The Highwire with Del Bigtree - RFK JR. THE DEATH KNELL FOR PHARMA ADS

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

Banning pharmaceutical advertisements from television is just one of the many ways RFK Jr has planned to disrupt the pharmaceutical industry. Hear how new tech pharmacies are peddling compounded drugs like injectable weight loss medications without the personal care of a doctor.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

The news cycle is moving so fast right now, and the information is so big, and these stories are so gigantic that just trying to cover them is, I feel like an octopus, just trying to grab these things with catchers mitts. But the momentum is continuing. Right from when Kennedy was sworn in till now, we have a lot of momentum going on. And the moment he was sworn in, we had the Louisiana Health Department. They released this. This is actually a CNN headline. Louisiana Department of Health says it will no longer promote math. vaccination. This is all vaccines, not just COVID. It says in this article, the state of Louisiana

LDH have historically promoted vaccines for vaccine-friendly illnesses through our parish health units, community health fairs, partnerships, and media campaigns. Abram, as Ralph Abram, he's the Surgeon General, wrote in a memo addressed to LDH, team members and obtained by CNN. He went on to say, while we encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider, LDH will no longer promote mass vaccination. That's a huge development for a couple of reasons. One, because they talk about the risks and the benefits of vaccination. That was a conversation that was never had by health departments.

The risks were not, they didn't talk about it. They also talked about encouraging the patient to talk to their doctor. So they're pushing the people back into the doctor-patient relationship. Another huge thing from a public health department standpoint. Wow, I mean, it's really amazing and in some ways so important, right? And someone will scream, oh, my God, Louisiana's gone, you know, anti-vax. No, it's pro-science. All they're saying is they're bringing back and formed consent.

We are going to let you know, we're telling doctors, tell them all the benefits, all of the risks, and then let them make a decision, which is the only intelligent thing any government should do once you know, Once you recognize that there are children that will be killed by a vaccine this year, that will be severely injured, how does a state have an ethical, like in its ethics, allow for themselves to kill or injure any innocent child? I mean, it's something that we're going to get deeper into, and I'm going to continue the pressure. We've got to continue the pressure on this conversation while it's opening up because we have to be realistic. This is just another product. It has side effects.

And that's, you know, we've all been saying for years. But boy, is it a different conversation now that I keep saying we're no longer the fringe. I mean, our perspective is now sitting in HHS secretary and with HHS, which is the most powerful health department in the world. And you can see the public conversations moving through this greater good idea that was put on everybody for vaccination for so long. We're moving into the nuance of this conversation, which is where lives are really saved and science is really, the discussion around science really is had.

And one of the things that also happened last week is President Trump ran on the idea of eliminating mandates, COVID vaccine mandates. The pandemic is long over. It's not any type of issue for children and especially college students, which still have these mandates in place. So he has now barred federal funding to schools. This is an executive order with COVID vaccine mandates. That was a headline that was put up there. So this doesn't affect staff. So that's a separate conversation. But for kids going to schools, universities, federal funding will be cut if these mandates are still in place. And there are still colleges with these mandates still in place. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out because it's not kind of like a one-stop shop. It's all gone now. So there's some colleges that are trying to fight this. And we'll see how that goes.

But, you know, having the administration behind this idea seems like a good thing. And one of the other things that is, I mean, there's going to be so many of these subjects and these hot button topics that are just going to be rifling through the headlines. One of them is this. RFK Jr.'s controversial plan to ban TV drug ads sparks heated debate. So the United States and New Zealand are the only two countries that have direct-to-consumerous pharmaceutical ad marketing. So when you turn on your TV station, Fox, you're watching the news and they cut to commercial and they have pharmaceutical ads, that's what pays for those media organizations.

So $4 billion annually is paying for those television advertising. So that's what we're seeing. And Kennedy, one of his ideas when he came in was to live. look at this and possibly eliminate it, which would be a revolutionary act in and of itself. And so with that as a backdrop, if anybody was watching the Super Bowl, they may have seen this commercial. Obesity is America's deadliest epidemic. 74% of us are overweight, and obesity leads to half a million deaths each year.

Why, you just have to stop eating, Jimmy. Something's broken. It's not our bodies. It's the system. Welcome to weight loss in America. A $160 billion industry that feeds on our failure. They're medications that work, but the price for profits, not patients. This system wasn't built to help us.

It was built to keep us sick and stuck. But not anymore. Hems and Hers offers life-changing weight loss medications. They're affordable, doctor-trusted, and formulated in the USA. You get a treatment plan designed by a doctor to fit your body, goals, and lifestyle. You deserve to feel great in your body. This is the future of health care. This is Hymns and Hers.

Join us in the fight for a healthier America. All right. So let's break that down. Talk about a bait and switch. You're like, yeah, what? Join us. We're going to fight the system because they're making billions off our back. And, you know, we're going to show pictures of fruit loops

because that's what people are really raging against. And we're going to be on the side of the people. and we're going to also help you lose weight, and we're going to do it the way the people do it. So this is a new company here, and you can go to this company. I went through and I followed some of their prompts saying I needed to lose some weight, and what did they give me? Well, here's their weight loss solutions. They have a lot of other issues that they can help people with.

But here's some screenshots. So here it's basically an app to track you when you take injectable drugs for weight loss and pharmaceutical medication. That's what we're looking at here. So here's one of the screenshots for the hymns. And you can see a big vial of injectable semi-glutide compound there. And so Zimpec. And then I went through and this is what it gave me for one of my solutions for weight loss

for a program. So they didn't give me an injectable medication, but they gave me these drugs, bupropin, that's wellbutre. That's an antidepressant for weight loss, I guess, off market, off label. And then Metaphorum, it's a type 2 diabetes medication. and then at the end there, topomax, it's for seizures and migraines, and then to B12 to top it off. So this is basically just straight up pharmaceutical drugs and injectable weight loss drugs with a cute app and a catchy tune and some really slick advertising.

So this is like a new hybrid, and they're coming from a compounding pharmacy. And that's a subject we're going to get into in a second. But it's like a hybrid of now pharmaceutical marketing, because now this is like, you can see how this is marketed towards like the younger users who are, on their apps, you use their phone with a lot of things. Yeah. This is very slick and very devious. Well, I mean, it's totally deceptive because, right,

it uses all of, you know, ICANs talking points, the Maha talking points, the fruit loops, the bad food, the diet, and $650 billion industry pumping drugs on us. So you know what the answer is? Drugs just through our website, right? Telemedicine drugs. You can get it easier, cheaper, faster, and drug yourself. and our app will help you drug yourself. I mean, it's really amazing.

Even the colors, like green for like green, healthy, leafy vegetables. We're not going to tell you to eat vegetables. We're not going to tell you to change your lifestyle at all. We're just going to give you quick access to more drugs. And this is what we've got to watch out for, right? It's just sort of the takeover. You know, they're sort of in the, if you can't beat them, join them. They didn't beat us.

We got Robert Kennedy Jr. all the way into HHS Secretary. So now let's just act like we're like, with all of them. Yeah, we're into the same things too. Want a drug? Want an injection? I got something for you. All right. Amazing. You know, very deceptive. Yeah, and these injectable weight loss drugs, it's almost every week that we find out a new side effect from these. And people are taking them like candy now. It's one of the most popular drugs of all time. And here's another one. This one just came out. More Americans on OZimpec go blind as doctors sound alarm over potentially startling side effect. So this is this week's side effect.

And these are happening with people only after a couple days of taking this drug. And this is in the scientific literature, this can happen as well. You can add that to stomach issues, suicidal thoughts. I mean, there's a huge laundry list of issues taking these injectable drugs. And they're long term, they're long term. They're not short term solutions. So there's no study showing how when you take these for long term, what they're doing. And so a big problem there. But let's go back to that company because they're compounding pharmacy. And so the FDA even put out its own release, a warning, if you will, concerns with unapproved GLP1 drugs used for weight loss. And it goes on to say FDA has received reports of adverse events related to compounded versions of semi-glutide and

terrazebateide. However, federal law does not require state licensed pharmacies that are not outsourcing facilities to submit adverse events to FDA. So it is likely that adverse events from compounded versions of these drugs are underreported. So great. Another reporting system that can't do its job and is under-reporting side effects. So basically they're saying that compounding pharmacy that you're getting those drugs from, if there's an issue, you call them and say, I'm having this really bad side effect and tens and hundreds of people are saying that, there's no promise that goes to the FDA. There's no promise that's counted. There's no promise that's alerted to the drug companies. It just kind of just folded under and underreported. And that goes on to say even

further, looking at these compounding pharmacies and these medications they're doing, they're asking if they're legal and FDA approved. And this article goes on to say this, are compounded medications FDA approved? It says no, since compounded drugs are made on a case by case basis to meet the needs of individual patients and they involve non-standard ingredients, dosages, and forms, they are not FDA approved.

Unlike FDA-approved medications, compounded drugs do not undergo the same strict testing for safety, efficacy, and quality before they become available to patients. So here we go. We have underreporting of side effects, not mandate, and we have basically no gold standard, I guess, of efficacy, safety, the FDA, which we know it's not, but we don't even have that bare minimum. I'm torn on this one, Jeff.

I'm going to throw a little monkey wrench into the perspective here because one thing we know is those compounding pharmacies were the only ones that provided hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin for many places across the country. So when the FDA basically tried to block the use of repurposing of these very, you know, very safe drugs like hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin, all the major pharmacies backed out. So I want to, you know, even though I think we're pointing out a good point here about these compounding pharmacies, they save the day, at least for those that could get access to them during COVID.

I also always find it ironic when the FDA cries foul over a drug they don't control. I think what you're seeing there is really the pharmaceutical industries reaching out, you know, and putting their thumb on the FDA saying, don't we control you? stop these guys that are making our product and we're not getting paid for it. I think that's a huge part of what's happening here. And then for the FDA to say, and we just can't track it as though their tracking systems, they'd be the first one to say that verres and all the tracking system they have aren't dependable. So it's, you know, these are those things that I think, you know, we've got to look at both ways. Sure. Is the quality control standards there in a compounding

pharmacy, I don't know. Also, though, I get to choose. Is this pharmacy work for me and my family and have they provided good products? I mean, we as consumers get to make those decisions. But it does point out, the most important part you point out is how many of these drugs end are there drug companies that are pushing, you know, compound pharmacies to push it out that way so that they don't have to report the side effects. So, I mean, these are the complicated issues when you think of being HHS secretary, people like, Del, you should get into government. I don't want to go anywhere near. There's no easy answers in any of this.

It's very complicated. Yeah, and you notice, too, they're stacking drugs with this particular company. They're stacking two and three and four drugs and injectables. And there's really no studies to show the safety effects of doing that many stacked drugs upon that.