Pharmaceuticals Lock Up the Information

  Perhaps, then, I'm wrong.
  In two blogs, now, I've called for a major study of herbs, suggesting that for all the time they've been around, and for all the Chinese and Native American medicine men, and all the herbalists, and all the alternative medicine companies, a lot of study remains yet to be done.
   Today or yesterday, it occurred to me the pharmaceuticals have probably poured over all the herbs, studying them multiple times. The thing is, they don't release what they learn. They consider it proprietorial. Why would they announce what they've learned when that is just giving secrets away to the competition?
   A big, national study should try to include the pharmaceuticals, then. They have the information. Can they be encouraged to share what they've learned? Or, should we not even expect them to help?
  I go to bed wondering but what they should not be expected to share. If we are to learn all that is to be found about the herbs, we will need to duplicate what private enterprise has already done.
  There can be an argument, that while many are angered that socialistic medicine should be turned to on American soil, it might, yet, have its advantages. The pharmaceuticals will not dabble much in selling whole herbs, for there is not enough money. When they do find that a herb has a benefit, if they do not use a component to create a new drug, they lock up the information for future use -- which will only happen if they can put it in a product they see as financially beneficial.
  I wonder if it would not be better to have all the information on these herbs available, so we can be benefiting from it. If the private enterprise system locks away the information, then you must search to accumulate it in other ways, government studies being one option.
  Perhaps one way to get Big Pharma to share the information is to pay them for it. A large, government study would take a lot of money. Perhaps, an option is to instead spend a lesser amount of money to get the pharmaceuticals to share their secrets.
   Another thought, just as I'm about to let this blog go and go to bed: Yes, perhaps there is much study to be done, despite all the study Big Pharma has locked in its safes. The pharmaceuticals are not even going to begin studies unless they can see a product at the end of the line. They have no interest in learning the benefits of whole chamomile, for they don't ever intend to sell chamomile in whole form, anyway. If they can spot a component of chamomile that they can extract, they will study that, but not the herb's benefit if sold in its whole form..