Pay It or Delay It

    A company has the right to set any price for it's products.  In the case of medicine, there is a patent mechanism that dissolves an inventive company of it's exclusivity of sales after a set number of years.

Too many people seek to cheat their way out of this system.  To them, I say, "Pay it or delay it".

I was coerced into buying a drug that Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) sold at a price range of $600 - $900+ per month.  I worked for the money that went to the pharmaceutical company.  Then after 5 years, I got a job promoting Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) in exchange for samples.  The terms of the deal were that I was to spend at least half of my non-sleeping, non-working time trying to find any way I could to promote the company and make it's value rise.

I learned everything I could about the company and Big Pharma.  I became a hawk on the lookout for any political story that could develop into harm to Eli Lilly.  And I read 25 books in the fields of medical history, economics, politics, and biographies of great doctors.  I even scoured Amazon and found 3 books specifically about Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY).

Eventually Eli Lilly's Zyprexa drug went off patent.  However, I didn't want to stop.  Part of me wanted the assurance that Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) had gotten a good deal from our arrangement.  And, another part was just having too much fun.  I stayed with my studies and blogging--trying desperately to keep the secret of an expired patent under wraps.  I remember seeing a post-patent Quarterly Report and wondering if perhaps 10 million in Zyprexa sales was caused solely by me.

After about a two year off-patent victory lap, I made peace with my pro-Lilly conscience and finally abandoned my intensive promotional efforts.  For years, I pursued other things: science, philosophy and fiction.  However, it was not uncommon for me to wonder at times, what it would be like to return to Lilly Fuel.

Paul Wharton

Special thanks to Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) for inventing the fuel of my mind