The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Decision Making Process
Introduction
This paper will explore the ways that pharmaceutical companies make decisions regarding disease research. The current hypothesis is that prospective profitability is the most prevalent and most important reason taken into account. If this is true, then many ethical issues could arise, including the unnecessary suffering of individuals affected, since there could be a chance that the companies are not researching certain diseases or disorders simply because they would not be as profitable.
Literature Analysis
Neglected Diseases and the Pharmaceutical Industry
A disease is considered neglected when, “there is a lack of effective, affordable, or easy to use drugs treatments.” The pharmaceutical industry will only enter the market if there is at least some potential in the market for the drug it will create. There is not much research being done for neglected diseases because there is not much potential in the market (Yamey, 2002). This means that there will always be diseases that will not have a sufficient amount of scientific or pharmaceutical research being done for them. For many neglected diseases the primary reason for this is because the population of people affected is so small or the population cannot afford to purchase the drugs or …show more content…
94% of U.S. physicians reported that they benefit in some way from pharmaceutical companies. The most common benefit provided by the companies is food in the workplace, with 83% of physicians having received this. The next most popular benefits are drug samples, at 78%, and reimbursements for attending meetings at 35%. These can influence the physicians prescribing behavior, as they may be more likely to prescribe brands that benefit themselves the most. It is estimated that 23% to 28% of medical research is funded by the pharmaceutical industry (Reiss & Kitcher,
Introduction
This paper will explore the ways that pharmaceutical companies make decisions regarding disease research. The current hypothesis is that prospective profitability is the most prevalent and most important reason taken into account. If this is true, then many ethical issues could arise, including the unnecessary suffering of individuals affected, since there could be a chance that the companies are not researching certain diseases or disorders simply because they would not be as profitable.
Literature Analysis
Neglected Diseases and the Pharmaceutical Industry
A disease is considered neglected when, “there is a lack of effective, affordable, or easy to use drugs treatments.” The pharmaceutical industry will only enter the market if there is at least some potential in the market for the drug it will create. There is not much research being done for neglected diseases because there is not much potential in the market (Yamey, 2002). This means that there will always be diseases that will not have a sufficient amount of scientific or pharmaceutical research being done for them. For many neglected diseases the primary reason for this is because the population of people affected is so small or the population cannot afford to purchase the drugs or …show more content…
94% of U.S. physicians reported that they benefit in some way from pharmaceutical companies. The most common benefit provided by the companies is food in the workplace, with 83% of physicians having received this. The next most popular benefits are drug samples, at 78%, and reimbursements for attending meetings at 35%. These can influence the physicians prescribing behavior, as they may be more likely to prescribe brands that benefit themselves the most. It is estimated that 23% to 28% of medical research is funded by the pharmaceutical industry (Reiss & Kitcher,