Why do we allow pharmaceutical companies to patent their drugs? We allow pharmaceutical companies to patent their drugs because this way they have exclusive possession as well as control of the supply along with trade of that drug for a certain period of time. This allows the companies to maximize their profits until the patent has expired as well as the chemical formula being given to other companies is sold as an over the counter generic drug.
Pharmaceutical companies patent their drugs because pharmaceutical firms may reuse their research rather it going to waste this allows other companies to afford medicine. Benefits of pharmaceutical drugs are disease vaccinations. These drugs are used for heart problems, cancer and mental health
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These medications exist in a natural nature where pharmaceutical companies cannot control or patent them. This means companies do not waste time and money to verify if they are actually competent and this will be helpful for public funding. Companies act too massive and way too profitable when creating a drug.
Once a pharmaceutical company develops a new drug, it obtains a patent, which gives it a monopoly over the production and sale of the drug for a period of time. If the company does not patent a drug, then it's not profitable. Any company can use their research or their own private recipe to produce a knock-off drug. To increase competition and reducing profitability, they can change as much as they like as open competition. However, all drugs have an expiry date on their patents. In other words, if there were no patents, no one would be inclined to research and mass-produce medicine to benefit human
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It is not regarded to be a good idea to have scientists working in university labs. Commercials pressure may induce quicker on processing more contemporary research, examples are, genetic entry and fake pharmaceuticals. We would like to think that all drugs are made in pharmaceutical laboratories. Pharmaceutical research is done under conditions where often manufactured the drug is assembled elsewhere.
The proportion of expenditure needed for a pharmaceutical company to produce a new drug to the market blocks all the companies except for the larger firms. Further more, these larger firms have to spend huge amounts of money to obtain these drugs on the market. The manufacturing and sales costs per unit is relatively small because of pharmaceutical firms average costs keep falling the more the company produces the drug. Also expense and risk have been contributed to pharmaceutical analysis for research to slow down. The university approach may work in more of a private sector. One positive attribute around developing research medicine in universities is that universities can carry out the research without any duplication or bias research. Costs of producing drugs have gone through the roof, these companies are more likely to settle down and take less
It is more lucrative for drug companies to develop drugs for chronic illnesses as opposed to antibiotics because the chronic illness drugs will be far much cheaper to develop and will be sold for longer periods than antibiotic drugs which will need heavy investments to develop and be sold more sparingly over time.
It is not hard to obtain the same drugs from different sources so the customer loyalty is virtually non-existent and the pharmacies have to try extremely hard to sustain their consumer base.
In general the drug manufacturing industry is very risky. In order companies to stay in business they need to research and develop new products. Firstly companies need to develop new compounds, however only one on every ten thousand compounds becomes approved and it takes years to do this. Then only 3 out of 20 drugs make enough revenue to cover their development cost and only 1 out of every 3 drugs generates enough money to cover the costs of previously failed drugs.
As per WHO "The 10 largest drugs companies control over one-third of this market, several with sales of more than US$10 billion a year and profit margins of about 30%. Six are based in the United States and four in Europe. Companies currently spend one-third of all sales revenue on marketing their products - roughly twice what they spend on research and development."
Doctor Tristram Engelhardt, an American philosopher, argues that the importance of these profits is to acquire resources and to productively make new discoveries. These profits will secure recourses for these companies and that with the extra money, these pharmaceutical companies can be more innovative. With these profits, more effort will be put in to decreasing morbidity and mortality risks. According to Engelhardt, if these companies decrease profits, the amount of resources and energies available to be innovative will also decrease, leading to more risks. However, Stan Frinkelstein and Peter Temin states that we can eliminate the link between drug prices and drug discovery by developing the Drug Development Corporation, that will solve this problem, as mention in the last
When people think of pharmaceutical companies, they instantly associate the word pharmaceutical with medicine. There are scientists solely dedicated to find the remedy to cancer and incurable diseases. These professionals have devoted their educated lives to help the ailing human population recover.
Why do consumers purchase specific drugs for various ailments, sicknesses or diseases they might have? Why do physicians prescribe certain drugs over competitive drugs that may be available to the public? Why is it that most of us can easily name specific drugs that fit the many ailments of today’s society? On the surface the answer might be as simple as good TV advertising or radio commercials or even internet adds. The truth of matter is the major pharmaceutical manufacturers own the patents on these drugs and this gives them all of the marketing budget and muscle they need to promote the drug and control the pricing. The incentives for larger pharmaceutical companies are very enticing and as a result, they don’t mind spending the time in clinical trials and patent courts to get their drugs approved. Some will even get patents on the process by which the drug is manufactured, ensuring that no competitor can steal the drug or the process. This protects their large financial investment and nearly guarantees a large return for their investors. Many consumer rights groups claim this is nothing more than legalizing monopolies for the biggest manufacturers.
In the business of drug production over the years, there have been astronomical gains in the technology of pharmaceutical drugs. More and more drugs are being made for diseases and viruses each day, and there are many more drugs still undergoing research and testing. These "miracle" drugs are expensive, however, and many Americans cannot afford these prices.
Throughout many generations the success of medicine has been dog-eared throughout history, from penicillin being created through colonized bacteria on an agar plate to chemotherapy being used to combat the ailments of cancer, we as a society rely a great deal on the effectiveness of medicine. Due to this realization one can agree that it is imperative that the medications that are being distributed and placed on the pharmaceutical market are tested and analyzed at all angles and perspectives to ensure they work effectively and successfully resulting in moderate to no side effects. The progressive industry of medicine has greatly increased since the early nineties thanks to the advancement in medical technology making
The point at which they decide to produce will rest on their own adversity of revenue, risk and effort. The company also needs to know the price elasticity of the curve: the greater the price elasticity, the more a company such as Pfizer will struggle to establish high prices and a high volume. Although monopolies appear damaging at times, there are arguments that they are an advantage to society. Monopolies in the pharmaceutical industry drive companies to pursue research and development (R&D) efforts to gain new patents. According to a 1992 study, among the 24 U.S. Industry groups, pharmaceuticals dedicated 16.6% of their amounts to basic research, while all other industries averaged at 5.3% (Sherer 1307).
The rise in cost of prescription drugs affects all sectors of the health care industry, including private insurers, public programs, and patients. Spending on prescription drugs continues to be an important health care concern, particularly in light of rising pharmaceutical costs and the aging population. Prescription drugs have grown to become an essential component of health care. For millions of Americans, prescription drugs are necessary to their health and ability to function in society. While prescriptions are a relatively small portion of overall health spending, they are a main reason for certain health spending trends, growing almost twice as fast all other health services in recent years. Prescription costs can be the costliest expense in your budget, especially if you are on a fixed income. The wealthy can easily afford their medications, but for an increasing population such as the elderly, choosing among purchasing medication, paying bills, or buying food is a real concern.
When a drug does make it to market and is successful, companies need to make up for the money spent in development as well as the cost of drugs which did not make it to market. After all investments are taken care of, there is still the need for profit. Some are concerned that if the United States government implements control over prescription drug costs, then private firms will be less motivated to invest in pharmaceutical development, fearing they will not make their investment back. This would supply pharmaceutical companies with less finances for the research and development process. According to the information collected by Abbott and Vernon, a drop in the price of pharmaceuticals would result in significant loss in investment in research and development (Abbott and Vernon).
One thing is guaranteed to happen; people will always get sick. Diseases and bacteria are always changing and the human body’s immune system isn’t always prepared to fight it off. The pharmaceutical industry knows this, and that’s why they are a multi-billion dollar industry. Today, you will see a pill that will virtually cure every kind of “disease” out there whether it’s physical, emotional, or neurological. What is a “disease”? Supposedly if you have constant headaches, you have a disease. If you’re overweight, you have a disease. If you have trouble concentrating, you have a disease. Any little problem that you can think of, there most likely will be a pill out there that will “cure” that problem. First, your body is the only thing that can cure a disease. Second, everyone experiences these little problems and there are simple solutions that can “cure” these problems without the expensive pills that can cause harmful side effects. Why isn’t this information being told to us? Because of money. Notice that in all commercial breaks there is a commercial advertising some kind of pill for a certain kind of problem. They make so much money that the drug companies can employ thousands of lobbyists to bribe, lie, and payout almost anyone they need to to get them to advertise their product. Even politicians benefit from the pharmaceutical companies, and if politicians have their back, then how can they be expected to be stopped? Modern medicine has no doubt done wonders for many people to get better from illnesses, but this industry is getting way out of hand.
Pharmaceutical patents are patents for inventions within the pharmaceutical industry. Patents give exclusive rights for an invention for a product or a process of making a product [1]. There are many aspects to patents in the pharmaceutical industry that are both pros and cons; it just depends on what industry you are in. Pharmaceutical companies take out patents so they can regulate the market and restrict competition from other companies. By obtaining patents pharmaceutical companies also attract investment. In addition to this pharmaceutical companies can also regulate the price of the drug as they will be the only company selling that drug. However these aspects of patents can adversely affect the generics industry. The generics industry cannot make or sell drugs that are patented but once a patent licence expires, both the generics industry and the WHO see increased benefits as drugs become more widely available around the world (i.e. developing countries) at a lower price. Here we will discuss the pros and cons of patents from the point of view of the pharmaceutical industry, generics industry and the WHO.
Qiu, L, Chen, Z-Y, Lu, D-Y, Hu, H & Wang, Y-T 2010, 'Public funding and private investment for R&D : a survey in China’s pharmaceutical industry ', Health Research Policy and Systems, vol. 12, no. 27, pp. 11