Poor Regulation, Conflict Of Interest And Unfair Decisions On Account Of Big Pharmaceuticals Essay

With access to prescription drugs, people are able to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses. These drugs help deal with pain, inability to sleep, depression, and much more. Every day we are increasingly living in a world where there is better living through chemicals. However, what most do not seem to see is the rising tide of pain, illness, and ultimately death being caused by the pills people take every day. Most keep drugs in a special place in their minds, where they see them as harmless. Sadly, this is not the case, and in some cases our prescription drugs can be just as harmful as illegal drugs (King 68).

"In the past two decades or so, health care has been commercialized as never before, and professionalism in medicine seems to be giving way to entrepreneurialism," commented Arnold S. Relman, professor of medicine and social medicine at Harvard Medical School (Wekesser 66). This statement may have a great deal of bearing on reality. The tangled knot of insurers, physicians, drug companies, and hospitals that we call our health system are not as unselfish and focused on the patients' needs as people would like to think. Pharmaceutical companies are particularly ruthless, many of them spending millions of dollars per year to convince doctors to prescribe their drugs and to convince consumers that their specific brand of drug is needed in

I think Big Pharma companies skew their data very regularly. Although this is not ethical, it's practiced in this field because there is a certain probability calculated as it relates to side effects and ineffectiveness. For instance when we take Tylenol as a child we eventually become tolerant to the dosage. As we get older we need to increase the dosage even more than is advertised to get relief. The Pharma companies do not advertise that ALL pills have a toxicity level and will affect our organs at some point in time. Each pill is tested for toxicity levels before being released to the public. With that said, these companies take on a certain amount of acceptable risk when producing medication. The public has accepted this risk with

The rate of death due to prescription drug abuse in the U.S. has escalated 313 percent over the past decade. According to the Congressional Quarterly Transcription’s article "Rep. Joe Pitt Holds a Hearing on Prescription Drug Abuse," opioid prescription drugs were involved in 16,650 overdose-caused deaths in 2010, accounting for more deaths than from overdoses of heroin and cocaine. Prescribed drugs or painkillers sometimes "condemn a patient to lifelong addiction," according to Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This problem not only affects the lives of those who overdose but it affects the communities as well due to the convenience of being able to find these items in drug stores and such.

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?

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

Commercialized on TV as the only solution to our numerous problems, Big Pharma preys on people who struggle through life. Although seemingly meant to heal, pharmaceutical drugs have destroyed countless American lives instead because gullible patients rush to their doctor demanding prescriptions. Want to lose weight? Give me a pill. Want more intense sexual encounters? I need a pill. Want to grow longer, shinier hair? Hey, I’ll just pop a pill. Although some medical conditions do require medication, not every case of discomfort should be treated with highly addictive prescription meds nor should those drugs be trafficked via commercials that target a hypochondriacal nation of couch potatoes too lazy to put forth the time and effort to prevent disease. Instead, far too many Americans simply find a quick fix at their local pharmacy. These prescriptions lead to addiction and in the end death. Therefore, if I could take away any one invention from mankind it would be the crass commercialization of pharmaceuticals.

In this essay, federal drug policy, and its correlation with the shortage of drugs in Canada, will be considered. In particular, the disruption of drug supply will be discussed, with a specific focus on drug supply within the province of Ontario. A discussion will ensue surrounding drug pricing and policy, and the ways in which these frameworks can ultimately serve to affect the efficacy of medical treatment and the safety of patients. In addition, the paper will focus on the accountability of multiple stakeholders, at both the federal and provincial levels, in terms of supplying medically necessary drugs to Canadians. This analysis will encompass the dominant role played by pharmaceutical actors in Canada. Finally, conclusion will be drawn which take account of existing federal and provincial programs that aim to address drug shortages and the recommendations on comprehensive and appropriate drug funding.

In this essay, federal drug policy, and its correlation with the shortage of drugs in Canada, will be considered. In particular, the disruption of drug supply will be considered, with a specific focus on drug supply within the province of Ontario. A discussion will ensue surrounding drug pricing and policy, and the ways in which these frameworks can ultimately serve to affect the efficacy of medical treatment and the safety of patients. Finally, the paper will focus on the accountability of multiple stakeholders, at both the federal and provincial levels, in terms of supplying medically necessary drugs to Canadians. This analysis will encompass the dominant role played by pharmaceutical actors in Canada. Finally, conclusions will be drawn

Even if reference pricing when brought to market did work effectively without stifling innovation, the process of creating a new act to instate a reference pricing law would be far too long and drawn out to make such a risk worthwhile. Just getting such a bill to the point where Congress would vote on it would be a long and winding road of pushing the bill through committees and rewriting parts of it to get the house and senate to even consider passing it, likely taking close to a year if successful. And even getting to the voting stage, such a bill would have a very low chance of passing through Congress. This is because, as Mundy states, “Big Pharma’s power over lawmakers in both parties,” makes it extremely difficult for such a bold

Prescription drug abuse, now known as the “silent epidemic,” is spreading rapidly in the United States, so who’s to blame? This essay will argue that oftentimes, pharmaceutical companies are responsible for luring the opioid dependent population, and more often than not, causing their deaths. It is their greed that over powers the true meaning of medicine. One would think that millions of dollars in profits would be enough. However, considering it is a multibillion dollar industry, apparently not. Selfishness shown by bribery, false advertisements and “the Domino Effect,” will reveal that they are truly guilty.

People all over the world, continue to be tendered prescription medication, which in many cases further complicate health issues with its myriad of side effects. In fact, statistics have shown that approximately 100,000 people around the world die as a result of prescription drugs annually (Smith, 2012). On the contrary, according

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.

Drug companies that test experimental drugs in foreign countries are acting unethically. They are acting unethically, such that they are not disclosing results from the tests. As per the national Pharmaceutical Control Bureau’s Web site, there are specific guidelines with which the experimenters would have to adhere to when dealing with drug reactions (Health-Asia, 2007, February 2). Following a practice like this is imperative because patient safety is number one. Additionally, recording results and sharing them is common decency for families that are affiliated with the person being tested. If something bad happened, such as death, families, if present and involved, should be notified. Another reason as to why I feel recording results is important is the fact that it allows for the experimenters/doctors to have visual data of what drugs work and what drugs do not work. This would enable them to potentially improve on any faults that are present in the drugs and prevent future casualties.