(Subjects: Religion/Worship, Lightworkers, Food, Health, Prescription Drugs, Homeopathy, Innate (Body intelligence), New Age movement, Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)

“…… Should I use Doctors and Drugs to Heal Me or Spiritual Methods?

"Dear Kryon, I have heard that you should stay natural and not use the science on the planet for healing. It does not honor God to go to a doctor. After all, don't you say that we can heal with our minds? So why should we ever go to a doctor if we can do it ourselves? Not only that, my doctor isn't enlightened, so he has no idea about my innate or my spiritual body needs. What should I do?"

First, Human Being, why do you wish to put so many things in boxes? You continue to want a yes and no answer for complex situations due to your 3D, linear outlook on almost everything. Learn to think out of the 3D box! Look at the heading of this section [above]. It asks which one should you do. It already assumes you can't do both because they seem dichotomous.

Let's use some spiritual logic: Here is a hypothetical answer, "Don't go to a doctor, for you can heal everything with your mind." So now I will ask: How many of you can do that in this room right now? How many readers can do that with efficiency right now? All of you are old souls, but are you really ready to do that? Do you know how? Do you have really good results with it? Can you rid disease and chemical imbalance with your mind right now?

I'm going to give you a truth, whether you choose to see it or not. You're not ready for that! You are not yet prepared to take on the task of full healing using your spiritual tools. Lemurians could do that, because Pleiadians taught them how! It's one of the promises of God, that there'll come a day when your DNA works that efficiently and you will be able to walk away from drug chemistry and the medical industry forever, for you'll have the creator's energy working at 100 percent, something you saw within the great masters who walked the earth.

This will be possible within the ascended earth that you are looking forward to, dear one. Have you seen the news lately? Look out the window. Is that where you are now? We are telling you that the energy is going in that direction, but you are not there yet.

Let those who feel that they can heal themselves begin the process of learning how. Many will be appreciative of the fact that you have some of the gifts for this now. Let the process begin, but don't think for a moment that you have arrived at a place where every health issue can be healed with your own power. You are students of a grand process that eventually will be yours if you wish to begin the quantum process of talking to your cells. Some will be good at this, and some will just be planting the seeds of it.

Now, I would like to tell you how Spirit works and the potentials of what's going to happen in the next few years. We're going to give the doctors of the planet new inventions and new science. These will be major discoveries about the Human body and of the quantum attributes therein.

Look at what has already happened, for some of this science has already been given to you and you are actually using it. Imagine a science that would allow the heart to be transplanted because the one you have is failing. Of course! It's an operation done many times a month on this planet. That information came from the creator, did you realize that? It didn't drop off the shelf of some dark energy library to be used in evil ways.

So, if you need a new heart, Lightworker, should you go to the doctor or create one with your mind? Until you feel comfortable that you can replace your heart with a new one by yourself, then you might consider using the God-given information that is in the hands of the surgeon. For it will save your life, and create a situation where you stay and continue to send your light to the earth! Do you see what we're saying?

You can also alter that which is medicine [drugs] and begin a process that is spectacular in its design, but not very 3D. I challenge you to begin to use what I would call the homeopathic principle with major drugs. If some of you are taking major drugs in order to alter your chemistry so that you can live better and longer, you might feel you have no choice. "Well, this is keeping me alive," you might say. "I don't yet have the ability to do this with my consciousness, so I take the drugs."

In this new energy, there is something else that you can try if you are in this category. Do the following with safety, intelligence, common sense and logic. Here is the challenge: The principle of homeopathy is that an almost invisible tincture of a substance is ingested and is seen by your innate. Innate "sees" what you are trying to do and then adjusts the body's chemistry in response. Therefore, you might say that you are sending the body a "signal for balance." The actual tincture is not large enough to affect anything chemically - yet it works!

The body [innate] sees what you're trying to do and then cooperates. In a sense, you might say the body is healing itself because you were able to give it instructions through the homeopathic substance of what to do. So, why not do it with a major drug? Start reducing the dosage and start talking to your cells, and see what happens. If you're not successful, then stop the reduction. However, to your own amazement, you may often be successful over time.

You might be able to take the dosage that you're used to and cut it to at least a quarter of what it was. It is the homeopathy principle and it allows you to keep the purpose of the drug, but reduce it to a fraction of a common 3D dosage. You're still taking it internally, but now it's also signaling in addition to working chemically. The signal is sent, the body cooperates, and you reduce the chance of side effects.

You can't put things in boxes of yes or no when it comes to the grand system of Spirit. You can instead use spiritual logic and see the things that God has given you on the planet within the inventions and processes. Have an operation, save your life, and stand and say, "Thank you, God, for this and for my being born where these things are possible." It's a complicated subject, is it not? Each of you is so different! You'll know what to do, dear one. Never stress over that decision, because your innate will tell you what is appropriate for you if you're willing to listen. ….”

Monsanto / GMO - Global Health


(Subjects: Big pharma [the drug companies of America] are going to have to change very soon or collapse. When you have an industry that keeps people sick for money, it cannot survive in the new consciousness., Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Lose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Pedal wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)
"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS" – Sep 29, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: ... I'm in Canada and I know it, but I will tell those listening and reading in the American audience the following: Get ready! Because there are some institutions that are yet to fall, ones that don't have integrity and that could never be helped with a bail out. Again, we tell you the biggest one is big pharma, and we told you that before. It's inevitable. If not now, then in a decade. It's inevitable and they will fight to stay alive and they will not be crossing the bridge. For on the other side of the bridge is a new way, not just for medicine but for care. ....) - (Text Version)

Pharmaceutical Fraud / Corruption cases

Health Care

Health Care
Happy birthday to Percy Julian, a pioneer in plant-drug synthesis. His research produced steroids like cortisone. (11 April 2014)

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Magnetic fields possibly linked to childhood leukemia: Dutch health council

DutchNews, April 18, 2018


Children living in the vicinity of overhead power lines may have a greater chance of contracting leukemia, a report by the national health council said on Wednesday. 

One case every two years could possibly be linked to the effects of the magnetic fields surrounding the power lines, the council said. While a causal relation with magnetic fields has not been proven, ‘there are indications for such a relationship’, the council said. 

The report is an update of earlier research by the advisory body and was commissioned by the infrastructure ministry. Apart from cancer in children, the council will also look into the data available on cancer and diseases of the central nervous system in adults. 

Some 135 children are diagnosed with leukemia each year in the Netherlands. According to the council’s data analysis, there are indications that children who live near overhead power lines are twice as likely to fall victim to the disease. 

The council also analysed the data on other types of cancer in children and found a possible link between brain tumours and the strength of magnetic fields. However, again the higher instances could be down to coincidence, the council said. Both the distance from and the strength of magnetic fields were looked at. 

Danger zone 

Although hard and fast evidence for a link with the effects of magnetic fields is lacking and coincidence or other factors may play a role, the council says it cannot be ruled out. Current government policy is not to build homes too close to the power lines and offer compensation to people who already own a home in a presumed danger zone so they can move. 

The council now recommends an extension of the present preventative policy to include underground cables. Magnetic fields from these cables are not stopped by the soil or building materials. 

‘We already have a preventative policy in place on overhead power lines. If the government wants to be consistent it will also have to find ways of protecting people from exposure to magnetic fields from other sources of the electricity network, such as underground cables and transformer stations,’ spokesman Eert Schoten told broadcaster NOS.

Read a summary of the report, in English

Related Article:

"The A in Kundalini" – Oct 23, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)  (Subjects: What is Ascension, Ascended Consciousness, Ascension on cellular level (Biology), Activate/higher Efficiency DNA (90%), Air/Electromagnetic pollution in the air, Children will be born with bigger livers for pollution protection, Children will start to have instinct (like animals), 21-12-2012, Stop Aging, Ascension of Gaia, …etc.)



(9) Question: Dear Kryon: I've read your books (only the ones that are translated in Dutch), and I have a French friend who also reads them. She tells me that it's not healthy to live near electric wires. She says that the cactus (which normally lives in the desert or tropical countries) helps eliminate the negativity of this electricity. Is that so, and is there any particular plant that can help eliminate the negative effects of electricity?

Answer: Indeed, we've admonished you to at least make a measurement (easily done) to see if you live in a magnetic field caused by the proximity to high-voltage lines that are often strung in the air near where you live. Not all these wires are bad. Some carry only communications, and some are lower voltages. The ones that are the most dangerous to you are those that are very large and that carry the power from city to city.

It's also true that certain kinds of plants carry energy that can help shield or void magnetics. This is actually a part of what you call "radionics," which we will leave for another discussion. This is not well known to the people reading this, however, and your friend is correct. Some cacti have water in them, which changes the situation slightly. However, if you're near a very large magnetic source, we still recommend moving instead of growing a lot of cactus. Even though the cactus "knows" what you're trying to do and might help reduce the risk, unfortunately, today's technology presents a far stronger field than can be voided by this plant.

Also know that there is now scientific validation to support the danger of the effects of long-term magnetic-field exposure on both plants and animals. It's not balancing for you to remain in a magnetic field. You should instead be exposed only to the one you were born in... the one that surrounds you and the earth, and which science is now beginning to understand is needed for your health and well-being... the earth's magnetic field. To have another one around you is to stop the flow of the balance that you need and deserve.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Public health minister takes health warnings with pinch of salt

DutchNews, April 13, 2018 

Photo: Health Ministry 

If every excess glass of wine shortens your time on earth by 30 minutes, is the sum total a joyless life? 

Dutch public health minister Hugo de Jonge suggested on Friday that he was taking new reports on the damaging effects of alcohol and sunbeds with a pinch of salt. 

Speaking to reporters on the way to a cabinet meeting, he said that health secretary Paul Blokhuis was best placed to comment on a new report in The Lancet suggesting that 12.5 units of alcohol a week – or five glasses of wine – is the upper safe limit. 

‘It’s his area, and I am always glad of that when I read reports that say something else is bad for your health,’ he reportedly told NOS. ‘That’s often the case with the joys of life.’ 

He added that he was not planning to stop using sunbeds himself, despite safety warnings earlier this week from the KWF cancer charity. ‘I have become a minister, not a monk, which means that I have my foibles,’ he said. ‘I like to use a sunbed every now and then. Otherwise you lot will tell me I look bad.’ 

His own maxim was: all things in moderation, he added. ‘With all of these things, be aware and be moderate. That is the best advice you can give anyone.’ 

The Lancet story, widely reported in the international and Dutch press, suggested excess drinking was more damaging than previously thought, at lower levels. 

But the Dutch health council has already, for the past three years, recommended that people do not drink alcohol at all or limit themselves to a glass a day.

Related Article:


Friday, April 13, 2018

Health insurers track website visitors, pass information to Facebook

DutchNews, April 12, 2018


Health insurance companies Menzis and ONVZ say they have immediately removed a plug-in from their websites which fed information on visitor behaviour back to Facebook.

An investigation by broadcaster NOS found that 18 of the 40 health insurance company websites it studied contained the Facebook tracking pixel, with 11 placing it on pages showing medical information. 

The social media platform uses the information provided by the tracking pixel to show people tailor-made adverts on their Facebook pages, if they are logged in at the time.

This means, for example, that Menzis can place an advert for its services on the Facebook page of someone who has visited their website and could be a potential client. 

The tracker cannot trace confidential medical information but would tell Facebook if a person had visited a part of the health insurance company website covering sexually transmitted diseases, for example. 

Privacy

Patient lobby group Patientenfederatie Nederland told NOS it wants the practice to stop. ‘Do yourself and your patients a favour and don’t pass on this information,’ spokesman Thom Meens told NOS. 

Privacy lobby group Bits of Freedom said it is surprised by the health insurers. ‘We’ve had these sort of scandals before and I thought websites would have improved,’ director Hans de Zwart said. Deliberately placing pixels in websites is either ‘incompetence or shameless,’ he said. 

The use of tracking pixels is not illegal if visitors to the website have agreed to the terms of use and cookie policy. 

Many websites, such as webshops, use tracking pixels so they can offer visitors special deals or draw their attention to specific offers which fit their interests.

Dutch state buys EMA temporary offices for €43m

DutchNews, April 12, 2018

EMA’s new building is under construction. Artists impression: press hand out

The Dutch state has bought the building where the European Medicines Agency will be housed temporarily after its move from London post-Brexit. 

The state originally planned to lease the Sparkgebouw building for 10 years from owner OVG Real Estate, but buying the property has turned out to be cheaper, ‘particularly in the long term’ according to the home affairs ministry. 

The building, next to the Sloterdijk train station, has cost the state almost €43m. The ministry did not say what the leasing costs would have been. 

The permanent EMA building is under construction in Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district and will be completed in November 2019, several months after the EMA moves its operations.


The EMA site January 2018 Photo: S Boztas

Related Article:


Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Define Alzheimer's by brain changes, not symptoms: experts

Yahoo – AFP, 10 April 2018

Alzheimer's affects some 44 million people around the world, but remains poorly
understood, with no effective treatments despite billions of dollars spent on research

In an effort to speed research toward a cure for the most common form of dementia, experts urged a new framework Tuesday to diagnose Alzheimer's disease using biological clues, rather than symptoms of memory loss.

Alzheimer's affects some 44 million people around the world, but remains poorly understood, with no effective treatments despite billions of dollars spent on research.

Clinical trials have stumbled, with recent research showing that up to 30 percent of participants trying experimental drugs did not have the Alzheimer's disease-related brain change targeted by the medicine.

The new approach would test for Alzheimer's based on a few known biomarkers, and recognize that the disease runs on a spectrum that takes root long before symptoms appear, sometimes even for decades.

"With the aging of the global population, and the ever-escalating cost of care for people with dementia, new methods are desperately needed to improve the process of therapy development and increase the likelihood of success," said Alzheimer's Association chief science officer Maria Carrillo.

The proposed research framework is published in the April 10 edition of Alzheimer's and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

The approach has been developed in recent years by 20 academic, advocacy, government and industry experts in dementia research, convened by the Alzheimer's Association and the US National Institute on Aging (NIA).

In 2011, experts designated three stages of Alzheimer's: preclinical (before symptoms affecting memory, thinking or behavior can be detected), mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

In 2017, international leaders convened again to review the latest advances in the field and update guidelines.

In the interim, "a profound shift in thinking occurred to define Alzheimer's disease biologically, by pathologic brain changes or their biomarkers, and treat cognitive impairment as a symptom/sign of the disease, rather than its definition," said the report.

Biomarkers are already widely used in medicine to diagnose people with high blood pressure, diabetes and bone density problems -- and to reduce the likelihood of heart attack, stroke and bone fractures.

'Logical next step'

"In the context of continuing evolution of Alzheimer's research and technologies, the proposed research framework is a logical next step to help the scientific community advance in the fight against Alzheimer's," said NIA director Richard Hodes.

"The more accurately we can characterize the specific disease process pathologically defined as Alzheimer's disease, the better our chances of intervening at any point in this continuum, from preventing Alzheimer's to delaying progression."

People can now be assessed for signs of Alzheimer's using imaging technology and analysis of cerebral spinal fluid samples.

The NIA-AA research framework proposes three general groups of biomarkers that are currently known to science, and leaves room for more to be added in the future.

The first is beta-amyloid, a naturally occurring protein that accumulates in the brain, forming plaques.

The second is a protein called tau, which forms tangles that block communication between neurons.

The third is neurodegeneration or neuronal injury, which may result from aging, trauma or Alzheimer's disease.

Experts cautioned that the framework is not intended to be a guideline for doctors or a checklist for diagnosis, but rather a path for researchers to follow.

"By shifting the discussion to neuropathologic changes detected in biomarkers to define Alzheimer's, as we look at symptoms and the range of influences on development of Alzheimer's, I think we have a better shot at finding therapies, and sooner," said the NIA's Eliezer Masliah.

Related Articles:




“..  The Biggest Filter that Hinders Truth is Your Biased Knowledge

The biggest filter of humanity, the one that keeps Humans from actual truth, believe it or not, is called knowledge. We speak of that which humanity perceives currently as knowledge. That which you do not know is, therefore, future knowledge. Now, every single scientist understands the difference - every single one - for they know what is coming is going to teach them what they don't know yet. This is part of the scientific process. Even so, they take what they know, or think they know, and completely let it temper the experiments for what they don't know. They base the future on what they know or believe, even though they know better!

A medical doctor will look in the past and he'll remember being taught about a time when humans would report to the barbershop for healing. That's when they would actually bleed people for healing. By the way, that's the reason for the barber pole having the red stripe on it - it's the tradition of barbers doing the bleeding. So back then, you went to get healed in the barbershop by being bled! This, of course, led to many deaths because there was no understanding of germs, sterilization or today's common sense. Doctors know this, and they laugh at how far you all have come from this. So doctors absolutely know that what is coming will someday be actually laughable, yet they are also absolutely and completely closed to what it might be. They just think it will be an advancement of what they currently know.  ….”

“..  Medicine - Where It's Going

I want to show you some other areas to consider. There are several categories that we'd like to talk about, but they're not in a specific order except for the last one. So let's talk about medicine. What is future medicine going to look like?

The most elegant predictions of medicine fall short of what's really coming. What you have today is a high-tech approach to designer chemistry. Now, since the body is made up of chemistry, it makes sense to look at this chemistry and work with it. It makes total sense to discover how it reacts to disease and then design cures with more chemistry. It's absolutely normal what you have done, but it's going to reach an end very soon. Because the future of medicine is physics, dear ones, not chemistry.

You're going to start understanding and developing new medical physics. You will discover that medi-physics is going to literally speak to cellular structure and give it instructions, without one chemical involved. There's always a reaction to chemistry, isn't there? There's always a side effect. When you push one thing, something else reacts, doesn't it? How do you like it so far? Your most elegant chemical designs, the ones that are helping with the worst diseases on the planet, all have side effects - and some of those side effects are death! I say to you, how do you like it so far?

Does it really seem elegant to you? Or perhaps it's just a more sophisticated way of bleeding in the barbershop? Dear ones, that's how you're going to look at it someday! You're going to slap your heads and say, "Remember the day when we did everything with chemistry and drugs?"

Right now, these kinds of changes have already started in several areas. There are discoveries being made that are healing some of the most heart-breaking diseases you have. I reveal one, because it's not a secret. I will always give you information that is either being worked on or has been postulated through free choice on this planet. That is the guideline of channelling. We can't give it to you. You've got to develop it yourself. However, we can put you in an energy that has a faster discovery potential - that is to say, discoveries become more obvious.

Alzheimer's is heart breaking. There are millions on this planet who develop this condition, more all the time. You're living longer and a plaque-like material that literally obfuscates your memory within the brain is becoming more common. It clings to certain parts of your brain, encrusting and restricting it, imprisoning the Human's ability to remember and eventually process information at all. The result is death, slow death. It's caused by your environment, a fact which will be discovered eventually. Your long-lived Ancients didn't have it.

It's going to be cured with physics. Your science is starting to find out that the plaque-like substance has a resonance that allows it to be weakened with sound. High-frequency sound, tuned to a certain frequency and amplitude, will cause the sheaths to weaken, dissolve, and come off. There's a lot of research to do yet, but it's a Eureka! moment - realizing that physics alone, without chemistry, can change the structure of biology. This is with no side effects whatsoever. It's coming, it's coming.

There are those working with fresh umbilical cord stem cells right now who are using pure physics to guide the stem cells to a specific destination in the body in order to repair failing systems. Dear ones, the future of health and healing is not through better chemistry, yet medicine is still waiting for better pills! Did you connect the dots and realize that all biology is physics based? There is magnetics, leverage, the energy of consciousness, electricity and much more within cellular structure. With physics alone, you can "tune in" to disease and destroy it! You can fine-tune your system with cooperative resonances and extend life with benevolent, physical assistance. Sixteen years ago, I told you this when I spoke of the Temple of Rejuvenation. I described the super-cooling needed to do it and the temperatures needed to work with it (-55C). This is physics!

Now, the false expectation of greater chemistry for the future is totally caused from the filter of knowledge. What you have and know then gives you your expectation of what is going to take place. It literally blocks you from seeing some of the potentials that you may have.  ….”



Question (2004): Dearest Kryon: I've read the question and answer on people with diseases of the mind - for example, Alzheimers and dementia. But I have more questions. You say that people have chosen this path and that the lessons are for us. As I work with these people, I'm wondering if there is any stage where there could be a reversal of the condition, and if so, with what methods? The people in the hostel are so drugged up, and there's a mind-set with the authorities that no "alternate" therapies work - although they're using colored lights. (Sadly, the diversional therapist told me she doesn't know what color therapy is.)

From a spiritual point of view, what is the best way to work with these people - talk to them as though they were normal, or go along with their imaginings? I've been told that they need to be kept quiet, especially toward evening. However, I've found that with one woman who mostly paces saying very little, the more childlike I am (dancing and singing makes her happy), the more she talks. I could go on and on - could you please enlighten me further?

Answer: I will answer the second part first. Love those who are in this condition. Find out what makes them smile... and then make them smile. The best you can do in a facilitation of this condition is to somehow create joy. Even in their confusion they can laugh at situations and be creative. They'll also remember you better as the one who creates this emotion. Each is very different, but in general, try to find their "happy" button and push it as often as you can. They will remember that.

Right now you're perched upon some important discoveries that will be able to reverse these conditions to a large degree. But just as the paraplegic who regains their nerve connections must than relearn how to walk, suffering much pain, there will be this attribute with a regeneration of the mind. Even if new cells are created, they won't necessarily have the old memories, but they can be trained to be healthy and be ready for new memories.

So someday these will have the ability to halt the progress of the degeneration of cells that are being taken, and instead grow new pathways around them. Some will be able to "reconnect" to certain kinds of memories (like recognition) but will have to relearn what the association of recognition actually means. So history and events might have to be studied and relearned... sometimes even things like reading, also. The pain will be that the individual will regain mental health and will realize exactly what has happened.

Your stem-cell research is very important, and you're reaching a point where you'll be able to use birth cells that aren't embryonic, but every bit as potent for research... thereby sidestepping all moral issues. Look for this in the next few years. 

Saturday, April 7, 2018

UK rolls out sugar tax in battle against obesity

Yahoo – AFP, April 6, 2018

British children consume "nearly a bathtub of sugary drinks each year on average"
(AFP Photo/Paul ELLIS)

London (AFP) - Britain on Friday joined France, Norway and Mexico in rolling out a sugar tax on soft drinks in an attempt to tackle obesity and tooth decay in children.

Drinks containing five grammes of sugar per 100 ml will face a lower rate of 18 pence ($0.25, 0.21 euros) per litre, whereas those with more than eight grammes per 100 ml will face a rate of 24 pence per litre.

Top-selling brands such as Fanta, Ribena and Lucozade have already cut the sugar content of their products to avoid the tax, but Coca-Cola and Pepsi will both stick with the same recipes, which both contain more than 10 grammes per 100 ml.

"Our teenagers consume nearly a bathtub of sugary drinks each year on average, fuelling a worrying obesity trend," said Public Health Minister Steve Brine.

"The levy is a ground-breaking policy that will help to reduce sugar intake."

The government hopes the tax will raise £240 million ($335 million, 274 million euros) per year, which it will spend on sports facilities and breakfast clubs.

Former finance minister George Osborne, who unveiled the tax policy when in office, believes milkshakes with large quantities of sugar may be targeted next.

"I suspect the sugar tax will start to be extended to things like milk products, which I was nervous of going into in the first instance because I wanted to establish the case for a sugar tax," he told BBC's Newsnight.

Friday, April 6, 2018

Dutch hospital challenges big pharma by making own version of very pricey drug

DutchNews, April 5, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Amsterdam’s AMC teaching hospital is to start making its own version of a licenced drug to treat a rare metabolic disorder because the medicine is no longer covered by health insurance after the price shot up. 

The drug, chenodeoxycholic acid or CDCA is produced by Italian pharmaceuticals company Leadiant. On April 1, the company ramped up the price by around 500% so it now costs some €200,000 per patient per year. The hospital can produce the drug for €25,000. 

Hospital pharmacies make their own medicines more often but this case is unusual because of the financial considerations. The hospital is offering ‘a social and economically-responsible alternative to a registered medicine which is so expensive that it is inaccessible to patients,’ the AMC said. 

Just 60 patients in the Netherlands suffer from the disease CTX which the drug is used to treat. 

The drug has been available since the 1970s but Leadiant only registered it as an orphan medicine with the European medicines agency last year. Orphan status, given to drugs which are used to treat very specific and rare illnesses, means a drug cannot be copied for a 10-year period. 

Prescription 

There is a loophole, however:  a pharmacist can make the drug for their own patients. And even though the AMC only has two, ‘anyone can register at our pharmacy with a doctor’s prescription,’ AMC professor Carla Hollak told the NRC

The measure is being supported by health insurance companies. Health minister Bruno Bruins told RTL news that he preferred the use of registered medicines because of the tough procedures they have gone through. Nevertheless, he said, it is unacceptable that companies raise the price ‘to make fat profits’. 

Blackmail 

The Dutch healthcare institute Zorginstituut Nederland said in February insurers should stop paying for expensive drugs if pharmaceutical companies continue to refuse to say how they arrive at the price. 

The institute, which assesses the efficacy of new drugs and advises the government on whether they should be included in the basic healthcare policy, says the drugs companies are effectively blackmailing officials by refusing to be transparent about their prices. 

DutchNews.nl has asked Leadiant for comment on the AMC action and the drug price hike.

Related Article:


Thursday, April 5, 2018

‘Unethical’ Dutch health insurers invest in expensive pharma firms

DutchNews, April 4, 2018

Health insurers are making money out of expensive drugs

Dutch health insurance companies are investing millions of euros in pharmaceutical companies which charge extremely high prices for their drugs, the Volkskrant reported on Wednesday. 

The total investment may only be a fraction of their total invested assets of €15bn, but it does mean there is a conflict of interest with their main function – keeping healthcare costs as low as possible – the paper said. 

Last year, for example, CZ invested €1.6m in Biogen, Vertex and Gilead, three firms which have been criticised for their high prices and refusing to justify the cost. Menzis had €1.2m in Biogen while Zilveren Kruis invested in Biogen and Gilead, the paper said. 

Biogen, which booked profit of €3.7bn last year, makes a drug to combat the muscle disease SMA, which costs hundreds of thousands of euros a year per patient, the paper said. 

VGZ also had investments in the controversial companies but recently sold its shares following criticism from the Dutch healthcare institute. 

The institute, which makes recommendations to the government about what the basic health insurance package should include, said last month that insurance companies were acting unethically. 

‘You cannot sell this [to the public],’ Utrecht University professor Toine Pieters told the paper. ‘It is painful and perverse. Health insurers are supposed to use their money to make sure medicine is available to all at as low a price as possible.’ 

A spokesman for Menzis told the paper that having an investment in the company allowed it to exercise pressure on policy. In addition, a healthy return on its investment helped keep premium prices low.