Pharmaceutical Marketing Controversy

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

Due to the corporate competition between large pharmaceutical companies and their purpose as a business to “make money,” modern medicine is often characterized by the overuse of chemical drugs. Under current US law, it is perfectly legal to pay doctors to promote drugs. Big Pharma, the collective group of big pharmaceutical companies, continues to pay billions of dollars to doctors promoting and prescribing their drugs. The common assumption when one goes to the doctor is that he or she is going to get the best medication to cure his or her illness or disease. Sometimes, the medicine fixes the problem in the short term, but it does not target the underlying cause. On top of this, the drugs may aim to fix one problem but can cause unwanted side effects in the process. This creates the never-ending cycle of dependency on chemical drugs as patients are often prescribed more drugs to deal with the new problems that are created.

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

Traditional doctors prescribe their patients all types of drugs to treat conditions and diseases. Most people trust their physicians to give them the best care possible, but many doctors prescribe and recommend medications based on their relationship with a company. Pharmaceutical companies pay doctors or even provide meals, in exchange for meetings and education. In an article from Time Magazine from September 18, 2014, Your Doctor Should Reveal Biases and Pharma Ties, Says Group, author Alexandra Sifferlin explains the issue with these relationships. Sifferlin uses ethos, logos, pathos, and links to respectable websites to convince readers that patients should be made aware by their physicians of ties pharmaceutical companies and their positions of controversial practices.

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

The Pharmaceutical industry has been in the spotlight for decades due to the fact that they have a reputation for being unethical in its marketing strategies. In The Washington Post Shannon Brownlee (2008) states, “We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow.” This honorable statement is completely lost in today’s world of pharmaceutical marketing tactics. These tactics are often deceptive and biased. Big Pharma consistently forgets their moral purpose and focuses primarily on the almighty dollar. Big Pharma is working on restoring their reputation by reforming their ethical code of conduct.

There are many direct to consumer advertising for prescription drugs. On television, magazines, radio etc, you see the most recent advertisements for prescription drugs. After some people see the advertisements they soon rush over to their doctor and their illness and life would be perfectly pain and stress free. Making the public conscious of options for treatment is not a bad thing. But these false advertisements are misleading consumers onto unnecessary treatment.

Pharmaceutical companies, like other companies involved in development of new products and services, must find equilibrium in stakeholder interests. Often, the interests of one stakeholder cluster will conflict with the interests of another stakeholder group. For instance, productivity and sales may benefit shareholders and employees, but may not help consumers, if a product is unsafe. The safety of the new AD23 drug for Alzheimer 's comes under supplementary scrutiny, as it did not receive FDA approval before being presented to patients. Pharma Care bypassed FDA consent by evolving a subsidiary, Comp Care, to serve as a compounding pharmacy filling instructions for the drug ordered by physicians. The ethical concern is based on promoting a product without knowing all the possible side effects or harm caused to patients, without the improvement of conducting clinical legal proceedings and seeking FDA approval. Off label use of prescription medicines is often promoted with little rigid data to help clients and their physicians make sound, safe choices for usage.

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

Have you ever noticed how many advertisements there are on TV for prescription medicine? How about in magazines or on web pages? Pharmaceutical companies have a preponderant influence in America’s use of medicine than you might think, and not just by making the medicines we use. These companies have also contributed to the rising spending on medications and use falsehood to sell more products. Drug companies have a huge effect on our lives as Americans, but not always in the best way.

Ads for pharmaceutical drugs are everywhere. They are in magazines, on television and radio, on billboards, and on the little bags that you get from the pharmacist. These days it is difficult to get away from all the drug advertising. All these ads are for products that require a doctor's prescription. The goal of advertising is to increase profits. By advertising so heavily for drugs that the majority of the population does not need, pharmaceutical companies attempt to create as large a consumer base as they can. In advertising directly to the consumer, the drug companies accomplish two objectives. First, they get information directly to the consumer. Second, they promote the product and

Specify the types of country risks that pharmaceutical firms face in international business. How do the political and legal systems of countries affect the global pharmaceutical industry?

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.

Pharmaceutical companies should attempt to be as transparent as possible when marketing prescription drugs to the public. Their marketing efforts should not only convey the benefits of the prescription drug, but also easily convey the possible risks associated with the prescription drugs. Many patients may tend to think the benefits outweigh the potential risks of prescription drugs and may pressure their physician to prescribe it. Due to the way the prescription drug is marketed, the consumer may believe the

It’s been nearly 2 weeks now and his family hadn’t heard a word. Were they wrong? Did they not understand the situation? Was this person not as important as they had believed him to be? He was tired of waiting. They had practically destroyed his entire family. The start of the hostile takeover of his parents’ pharmaceutical company was vicious and was only the beginning and had yet to stop or slow down. One of their family members company after another were falling like flies near a bug zapper and all anger was pointed at him. They had tried court injunctions to forestall the purchase of stock and tried to use the assault charges they had as a not so subtle way of forcing his family to drop the charges, but it was countered by asking for a court date to show cause for the attack.