-bristol-myers-squibb-co-n.html.

Garb, Solomon. Cure for Cancer, a National Goal. Springer Pub. Co., 1968.

Rivas, Teresa. “Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Falls After Results of Cancer Treatment Study

Disappoint.” Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Falls After Cancer Treatment Study Results

Disappoint - Barron's, Barrons, 24 July 2019, http://www.barrons.com/articles/bristol-

myers-squibb-stock-falls-after-cancer-treatment-study-results-disappoint-51564006023.

Varmos, Harold E. “The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1989.” NobelPrize.org, Nobel

Prize Organization, http://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1989/varmus/facts/.