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pharmaceutical companies

What do you think about the actions of pharmaceutical companies in the world. Do you think that they have to much influence in the medical profession? How about the fact that they charge extortionate prices to developing countries for medication which could do so much good. Do you think that they should be more closely monitered?

Reply 1

shiny

12

When you have that much money at stake, people are bound to get greedy and do some pretty nasty stuff :frown:

Reply 2

Howard

5

randdom

What do you think about the actions of pharmaceutical companies in the world. Do you think that they have to much influence in the medical profession? How about the fact that they charge extortionate prices to developing countries for medication which could do so much good. Do you think that they should be more closely monitered?

They charge extortionate prices in developed countries too, as you would know if you ever found yourself in need of medication and without insurance in the US.

Reply 3

spk

The average cost of drug development was $0.5 billion in 1999, and only 1 in 5000 compounds are successful.

Pharmaceutical companies are exactly that - companies - they are businesses, answerable to share holders and other investors. Making profits is what they're designed to do. They aren't charities.

Reply 4

ChemistBoy

16

randdom

What do you think about the actions of pharmaceutical companies in the world. Do you think that they have to much influence in the medical profession?

Yes, I think direct marketing to GPs is a very bad idea. Doctors are often choosing drugs based on 'massaged' science.

How about the fact that they charge extortionate prices to developing countries for medication which could do so much good. Do you think that they should be more closely monitered?

I think it is fairly closely monitored already. Pharmaceutical companies need to recoup the cost of their operations. It must be borne in mind that that drugs really only get developed to answer western medical problems (that is where the money is), one has to wait for drug licences to expire and then drugs can be cheaply produced (such as AZT).

The problem with pharamceutical companies is the mixture of science and business. This leads to leads to interesting points such as developing drugs that reduce symptoms of an affliction is much more business savvy that developing drugs that cure an affliction, but is it morally and ethically correct to do so?

Reply 5

Sam2k

11

randdom

What do you think about the actions of pharmaceutical companies in the world. Do you think that they have to much influence in the medical profession? How about the fact that they charge extortionate prices to developing countries for medication which could do so much good. Do you think that they should be more closely monitered?

I think pharmaceutical companies, insurance agencies, and any other company that you have to buy something from should be regulated by government. They have no right to rip everyone off like they do.

Reply 6

spk

Mr Moncal

I think pharmaceutical companies, insurance agencies, and any other company that you have to buy something from should be regulated by government. They have no right to rip everyone off like they do.

Would you favour nationalisation, instead?

Reply 7

Sam2k

11

spk

Would you favour nationalisation, instead?

I believe the government should buy medicine for the people who can't afford it, especially seniors. Then they should work on lowering insurance prices.

Reply 8

spk

Mr Moncal

I believe the government should buy medicine for the people who can't afford it, especially seniors. Then they should work on lowering insurance prices.

I guess you're coming at this from a US perspective. Obviously the US model is grossly unjust. A European-style system of free access to healtcare at the point of need is the only fair method.

Some new drugs are prohibitively espensive, though, just as much for governments as for individuals. If Big Pharma is pricing itself out of the market, then simple market forces will encourage companies to reassess their pricing strategies. It's all a question of supply and demand.

Reply 9

Jonatan

13

randdom

What do you think about the actions of pharmaceutical companies in the world. Do you think that they have to much influence in the medical profession? How about the fact that they charge extortionate prices to developing countries for medication which could do so much good. Do you think that they should be more closely monitered?

Developing drugs require enourmous investments. You need an army of scientists testing loads of different substances out of which just a few will be successfull. If the medical companies were not allowed to charge a lot of money for their products they would not be able to make these investments.

Now, the availability of medecines and drugs is certainly a crucial part of our society, and thus the production and sale of them should be heavily subsidised such that everyone can receive medical treatment regardless of income. Since everyone will benefit from the availability of medecines, either directly or indirectly it is no more than fair that everyone pays for it (through taxes). Making people pay large ammounts merely because they were unfrotunate enough to catch a disease is not right. I say, let the medical companies charge whatever they want, and if that is too much for people to afford then let the government caugh up what people cannot afford. This means it will basicly be payed for through taxes, but since people can't really chose to get sick or not, it is more fair that everyone pays to have cover in case they get sick (Is this not the principle behind an insurance?). The only difference between an NHS and an insurance system is in practice that what you pay to the NHS depends on your income whereas what you pay to an insurance depends on teh cover you require. Personally I favour the NHS system for essentials (medecine etc) whereas luxury goods should go through insurances.

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