Controversy in the Pharmacy Industry

Bell continued to interview a journalist named Greg Critser, who authored the book “Generation RX,” which is about the relationship between America and pharmaceuticals. He exclaims that drug companies advertise their product so much that it internalizes inside individuals that the drugs they’re selling are good and not poison, then he continued where the drug is somewhat of a poison where it kills another thing off to benefit another. Pharmaceutical companies also lobby the political side of their ambitions to cover up the negative side of their

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most powerful and greedy industries in our country, with a goal to make as large a profit as possible, at the expense of the sick.

We in America tend to take medications for almost any problem we have, from headaches to gastrointestinal pain, to more serious chronic disorders such as depression and attention deficit disorder. While many of the uses of such medications may be necessary and legitimate, many are not, and due to this fact, many people become dependent on medications, mentally, and or physically. This problem is not simply the fault of the individual; in fact, the blame can also be placed upon the medical community, and the pharmaceutical companies who produce the drugs. How often can one turn on the television to see advertisements for Claritin, Aspirin, Pepto-Bismol, or even Zoloft or Ritalin? The pharmaceutical industry is motivated by monetary

Shortages of prescription drugs in the United States are a serious threat to our nation’s health and safety. At first blush, this problem appears fairly simple and straight forward to solve. In reality, there is a complex web of causation with a number of root causes contributing to drug shortages. The aim of this paper is to answer the question: How do we mitigate prescription drug shortages? This discussion is written from the standpoint of advising the current presidential administration how to address this crisis. This essay begins with a discussion regarding the background of the issue. Next, the landscape, including stakeholders in this matter is identified. Following, political, social, economic, and practical factors surrounding

In 2015, the pharmaceutical industry spent over 27 billion dollars on advertising. The two greatest components of this effort were promotional advertising and free medication sampling, which the pharmaceuticals invested 15.5 and 5.7 billion dollars respectively (“Persuading the Prescribers”). Promotional advertising involves direct contact with health professionals, the most common being extravagant lunch conferences held for physicians and their staff. On the other hand, sampling involves distributing free sample of medications to physicians, who then have a choice of providing these samples to patients. As a result of these methods, the industry has seen revenue around $400 billion with 90% of physicians having a relationship with a drug company (Campbell 2007). Moreover, the prices of prescriptions continue to rise; a copay of a generic drug is $11.72, preferred brand drug is $36.37 and a specialty drug is $58.37 (Coleman and Geneson 2014). Although the profits are immense in the numbers demonstrated above, it is no surprise when pharmaceutical drug companies elevate their prices even more. For instance, recently Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of their medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750. Keep in mind, this medication is used for threatening parasitic infections, aids, and cancer with alternative options currently found to be inefficient (Pollack 2015). Another example of this practice involves cycloserine, a drug used to

When asked most people will say they are on at least one medication whether it be something over the counter or prescription. John Tirman in his book “100 Ways America Is Screwing up the World” writes about Big Pharma and how it has become both a domestic and global problem. Tirman discusses how American drug companies have a greater profit margin then most fortune 500 companies writing, “in 2004, the top nine American drug companies- this listed on Fortune 500- made median profit margin of 16 percent of revenues compared with 5.23 percent for other Fortune 500 industries” (Tirman 90). He goes on to talk more about how Big Pharma is dominating the industry, telling the reader that they are spending more on advertising than research. Tirman

Annually, the US spends $300 billion dollars on pharmaceutical drugs. This is due to the over-diagnosing of certain conditions. Everyday, Americans are exposed to an enormous amount of advertisements for medications of all kinds. For example, 1 in 10 Americans are taking

In Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nations on Prescription Drugs, Peterson, covers biotechnology for the Los Angeles Times, claims that the Pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of Americans. Peterson proceeds by using facts that support her claim that Pharmaceutical companies are making profit from Americans, by convincing the people they cannot function without their meds. Peterson goes deeper by making points that America is the biggest Pharmaceutical company, at which they produce unnecessary products. To continue, Peterson also leads into how Pharmaceutical companies advertise to the most profitable target consumers. Peterson uses Secretary of

Prescription drug prices are on the rise in the United States. Currently, the United States does not implement a price control on prescription drugs. Every day the supply and demand for prescription drugs fluctuates. Pharmaceutical companies produce drugs that are necessary for survival. Therefore, it is necessary for research and development to continue in the United States. Those suffering the effects of exorbitant prices must do so until a generic form of a prescription drug is produced. Once approved by the FDA, new drugs will make their appearance on the market and patients will no longer suffer financially. Until then, it is necessary for pharmaceutical companies to price their drugs based on the idea of supply and demand. This produces the profit used to fund research. Price controls discourage innovation. If a price control were set in place, of course the price of prescription drugs would decrease. However, the development of new drugs decreases with it. Today’s generation would benefit from lower prices, while future generations would suffer from the loss of drug innovation.

Today pharmaceutical industry is worth 300 billion dollars and controls a majority of the money market. It is an industry that today is in very close ties with the FDA. The FDA has lost face because it is now to closely linked with big pharmaceutical companies. It is more beneficial and profitable for ‘Big Pharma’ to have more unhealthy people because that would mean more drug sales. Mercola, Joseph, Dr. "Exposing the Truth Behind FDA Approval and Guidance."

In Marcia Angell’s book, The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to do About It, she reveals to readers the truth about what the pharmaceutical drug companies do to make money and how it effects us as customers and patients. Angell shows through her use of facts from credible sources and her use of statistic and knowledge on the subject that the pharmaceutical industry has transformed into one that is more profit based than one that is trying to help out people with innovative medication.

The rise in costs of prescription medicines affects all sectors of the health care industry, including private insurers, public programs, and patients. Spending on prescription drugs continues to be an important health care concern, particularly in light of rising pharmaceutical costs, the aging population, and increased use of costly specialty drugs. In recent history, increases in prescription drug costs have outpaced other categories of health care spending, rising rapidly throughout the latter half of the 1990s and early 2000s. (Kaiseredu.org, 2012).

The purpose of this paper is to address the state of prescription drugs within today’s society, as it relates to areas of development, approval, cost, and competition. There will be look at the benefits, such as continued research may lead to the development of new breakthrough prescription drugs. On the opposite end, there is an in-depth look at the controversies that surround the prescription drug industry. These include the many, often severe side effects that accompany many of these drugs, and how they are allowed to make it past FDA approval, as well as, a look at the rising cost of prescription drugs. Tied with the increasing cost, is a comparative look at the similarities and differences of brand name drugs versus their

The costs of prescription drugs in the United States: pharmacists’ voice must be heard is an article released by the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy on April 16, 2016. The article addresses the rising cost prescription drugs in today’s society and how healthcare spending affects millions of citizens. The article stated that the reason why healthcare expenditure is rising is due to the aging population and the increasing prevalence of noncommunicable diseases. Without counting severe conditions, chronic conditions are highest in the older population ages 65 and above.

Are prescription drugs overprescribed? Are patients being prescribed the correct medications that they actually need? Are generic drugs doing the same for the human body that marked up brand name medications are? These are some of the public’s biggest questions that can be easily answered by research. Everyone is affected by medication and healthcare in general today. Many real life scenarios are offered throughout this writing to support the argument. The following thesis statement is a worldwide problem. Unfortunately, the United States has the largest problem with inflation of drug cost and over-prescription of medications. Many people are to blame: drug manufacturers, insurers, prescribers, educators, and many others. A change is needed.