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Flaws of the Pharmaceutical System Essays

Satisfactory Essays

Pre-Medical Surgical Internship Article Response #5 Article #5: An effective eye drug is available for $50. But many doctors choose a $2,000 alternative In this article, the author discusses problems about two drugs, Avastin and Lucentis, that are used to deal with blindness and sight difficulty afflicting the elders in America (Whoriskey & Keating, 2013) and tries to answer the question that why so many doctors are more willing to prescribe the one that costs forty times more while both of the two biological cousins work equally well. Although the author successfully acknowledge the cause of this situation by revealing the problems in pharmaceutical industry, I think the existence of this system still have its eligible reasons …show more content…

Medicare also contributes to worsen such situation by issuing reimbursements to doctors partly based on the cost of the care provided. To some extent, patients are more willing to trust the specific drug their doctors prescribed to them even if it costs more. Furthermore, in this case of Avastin and Lucentis, it seems that the company that invented both drugs is trying everything they can, from rebate to lobbying, to keep all the doctors from substituting with the cheaper alternative ones. (Whoriskey, 2013) Last but not least, in order to correct the flaws and let the pharmaceutical industry keep blooming, I think it is crucial to restore medical ethics and corresponding policy. The "rebates" would be regarded as kickbacks in any other field of work. This idea has become a breach of medical morality and continued to plague the system. Although it would be very difficult to monitor every way in which doctors and pharmaceutical companies have financial relationship, some of the odious examples can definitely be picked out if we are really willing to. All in all, the goal is supposed to be for the doctors to choose the medically suitable drug, not the one he or she may have a financial interest in prescribing. Word Count: 545 Citations Whoriskey, P., Keating, D., (2013). An effective eye

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