OPINION:RUNNING DOWN the pharma industry has become very popular in certain circles. Its principals are usually ranked among the evildoers of the world who are out to milk the public, trick governments, undermine competition and trade our souls. The industry is blamed for every manner of fraud, double-dealing and sharp practice.

A recent example occurred when the Irish Government bought far too much of the H1N1 flu vaccine after a story circulated that producers might be running out of supplies. Yes, I know we are talking about the producers of vaccines that help save lives, but aren’t they all the same crowd?

As it turned out, once the swine flu fuss subsided, people just didn’t bother to go forward for shots. So expect swine flu-panic-II later this year after new H1N1 cases begin to occur in December.

It is true that the industry internationally has not covered itself in glory. In recent years, there have been fights over the high costs of HIV antiviral treatments in Africa. Before that, there was the thalidomide scandal and the testing of drugs on the marginalised before adequate safety tests were conducted. We have our own version of the latter from the 1950s, when orphans were used as guinea pigs in drug trials.

What should we make of the pharma industry, those poisoners of the environment? I am not going to be a cheerleader on its behalf, but maybe we should apply a bit of realism. They do what all powerful commercial entities do – they play hard ball.

Where is the surprise in that? All of the really powerful industries do it: military, industrial, oil, pharma, food, tobacco. They use their muscle to advance their aims. They attempt to exert influence on governments, politicians, the public and media for commercial benefit. We shouldn’t be surprised about this, because groups with power have always sought to make things go their way. And the more powerful they are, the more ruthless they can be.

It is worth remembering, however, that these industries deliver benefits too – even tobacco. Yes, its product is dangerous and can kill, but its cultivation and processing employs millions internationally and delivers billions in taxes to government coffers around the world, money that pays for hospitals and schools.

Oil causes wars and pollution and is helping to warm the planet. Yet I know only a handful of people who want to boycott oil and abandon their cars or stop taking holidays abroad.

Do not be so foolish as to believe the food industry loves you, either. Food companies pack salt, sugar and water into their products to add weight to nutritionally empty processed food. They make unsubstantiated claims about health benefits and spend millions marketing high calorie snacks that have no food value while encouraging consumers towards self-induced obesity.

Yet we are the ones buying the stuff so there is no point blaming food producers when we do so. You have a choice. Caveat emptor.

And what of evil pharma? New research just published on PLoS Medicine, an open access online scientific journal, shows that the information provided by the industry to doctors can be associated with higher than necessary prescribing frequency, higher costs and lower prescribing quality.

These are the same companies, however, that give us antibiotics, cancer drugs and life-saving heart medicines. Their medicines help control pain, improve the quality of life and even keep some people alive.

In Ireland, we benefit not only from the drugs but also from the presence of many of the world’s top pharmaceutical groups. These companies collectively employ 24,500 people whose wages flush money back into the regional economies where they are based. Together they yield about €41 billion in corporation tax annually.

On the research front, Forfás, the advisory body for enterprise and science, indicates that the “chemicals, chemical products and man-made fibres” sector, which includes all pharmaceutical output, ranks as the second largest in terms of research activity, coming in just behind computer and related research. Of the €1,600 million spent by companies here on research, €320 million was accounted for by this sector.

This may not absolve pharma for past, present and future sins, but there is a residual benefit arising from these companies, no matter what complaints are made against them.

Count on them continuing to play hard ball, because that is what powerful companies do – but don’t dismiss them as swashbucklers.

Even if we never see a “blockbuster” drug developed in Ireland, we are still well on the plus side on research, because these companies are here.