NAU- Management Across Cultures
November 2010
There is a lot of discussion about pharmaceutical companies, intellectual property, and the global AIDS epidemic. Do pharmaceutical companies have a responsibility to distribute drugs for free or low cost in developing countries? Why is intellectual property such a big deal? What impact would South Africa’s decision to levy duties on drugs in the country have on the international distribution of drugs? Was the change that provided patent protection for pharmaceutical companies an appropriate change or a dangerous precedent? Was it necessary to relax intellectual property rules in order to ensure that adequate supplies of AIDs medications would be available for distribution in the
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Without the Intellectual Property Rights, developing countries doctors are telling patients about the cheapest method of burial, since most patients cannot even pay for the daily bed charge. The Intellectual Property Rights enables developing countries to import a generic drug if they can provide evidence of the public health concern, demonstrate the inability of the domestic pharmaceutical industry to produce the drug itself, and prove that it will only use the drug for public, non-commercial purposes. Developing countries are satisfied that the agreement does not limit them to emergency situations or designate only a short list of diseases for which generic drugs can be produced. Instead, it permits them to produce or import drugs to address the particular diseases that affect their countries. Nongovernmental Organizations are recommending the use of differential pricing, which would allow prices for drugs to be lower in developing countries, while higher prices are maintained in developed countries. If this is to work, then it is necessary to stop low priced drugs leaking back to developed countries. Developing countries should aim to facilitate in their legal systems the ability to import patented medicines if they can get them cheaper elsewhere in the world.
If South Africa decided to levy duties on drugs imported from Western nations it would cause a shortage on those drugs.
Critics have pointed a finger at the unethical use of intellectual property in the pharmaceutical industry claiming it is being used to set prices far above what those in third world countries can afford. Given that a good number of the raw material came from these regions, it is unethical to use intellectual property
Economic: Globalization of the pharmaceutical industry is an exciting opportunity to have research and development done at cheaper prices in other countries. However, this could be a double edged sword for companies because it is easy for other countries, such as India, to produce generic versions of the drug in bulk.
Pharma Co. should account for the restructuring program in different ways for the U.K parent and to U.S.-based lender.
1. Pricing: Many Asian and African countries are poor and cannot afford the costly medicines. The Pharmaceutical firms spend vast amounts on R&D in creating and marketing drugs, thus charging high prices enables for cost of capital recovery and profit generation.
In the video Escape Fire, I was so flabbergasted by the numbers and health outcomes we as a society have let our nation become. One of the most heart-wrenching evidence is, even though our health care industry is so expensive our health outcomes are the worse. 75% of disabilities and dead’s are preventable, according to the film.
After watching the video, I have realized that intellectual rights protection is based on the foundation of R&D investment, which are also the building blocks of the pharmaceutical industry. There is adequate evidence to proof that intellectual rights in the form of trademarks and patents are very significant in the pharmaceutical industry as is compared to any other industry. This may be caused by the fact that copyrights on prescription drugs are a better effective measure for increasing the limitation costs than copyrights on other commodities. The value of copyright protection relies on the duration of exclusivity. Although the lifespan of copyrights is predetermined by international treaty at 20 years from the filing of the copyright application, the actual period between gaining market approval and patenting, the significance of the copyright is much less than 20 years.
This casebook concentrates on the negative effects that the pharmaceutical industry’s trade and production policies have on third world nations suffering from disease epidemics. My position is that pharmaceutical companies are not concerned with the health benefits of their drugs, but rather with the market that their drugs generate. I illustrate this notion by describing the trade policies that pharmaceutical companies influence and the pharmaceutical companies’ production policies which concentrate on producing life-style drugs rather than drugs that cure life-threatening diseases.
In general, a company will charge as much as the consumer will bear. Why charge less for a drug when the consumer is capable of affording much more? One example is the case of the anti-Aids drug, Crixivan. The producer Merck, prices it at $600 to poor countries in Latin America and Africa. However, the same drug is priced at $6,099 in the much more affluent United States [1]. Although more stringent regulations from the FDA may contribute the higher prices in the United States, the high prices are mostly the result of the consumer’s ability to afford more. In Africa and Latin America, the low prices are necessary to sell the product at all. It’s better to make very little from a market than none at
The dependency of profits to promote sales to please shareholders and research and development of new products seem to be the mindset of the pharmaceutical industry. It is without question that the pharmaceutical companies only care about making a profit more than they do to help the people of the United States. Pharmaceutical companies and doctors that represent them are only acting in their own best interest; patients are the ones who are suffering the most. With that, new information being produced it is not always being fully disclosed in the fine print, or the other option to the drugs they take, this just only helps fuel business’s.
Even though the pharmaceutical industry has made great improvements to human health and quality of life, like creating drugs for the treatment of AIDS, cancer, and other diseases, an increasing tension is growing between the public and the industry. These thoughts are fueled by issues such as drug pricing, affordable health care, and the battle against epidemic diseases in third world countries; social critics wonder whether this multi-billion dollar industry is giving enough back to the community and fulfilling its social responsibility.
Pharmaceutical Companies and the government have been assisting in the deaths of thousands of children for over the past twenty years. Doctors diagnose more and more kids with cancer, and all pharmaceutical companies care about is the money. The United States is supposedly the best country to live in… a life filled with hopes, dreams, and freedom. Only cancer patients, especially kids, do not get that luxury of living out their life because pharmaceutical companies consume themselves with greed and selfishness. When finding a cure, an endless array of options should be available; limits should not exist. Because pharmaceutical companies and the government lack funds for research to target specific childhood cancers, children are being
In this case study I was asked six question the first one was,Do pharmaceutical companies have a responsibility to distribute drugs for free or at low cost in developing countries? What are the main arguments for and against such an approach?
Will the good outweigh the greed? Developing countries are known as poor countries, which means hardship is inevitable. One example of this being the major disadvantage they face when it comes to healthcare. Today, billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies purposely terminate all production of certain drugs once the company no longer benefits financially. This bold decision could be responsible for thousands of deaths every year. The pharmaceutical industry, in theory, is supposed to make health a top priority, regardless the profit.
Yes, there is an impact on the pharmaceutical company, like those in the US as a result of differential prices between that country and other nations.
A number of African countries have been the worst hit by the spective of AIDS. CIPLA an Indian Pharmaceutical Company has offered to market ant aids medicine at one length the cost at which it is sold by global pharmaceutical firm. However due to the product patent, law, substantial controversy has been generated around the globe on ethical grounds