- March 8, 2013
- Posted by: essay
- Category: Term paper writing
The economic effects on the pharmaceutical industry in today’s society.
Abstract
In the current essay we will review the economic effects on the pharmaceutical industry in today’s society. Economic principles, such as supply and demand, competition, and opportunity costs, influence the pharmaceutical industry.
It should be noted that the pharmaceutical industry ”“ is an industry-related research, development, mass production of market research and distribution of medicines, mainly for the prevention, relief and treatment of disease. Pharmaceutical companies can work with generics or original (branded) drugs. They are subject to variety of laws and regulations regarding the patenting of medicines, clinical and preclinical trials and marketing characteristics of products ready for sale. At present, the pharmaceutical industry is one of the most successful and influential industry, reviews of which can be contradictory.
Introduction
The pharmaceutical industry is a business dedicated to the manufacture, preparation and marketing of medicinal chemicals for treatment and prevention of diseases, which reported high levels of economic gain. Some companies manufacture bulk pharmaceutical chemicals (primary production), all of which prepare them for medical use by methods known collectively as secondary production. Among the secondary production processes, highly automated manufacturing dosed drugs such as tablets, capsules or sachets for oral administration, solutions for injection, eggs and suppositories.
They are subject to a variety of laws and regulations with respect to patents, testing and marketing of drugs. The pharmaceutical industry is currently one of the most profitable business sectors and influential in the world, which occurs at the same time praise for their contributions to health, and disputes policies and marketing campaigns to influence governments to raising prices, extending their patents and therefore their business profits. Being accused by his critics to promote disease in some cases, allegedly contributing to the problems of medicalization current way of life, calling attention to frequently harmless conditions or diseases in order to increase drug sales, according to Natural News (2011).
Pharmaceutical companies
Many pharmaceutical companies conduct research and development (R & D) to introduce new improved treatments. In some countries, each stage of testing new drugs with domestic animals (farm or laboratory) or with human beings, must receive the approval of national regulators. If there is final approval is granted permission to use under specific conditions. Other countries can get permission to distribute a drug with the authorization of the country of origin, according to Pharmaceutical Industry (2011).
Much of the production of the pharmaceutical industry is for vaccines. Most vaccines are injected, although some are administered orally, including the Sabin polio vaccine, developed in the mid 1950’s. They protect the bodies under a weakened pathogen, which helps you create new antibodies (long term immunization) or by providing active antibodies (a temporary solution).
Most countries grant patents for medicines or drugs recently developed or modified for periods of 15 years from the date of authorization. Companies assigned a trademark for its innovations, which become their exclusive property. In addition, new drugs receive official generic name in public ownership. Once the patent expires, any company that meets the standards of the regulatory body can manufacture and sell products with the generic name. In fact, the pharmaceutical industry is the driving force behind the extension of the patent system, and has pressured developing countries to make them follow this system.
Most pharmaceutical companies are international and have subsidiaries in many countries. The sector, technologically advanced, employs many graduates, biologists, biochemists, chemists, engineers, microbiologists, chemists, pharmacologists, doctors, physicists and veterinarians, and registered nurses. They work in research and development (R & D), production, quality control, marketing, medical representation, public relations and general administration. In 1994, the two largest pharmaceutical companies in the world were the British and American Glaxo Merck & Co. Each employs about 50,000 people worldwide, of which about 7,000 are university graduates, according to Pharmaceutical Industry- a one stop resource (2011).
The pharmaceutical industry faces not only the cost of research, because the system is mixed, with public and private. The companies argue that the greatest contribution comes from its coffers, but independent experts estimate that between governments and consumer finance 84% of health research, while only 12% correspond to pharmaceutical companies, and 4% nonprofit organizations, according to The Pharmaceutical Industry Has Reached a Tipping Point (2011).
In terms of cost, depending on the version of industry, each new drug they put on the market requires more than 800 million dollars in research. However, a study that collected data from 117 research projects concluded that the cost would be around only 75 or 80 million. However, the investment required to launch a new drug have experienced strong growth due to increasing number of clinical trials required before marketing. This increase is due to stricter legislation, which seeks to improve patient safety, but also the fact that new drugs are increasingly resemble the old ones, which requires further tests to demonstrate the small differences the old drug. In fact, according to a study that reviewed the filings with the U.S. FDA (agency authorizing the sale of drugs), only 20% of investment in research went to products that provide a significant therapeutic improvement, according to Pharmaceutical Industry (2011).