Thank you L
Posted June 24th. 2011 on http://www.poz.com/articles/Derrick_Burts_HIV_401_20686.shtml
Porn, Patient Zeta and HIV
by Trenton Straube
Adult film actor Derrick Burts, a.k.a. Patient Zeta, tested HIV positive in October, bringing international attention to the topic of condoms in porn. Burts now advocates for enforcing condom use in all adult films-whether straight or gay-and for educating everyone on the link between sexually transmitted infections and HIV risk.
Derrick Burts Patient Zeta Porn ActorIt was this time last summer that Derrick Burts decided to enter the adult film industry, working in both the straight and gay sides. Less than four months later, he tested positive for HIV at the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM), a Los Angeles clinic that addresses the health needs of adult film actors. When the news became public—because of confidentiality laws, he was referred to as “Patient Zeta”—many studios in the adult industry briefly shut down as fellow actors were tested (no one was positive). In a December 8 press conference, Burts, now allied with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), made his identity known, using the publicity as a platform to advocate for condoms in all porn and to criticize the AIM clinic, which has since closed.
The ensuing controversies and conversations underlined the issue of HIV prevention in the adult industry. Current California law is not clear-cut; it requires adult film companies to protect workers against blood-borne pathogens via condoms or “equivalent protections.” Does regular HIV testing constitute equivalent protections? That question is being debated as the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration drafts new rules for workplace safety. As a general rule among the mainstream adult film industry—as opposed to the unregulated world of homemade videos posted online—condoms (but not testing) are required in gay porn, and testing (but not condoms) is required in straight porn.
Burts and AHF believe testing isn’t enough, while their detractors maintain that the level of HIV infections in straight porn is miniscule and that the real danger for female actors is their male costars who do gay films and escort work. Burts says he contracted the virus while on the set of a gay film that did require condom use. So how did that lead to HIV? Burts, who identifies as bisexual and is now 24, explains his theory to POZ—warning: the interview includes frank sex talk—and he fills us in on how he’s doing since his diagnosis.
You found out you were positive when you had an HIV test at the AIM clinic in October 2010. Can you walk us through that day and the following weeks?
Once I found out that I had HIV, [AIM] put me in touch with one of their specialists—I had a brief phone conversation with him on speaker phone; he mentioned that he would meet me in person, but he was out of town—and the first thing that he told me was that I had nothing to be afraid of, HIV is definitely very manageable now and that I can still live a long, healthy, normal life, so that put me at ease.
I was advised by AIM that [my test result] would get out to the media because it would have to be reported to the county. The next day it was everywhere that there was an outbreak in the industry, and I panicked a little bit because even though my name was confidential I was scared that my public information would get out and that my family would find out. AIM pretty much told me to go on a vacation, let things die down with the media, don’t talk to anyone, delete all of my social networks, don’t tell anyone anything until I see a doctor. And that’s what I did. They told me not to read all of the information in the newspapers, but it’s hard not to. I started to notice the big picture, that there was a big battle going on between AHF and AIM and about using condoms in porn.
[Then AIM] started to ignore me. At the end of November, I still had not seen a [doctor at AIM]. The only people who knew I had HIV at that point were my agent, my girlfriend, myself and staff at the AIM clinic. AIM wasn’t returning my phone calls, and I had an emotional breakdown.
At that point, I called my agent who booked all my gay scenes and I told him I was freaking out. He said, I’ll put you in touch with my attorney, so the attorney calls me and he said that his law offices are across the street from AHF’s headquarters in Florida and that he would go and talk to them to get me some care.
Did he tell them you were Patient Zeta?
He didn’t. He just said that there is a patient in California who has tested positive and has gone two months without treatment and we need to get him into care. So later that day I heard from AHF through email, and they said we want to get you in. I went in and had to talk to an enrollment counselor, and they started telling me about the different things that would pay for my medications and care, which was through the Ryan White Foundation of LA County and California ADAP.
Did you identify yourself as Patient Zeta at this point?
No. I gave my name, Derrick Burts, and did all of the paperwork, and then they got me to see a doctor and they drew my blood—all of the normal things—and everything went really well. At this point I had not gone public and I had no plans to. I did not want people to know that I was HIV positive.
What changed your mind?
I was sitting in [an AHF office with my doctor] who asked if I had my old records from the AIM clinic. [I called to get them, but the clinic kept hanging up on me.] So I explained to my doctor that I was Patient Zeta and I told her how AIM was treating me. She said they can’t hold your medical records from you. I realized at this point that AIM only cared about protecting themselves from the media.
I don’t want this to happen to other people. I don’t like the way that the AIM clinic treated me, and I am learning more and more that the porn industry is corrupt and that they’ll do anything to look good—AIM made a public statement saying that everyone on Patient Zeta’s quarantine list from the straight porn came back clean and that he contracted HIV from his private life. That made me look really bad. I [decided] I wanted to go back to the media and defend myself and really lead with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s push for condoms [in porn]. I [thought], “Having HIV is bad, but somebody needs to stand up and do something about this because I’m not the first porn performer to get HIV.”
I spoke with [AHF president] Michael Weinstein and said, “Before I decide to work with you guys, I want to know your agenda.” He laughed and he said, “Our agenda is not to shut down the [porn] industry. It’s to make the industry a safer place to work.” Porn sends out a message—almost everybody watches porn so this is a global message—that unsafe sex is OK. Kids are watching a guy having sex with a girl without a condom, and then they think it’s OK. That’s what porn teaches. That’s what AHF has a problem with.
When I really listened to what Michael was saying and I saw how passionate he was, I knew that his agenda was the right agenda. I felt ripped off; I felt degraded by the porn industry.
On December 8, you then came out publicly as Patient Zeta and as an advocate for AHF’s position on enforcing condoms in porn. Just to clarify, Are you working with AHF in an official capacity?
No I’m not. They are not paying me, and I am not working with them in any capacity other than trying to protect the porn industry. I’m not on a salary.
Part of your story seems a bit confusing, though. You’re advocating for condoms in porn, specifically straight porn where they’re absent, but you claim that you contracted HIV from shooting a gay film in Florida, on a set that did use condoms, correct?
On all my Florida [gay] shoots we used condoms, [director Chi Chi LaRue doesn’t] believe in barebacking [a.k.a. condomless anal sex], and I would never do barebacking because I know the risk of getting HIV is really high. It has turned out that LA County has confirmed that I worked with two known positives while working on the set [of gay films].
If you used condoms, then how do you think you got exposed to HIV on those sets?
I did a shoot where I was riding [a costar] on top, like a reverse cowboy. He had the condom on and at the end pulled the condom off and did the cum shot all over my butt and near my anus. I know that semen came in contact with that area. This is just an idea of how I got it. Either that or oral, because also the oral side of gay shoots is unprotected and it’s not like normal oral. You are doing 20 or 30 minutes of hardcore gagging. The cum shot was in my mouth. [It turns out that] I had gonorrhea in the throat during that shoot. When you have an active [sexually transmitted infection, or STI] it makes it a lot easier for you to contract HIV. That’s something that the public doesn’t understand. They say, “Oh, I don’t buy [his story]—the chances of him getting HIV from an oral scene or from semen on the butt are very unlikely.” And those chances are low—but [they’re higher] when you have an active STI. [Later tests showed that] I had not only gonorrhea in the throat but also had gotten herpes [and chlamydia]. I gave this version to the media, but I’m sure you can see why they omitted it—it was probably a little too graphic.
[Editor’s note: The CDC says that people with an STI are at least two to five times more likely than an uninfected person to acquire HIV. That’s because STIs create breaks in the skin and entryways for HIV, and also because the inflammation from the STI causes the body to create more white blood cells, which are the targets for HIV.]
Once your story broke in the Los Angeles Times, online readers and other reporters posted that you were withholding information, specifically that you had also worked as an escort. Were you doing sex work?
I had this ad on Rentboy for escorting. When I went to Florida for my first shoot, a bunch of guys told me about escorting sites. I said, “This is cool. I could try it out,” and I discussed it with my girlfriend, so I made an ad on Rentboy. This was September. Now remember it was early October that I tested positive, so I was only on the site for about a month. But honestly, most of the calls that came in were from really scary people; some were wanting to have sex and do crystal. I agreed that there wouldn’t be any sex involved.
If you were not willing to do sex, then what would you be doing?
You could check off the things that you would do. The only thing that I was willing to do was sensual massage, go-go dancing, stripping and oral—but that’s all I checked. There is no way [I’d have anal sex], especially at the rate I’m charging—$300 an hour—when in porn I can make $1,300 doing a sex scene. My girlfriend can even attest that I never had sex from one of those escorting acts.
This spring, AIM permanently closed its doors. What are your thoughts on that outcome?
I feel that the closure of AIM is a step in the right direction. While I feel that testing is greatly important, AIM’s system clearly didn’t work, and they had several issues in the way they operated the clinic. I hope that this will put pressure on the industry to come up with a better system, which includes workplace safety education and condom use for performers.
Also in recent months, a few other video productions, such as Hustler, have been fined for not providing condoms onset. Is that a viable way to solve the issue of condoms in porn?
I don’t feel that fining is enough. The real change comes when county officials create a policing system where these sets are being monitored during each production. The main difficulty with this is finding the funding to create such a system. One idea is to raise the price of the filming permits that each producer must obtain before the shoot.
Finally, tell us how you’re doing now and what you plan to do moving forward.
I feel really good about myself and know that I’m healthy. I haven’t started medications yet, but I saw my doctor [recently and said that] I want to get started on medication sooner rather than later. Both LA County and AHF have offered me counseling classes [so I can become a speaker and advocate]. My message isn’t just to the porn industry, it’s to the general public, and my target is young people. I think they’ll listen to someone who is closer to their age. I’m 24, and I thought I was invincible. I honestly thought that I would never get HIV. I mean, I have a girlfriend, and I actually thought that I was more safe in the porn industry because I was getting tested every month.
I’ve probably gotten thousands of emails [since I came forward]; I was overwhelmed by the amount of support—so many messages from all over the world, saying that my story and my courage to come forward [as having HIV] gave them the courage to tell their friends and family. If I can make a difference in just one person’s life, if I can save one life, if I can stop one person from getting into the porn industry, then it’s worth it.
FILE UNDER “CONTENT-BASED” RESTRICTION: Burts says, “Porn sends out a message—almost everybody watches porn so this is a global message—that unsafe sex is OK. Kids are watching a guy having sex with a girl without a condom, and then they think it’s OK. That’s what porn teaches. That’s what AHF has a problem with.”
So, it IS the “message” of the speech to which you guys object. The content.
FILE UNDER “ANTI-PORN CABAL”: “Both LA County and AHF have offered me counseling classes [so I can become a speaker and advocate].”
FILE UNDER DISINGENUOUSNESS: “I made an ad on Rentboy . . . most of the calls that came in were from really scary people; some were wanting to have sex and do crystal. I agreed that there wouldn’t be any sex involved . . . The only thing that I was willing to do was sensual massage, go-go dancing, stripping and oral—but that’s all I checked. There is no way [I’d have anal sex], especially at the rate I’m charging—$300 an hour—when in porn I can make $1,300 doing a sex scene. My girlfriend can even attest that I never had sex from one of those escorting acts.”
His “girlfriend” can attest that he never had sex during those escorting dates — HOW? Was she there? This is ludicrous.
FILE UNDER IDIOCY: “[It turns out that] I had gonorrhea in the throat during that shoot. When you have an active [sexually transmitted infection, or STI] it makes it a lot easier for you to contract HIV. . . [Later tests showed that] I had not only gonorrhea in the throat but also had gotten herpes [and chlamydia].”
Of course we’ll never know how he caught all those STDs because he was working on the NON-TESTING gay side of the porn industry (in addition to his RentBoy activities and Lord knows what else).
FILE UNDER BULLSHIT: Burts claims he and AHF are not anti-porn industry, but he closes with, “If I can stop one person from getting into the porn industry, then it’s worth it.”
Here’s even more bullshit Michael.
http://maggiemcneill.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/dick-butts-rentboy-ad.jpg
A partial screenshot of his ad. Michael you might be able to find the full ad but notice he puts AIM TESTED at the end of it, that doesn’t sound like someone who just did go-go dancing, oral, and stripping. If I recall the full rentboy ad he put that he was “versatile” meaning he could top or bottom. BTW if you look through similar ads, $300 is pretty standard for “all services”.
He never worked with Chi Chi LaRue so I don’t know why he would bring her name into the discussion. The shoots he references were with bangbros which also shot him for straight porn. Bangbros pulled his gay scenes after he made the accusation but oddly kept his straight scene up with them despite the fact that he caused the female talent in the shoot to be quarantined. Also one of his female costars asked him if he shot gay content and he told her no, so there is some evidence he is lying.
They don’t want to shut down the porn industry but they want everyone to use condoms 100% of the time for every scene. Just about anyone and everyone with any common sense of how things work will tell you that 100% condom use on all scenes at every scene will kill porn.
People will buy all the old stuff that gets made before the 100% condom rule goes into effect and no one will buy the new stuff.
Hate to sound like Donny here, but the fucking gay side of the jizz biz is retarded , as are homos in general. Billy Watson commented on his blog on how the sticky side stay fast and loose with testing. I thought “he has to be making this up”. Sadly, others have confirmed it. This is not a ‘fags are gross’ issue , nor is it ( on the other side) ‘we can’t stigmatize people’ issue. It’s a fucking safety issue. Indiscriminate gay sex is high risk activity. Jesus, what the fuck happened to personal responsibility and consideration for you coworkers….
Derek Butts is a mindless puppet being manipulated by the political powers that be.
Message to Derek Burts,
You trust condoms but suppposedly “got AIDS” in spite of one, in an industry (gay side) that uses them but still has higher “HIV” rates, in spite of it, compared to the “straight” side.
Do you just trust whatever “authorities” tell you? Authorities not too long ago called homosexuality a “mental disorder”, yet you’ll just continue to just mindlessly trust authorities instructed to tell you what they’ve told you, just as you are seeking to “educate” others.
I couldn’t expect you to in a million years to examine many sides of the issue which is central in your life now. Maybe the subject is too dull? No, that can’t be. Better things to do with your time? Mind made up for you? Good boy. Until the t.v. tells you it’s all a scam (which they never will) you’ll just buy whatever they tell you.
Good luck with your medication.. I’m sure you’ve already asked your doctor if it’s right for you, or in other words if him getting a piece of the action is right for him. If you start getting sick, remember you were ok before you took the meds. Read the warning label and the “side effects”. Do some fucking research. Ask questions. Holy Shit, man!
I think this guy needs to change his name to Derrick Butthurts. It fits both literally and figuratively.
disgusting fuck.
Most infectious disease experts put the level of HIV infection through oral sex at 1 and 10000 and even that figure for most is still way to high. As far as having cuts in your mouth, they would have to be gaping life threatening wounds for you to have any kind of real risk of contracting HIV.
Jeremy, seriously stop the whole ‘There is no such thing as AIDS’ propoganda shit. Back before you were with Lucky, and I was performing you called me up one day randomly, I don’t even recall giving you my number and fed me this speech
Then you started hitting on me in the next breath!
“There is no such thing as AIDS, wanna fuck me now?”
I don’t see this pickup line working on the ladies much.
Oh, and I know a lot of “straight” performers do rentboy. Burts was only unfortunate enough to catch AIDS and get caught. And in my opinion, any straight performer that can perform double anal is at least bisexual so what would stop them from crossing over at that point?
Yep. Sounds like something Jeremy would do.
AJS,
I have no idea who you are. Would you mind identifiying yourself? But, regardless your statements are ridiculous. I never said there is no such thing as “AIDS”. AIDS exists as a label for about 30 old, previously existing and previously unrelated diseases. The fact that you tell me to “shut up” already about it without acknowledging any particulars is like a monkey holding his hands against his ears refusing to listen. This subject is worthy of a full-examination you’ve obviously been indifferent to giving it. It’s profoundly simple. There are more than two sides to everything, that’s why there are prosecutors and defense lawyers in trials. Yet you would demand the side you are antagonistic to never be heard while being self-righteous about it and believing you are somehow automatically right!
And your claim that I said something like “There is no such thing as AIDS, wanna fuck me now?”, is false and idiotic. Do you really think I have no idea where you’re (and most people are) coming from? Do you really think I don’t know that we’ve all been terrorized and brain-washed for years and that I or anyone who challenges the dogma would ever say something so stupid as “AIDS doesn’t exist so have sex with me!”. I know the way dimwits and people completely controlled by manipulated fear and emotion would react and “reason” without me having to say that: “He doesn’t believe HIV exists so he’ll fuck anyone without protection. I better stay away”. Therefore, the idea that I or anyone would say “HIV doesn’t exist. Let’s get it on” is not going to work with ANYONE! You’re completely full of shit, whoever you are (please identify yourself). My opinions likely shocked you and you inferred that I was tring to perhaps say “Let’s have sex” because I was telling this to you. You are right that it’s not a way to pick up women so why would I try that? You can call me crazy but I’m not stupid. You, however, are either delusional in this regard, or a liar. Probably the former. I know it’s shocking to hear things which stand opposed to what’s been drilled in your head for years and years and years but you don’t need to start hearing things that were never said or inferred and then claiming they were said as a way of dealing with it. That is NOT fucking, cool… or rational. But then again, telling someone to “shut up”, without examining the controversy, is not rational, either.
Furtherfuckingmore, my most important point is that I would never advocate anyone to instantaneously change their opinion about anything.
People that advocate mainstream views may expect you to believe official statements without examining the data, thinking, questioning, having an open forum, etc, but that’s the fuckin’ problem to begin it; People adhering to opinions without ever doing research, examining different points of view, looking at the actual facts, etc. Let’s get out of the dark ages people. My major was Speech/Debate and I was required to thoroughly study the opponent’s p.o.v. so to best be able to effectively refute it. All we hear and read about regarding the most important things is one side. If only we did as much scrutiny about our history and science the way we do about Casey Anthony then the world would be a much less fucked-up place. But an open forum and thinking is not what you can really expect from a “free” society, is it? That’s why the magic bullet physics-defying theory still lives in this great (and pathetic) nation!
Just remember, all tests disclaimers say their tests “require further tests”, so the buck stops where?: A: On one of those “further tests needed” tests. But it’s nice to know this quackology has made some men and women a fine living off the dying.
What did Mark Conlan call this phenomenon (vis-a-vis the promotion of the HIV causes AIDS hypothesis and the simultaneous quashing of the risk hypothesis)?
A twenty-five year experiment in the social construction of reality.
That’s exactly what AIDS Inc has wrought: a world in which authoritarians not only expect but demand that we swallow official statements without examining the data or questioning the people who have become enriched by a culture of fear and hysteria.
Correctamundo, Michael. Interestingly, Orwell’s “1984” begins the same month (April) and year Heckler announced Gallo’s “HTLV-III” as the “likely cause of AIDS”. The books elements of mind-control, double-think, creation of the enemy and synthetic wars, along with absolute allegiance to the party through fear, control of the doctored media and elimination of thought criminals, attacking the sex-drive, etc… have some interesting simularities to the AIDS empire.
I found this interesting. HIV+ medicine prices will be coming down. And bi-polar medicine prices dropping might make Lubben happy:
The cost of prescription medicines used by millions of people every day is about to plummet. The next 14 months will bring generic versions of seven of the world’s 20 best-selling drugs, including the top two: cholesterol fighter Lipitor and blood thinner Plavix.
The magnitude of this wave of expiring drugs patents is unprecedented. Between now and 2016, blockbusters with about $255 billion in global annual sales are set to go off patent, notes EvaluatePharma Ltd., a London research firm. Generic competition will decimate sales of the brand-name drugs and slash the cost to patients and companies that provide health benefits.
Top drugs getting generic competition by September 2012 are taken by millions every day: Lipitor alone is taken by about 4.3 million Americans and Plavix by 1.4 million. Generic versions of big-selling drugs for blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, depression, high triglycerides, HIV and bipolar disorder also are coming by then.
The flood of generics will continue for the next decade or so, as about 120 brand-name prescription drugs lose market exclusivity, according to prescription benefit manager Medco Health Solutions Inc. “My estimation is at least 15 percent of the population is currently using one of the drugs whose patents will expire in 2011 or 2012,” says Joel Owerbach, chief pharmacy officer for Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, which serves most of upstate New York.
Those patients, along with businesses and taxpayers who help pay for prescription drugs through corporate and government prescription plans, collectively will save a small fortune. That’s because generic drugs typically cost 20 percent to 80 percent less than the brand names. Doctors hope the lower prices will significantly reduce the number of people jeopardizing their health because they can’t afford medicines they need.
Dr. Nieca Goldberg, director of The Women’s Heart Program at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, worries about patients who are skipping checkups and halving pills to pare costs. “You can pretty much tell by the numbers when I check the patient’s blood pressure or cholesterol levels,” that they’ve not taken their medications as often as prescribed, she says.
Even people with private insurance or Medicare aren’t filling all their prescriptions, studies show, particularly for cancer drugs with copays of hundreds of dollars or more. The new generics will slice copayments of those with insurance. For the uninsured, who have been paying full price, the savings will be much bigger.
Daly Powers, 25, an uninsured student who works two part-time jobs at low wages, says he often can’t afford the $220 a month for his depression and attention deficit disorder pills. He couldn’t buy either drug in June and says he’s struggling with his Spanish class and his emotions. He looks forward to his antidepressant, Lexapro, going generic early next year.
Generic medicines are chemically equivalent to the original brand-name drugs and work just as well for nearly all patients. When a drug loses patent protection, often only one generic version is on sale for the first six months, so the price falls a little bit initially. Then, several other generic makers typically jump in, driving prices down dramatically.
Last year, the average generic prescription cost $72, versus $198 for the average brand-name drug, according to consulting firm Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions. Those figures average all prescriptions, from short-term to 90-day ones. Average copayments last year were $6 for generics, compared with $24 for brand-name drugs given preferred status by an insurer and $35 for nonpreferred brands, according to IMS Health.
Among the drugs that recently went off patent, Protonix, for severe heartburn, now costs just $16 a month for the generic, versus about $170 for the brand name. And of the top sellers that soon will have competition, Lipitor retails for about $150 a month, Plavix costs almost $200 a month and blood pressure drug Diovan costs about $125 a month. For those with drug coverage, their out-of-pocket costs for each of those drugs could drop below $10 a month.
Jo Kelly, a retired social worker in Conklin, Mich., and her husband Ray, a retired railroad mechanic, each take Lipitor and two other brand-name medicines, plus some generic drugs. Both are 67, and they land in the Medicare prescription “doughnut hole,” which means they must pay their drugs’ full cost, by late summer or early fall each year. That pushes their monthly cost for Lipitor to about $95 each, and their combined monthly prescription cost to nearly $1,100.
Generic Lipitor should hit pharmacies Nov. 30 and cost them around $10 each a month. “It would be a tremendous help for us financially,” she says. “It would allow us to start going out to eat again.” For people with no prescription coverage, the coming savings on some drugs could be much bigger. Many discount retailers and grocery chains sell the most popular generics for $5 a month or less to draw in shoppers.
The impact of the coming wave of generics will be widespread — and swift. Insurers use systems that make sure patients are switched to a generic the first day it’s available. Many health plans require newly diagnosed patients to start out on generic medicines. And unless the doctor writes “brand only” on a prescription, if there’s a generic available, that’s almost always what the pharmacist dispenses.
“A blockbuster drug that goes off patent will lose 90 percent of its revenue within 24 months. I’ve seen it happen in 12 months,” says Ben Weintraub, a research director at Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions.
The looming revenue drop is changing the economics of the industry.
In the 1990s, big pharmaceutical companies were wildly successful at creating pills that millions of people take every day for common conditions, from heart disease and diabetes to osteoporosis and chronic pain. Double-digit quarterly profit increases became the norm. But the patents on those blockbusters, which were filed years before the drugs went on sale, last for 20 years at most, and many expire soon.
In recent years, many drug companies have struggled to develop new blockbuster drugs, despite multibillion-dollar research budgets and more partnerships with scientists at universities and biotech companies. The dearth of successes, partly because the “easy” treatments have already been found, has turned the short-term prognosis for “big pharma” anemic.
“The profit dollars that companies used to reinvest in innovation are no longer going to be coming,” warns Terry Hisey, life sciences leader at consultant Deloitte LLP’s pharmaceutical consulting business. He says that raises “long-term concerns about the industry’s ability to bring new medicines to market.”
But pharmaceutical companies can save billions when they stop promoting drugs that have new generic rivals, and U.S. drug and biotech companies are still spending more than $65 billion a year on R&D.
The 20 new drug approvals in the U.S. this year, and other important ones expected in the next few years, eventually will help fill the revenue hole.
For now, brand-name drugmakers are scrambling to adjust for the billions in revenue that will soon be lost. Many raise prices 20 percent or more over the last couple years before generics hit to maximize revenue. Some contract with generic drugmakers for “authorized generics,” which give the brand-name company a portion of the generic sales.
Brand-name companies also are trimming research budgets, partnering with other companies to share drug development costs and shifting more manufacturing and patient testing to low-cost countries.
Pharmaceutical companies have cut about 10 percent of U.S. jobs in four years, from a peak of about 297,000 to about 268,000, according to Labor Department data. Nearly two-thirds of the cuts came in the last 1 1/2 years, partly because of big mergers that were driven by the need to shore up pipelines and boost profit in the short term by slashing overlap.
Drug companies also are trying to stabilize future sales by putting more sales reps in emerging markets such as China and India, and diversifying into businesses that get little or no generic competition. Those include vaccines, diagnostic tests, veterinary medicines and consumer health products.
As the proportion of prescriptions filled with generic drugs jumped to 78 percent in 2010, from 57 percent in 2004, annual increases in prescription drug spending slowed, to just 4 percent in 2010. According to the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, generics saved the U.S. health care system more than $824 billion from 2000 through 2009, and now save about $1 billion every three days.
The savings are only going to get greater as our overweight population ages. People who take their medicines regularly often avoid costly complications and hospitalizations, says AARP’s policy chief, John Rother, bringing the system even bigger savings than the cheaper drugs. In addition, many patients taking a particular brand-name drug will defect when a slightly older rival in the same class goes generic.
Global sales of Lipitor peaked at $12.9 billion in 2006, the year Zocor, an older drug in the statin class that reduces bad cholesterol, went generic. Lipitor sales then declined slowly but steadily to about $10.7 billion last year. That still makes Lipitor the biggest drug to go generic.
For patients, it’s a godsend.
see whats happens when u use crossovers?
Ajs has an interesting point about “crossovers”. Basically, what I think she’s kind of saying is that the ‘straight’ business is kinda ‘queer’ and therefore any male performer who’s done 5 guy creampies, d.p.s (especially on hot days in the valley under bright artificial lights which make your nuts sink like your balls gained weight), double anals, double vagiz, double blow jobs, or perhaps even being able to have a casual conversation with another man while stroking their dick while waiting for the girl to finish the bathroom break makes them a potential hooker walking santa monica boulevard. Yes, I get. I’ll write the musical score if you’d like. Sounds like a Broadway winner… The song will be called “We’re all crossing over!” la la la
She does have a point, however, similar to a point I previously made.
Regarding the legal psychotropic drug cartel. U notice how they own the airwaves? It’s almost amusing listening to the list of “side effects” which occupies the bulk of the commercial… how medication for depression could lead to homicidal or suicidal tendencies! Notice the correlation between these medicines and the esculation of problems, individually and collectively… ’nuff said.
ha ‘authoritarians’. you mean doctors and scientists who know what the fuck they are talking about, and not internet nutjobs and now-dead deniers like Christine Maggiore?
Love it when people watch House of Numbers or some piece of shit Gary Null film and come away experts….
Great refutation, Max.
Fuck you Germy Steele, I hope you die of AIDS. I would love to come over your bed in your final moments on this planet just so I can stare in your eyes and ask you: how does it feel, delusional midget? How does it feel? Do you believe AIDS is real now? Then I can piss in your mouth right before you die. That would be the best response to all the absord, wothless shit you wrote on the internet over the years. I’ll look forward to that day.
Nice refutation too, Roy. Hey Roy, what happened to your “career”?
http://business.avn.com/articles/Bunnny-Luv-Roy-Garcia-is-a-younger-Regan-Senter-34128.html
Funny, how many times you’ve come here as “BDD” talking shit about ol’ Regan. Well, he’s Mr. Fuckin Rogers, next to you, stupid douche!
I have responded to those bullshit accusations in the article that you linked, so everybody can read my response there. I’m surprised that you actually managed to post a link which is working and is not dead.
As to what happened to my career, this is what happened to my career:
http://www.petergirls.com/tour/main.php
I’m doing what I’ve been doing for the past 20 years and this year my business went up %50. What happened to your career, Germy Steele? Have you done any reverse bukkakes lately? How much piss did you drink this time? Nice try, but no cigar, Germy Steele.
Dummy, I never posted a dead link. I already addressed that mistake of yours. And they’re not “MY” accusations, they are other girls… and the more links I provide the more girls it is. The latest link includes talent that have never been provided until now so how you have you addressed it? How come all these girls say you’re an asshole suit-case pimp stalking them on sets, trying to fuck them or rape them and threatening to and acting on the threat of terrorizing their families in pre-PWL style?
As for your “career”, please no. I’m not into beastiality- you fat pig with your curly little pig tail where your dick should be. Those poor girls, having to pretend they’re into you. They should all get awards.
And no, I only did reverse bukakah once, last minute, in order to entertain you masses for a doc STILL yet to be released because someone has “lots and lots of problems” (Let this be a public service announcement against smoking crack, especially in your formative years). And how many mainstream talent have participated but are never mentioned? Stop pulling a Wanker Wang, mang!
I think you were right about your BDD prediction that the doc will come out one day after the world ends. Kudos to that one.
Setting Jeremy Steele v. Roy Garcia Part 100 fight aside for a few minutes, I have a question that maybe Mike South or Michael Whiteacre or somebody could answer.
Burts has taken a lot of justified heat for his comments and statements about working in the industry and some of his dubious claims. A lot of what he is saying is either not true or partially true but doesn’t explain the full story.
My question is, why haven’t the people and companies that brought in patient zeta and caused the the shutdown of the industry been held accountable for what happened. A lot people lost a lot of $$$ because of it. Not to mention a lot of frightened talent. OC models and Bang Bros were the two culprits in this and Bang Bros knew that Burts worked both sides of the industry since his scenes for gay and straight were shot with Bang Bros. I don’t know about now, but Bang Bros continued to use crossovers even after the patient zeta mess. OC models was actively booking the same guys for gay and straight shoots, yet did not face any kind of consequences or much ridicule from the industry, neither did Bang Bros or any other studio or agency that uses crossover talent.
Look at the outrage that Lizz Tayler, Brianna Banks, and Diamond Foxxx had after they learned that their Bang Bros scene partner had shot gay porn just 24 hours before the scene they shot with him and the fact that he had a active rentboy page at the time just fueled the flames.
IMO crossovers did facilitate the creation of porn wiki leaks as well. Not to mention that unfortunately it does enhance AHF’s position about mandatory condoms.
As much as there is a rightful celebration of the ending of porn wiki leaks, there are still serious issues that could be even more detrimental to the industry that have yet to be addressed or are being swept under the rug.
What is going to happen when patient zeta 2.0 pops up again?
@chichiladouche, In all truthfulness, I don’t know the answer to your question.
I do think, however, that it’s a little offensive to claim, in so many words, that crossovers facilitated the creation of pornwikileaks, because it lends credibility to a group of sadists who used the issue as an excuse to viciously torment others and violate the law.
Maybe facilitate may not be the proper word Michael, but a big part of it’s “beginnings” sprang from the patient zeta mess from last fall. I don’t think it gives PWL any kind of credibility but it seems that in this industry extreme things have to happen before anything happens or an issue gets addressed.
Like I wrote before I think Burts has some major credibility issues, but I don’t think he’s being completely dishonest about his dealings with some people in the industry.
At this point, I don’t know what it will take for the industry to reconsider this issue. Neither the agency (OC Models) nor the studio (Bang Bros) that played a big role in the industry shutdown, who gave OSHA the extra ammo for mandatory condoms, and scared the hell out of a lot of men and women, has ever had to face any kind of consequences or sanctions their actions. To me that is shameful.
One thing is for sure, the industry does NOT take care of its talent as a valuable resource (or part of the porn machine). They consider them expendable and easily replacable by the next girl that gets off the bus in LA.
Talent is always the bottom of the food chain. Ask mainstream actors, or musicians or any other kind of performer. It’s not a phenomenon unique to adult entertainment.
True Michael but it just seems worse in porn. I just hate the way the industry treats the folks that do most of the work.