U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz has gone from embracing Big Pharma companies to claiming he took them on

HuffPost

"Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon running in Pennsylvania’s Republican U.S. Senate primary, says he can’t be bought by the lobbying interests that wield power in Congress, including one he knows well as a doctor: Big Pharma," says Liz Skalka. "But Oz, who’s traded his TV show and surgery scrubs to run for office in a state he hadn’t lived in since attending the University of Pennsylvania, has a history of embracing both Big Pharma and, alternatively, quack science that eschews drug companies and their products...Big Pharma, which isn’t as popular a GOP target as Big Tech, refers to the global pharmaceutical giants that produce drugs and medical devices — and that spend liberally to get lawmakers to do their bidding. It’s not a new concept for Oz, who established a medical career as a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon with 11 patents and an appointment on Columbia University’s faculty. Drug companies pay doctors like Oz handsomely to give promotional talks and to do consulting. Oz’s business ventures show he has welcomed money from the pharmaceutical interests he claims he has 'taken on.' At the same time, he’s gotten rich while promoting bogus weight loss products and bizarre alternative cures that even Oz himself conceded don’t pass scientific muster."