GE273: Week 9 Pharmaceutical Drugs and Drug Companies Page 1 Discuss the market
ID: 1238528 • Letter: G
Question
GE273: Week 9 Pharmaceutical Drugs and Drug CompaniesPage 1
Discuss the market for pharmaceutical drugs. Use the web to research information on pharmaceutical companies. Include a discussion of the following points in your answer, using examples where appropriate: Is the market for pharmaceutical drugs an oligopoly market or a monopolistically competitive market? Support your answer. Discuss the importance and cost of research and development. Does every drug pay off? Is strategic behavior important in this market? Support your answer. Is product differentiation important in this market? Support your answer. How does the movement from a patented drug to a generic drug affect this market?
Submission Requirements:
Attach a Word document of 150 to 250 words that contains all answers.
Format: Double line space, Times New Roman, 12-point font
Formal references in APA format must be provided.
Explanation / Answer
Direct-to-consumer marketing of prescription drugs should be prohibited. Pharmaceutical advertising does not promote public health. It increases the cost of drugs and the number of unnecessary prescriptions, which is expensive to taxpayers, and can be harmful or deadly to patients. For more than half a century, certain drugs have been available to patients only with a prescription, because all drugs, including those that can heal, can also cause harm. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals have the necessary training and experience to help them decide whether drugs are indicated in particular cases. This is why they make the prescription decision, not patients. Prescription drug advertising pressures health professionals to prescribe particular medications, and often the ones that may be less effective and more expensive and dangerous. This intrudes in the relationship between medical professionals and patients, and disrupts the therapeutic process. It takes up valuable time to explain to patients why they may have been misled by the drug advertisements they have seen. Prescription drug advertising is not educational. It is inherently misleading because it features emotive imagery and omits crucial information about drugs and their proper use, as well as about side effects and contraindications that can be found on the full FDA-approved label. Drug companies have an inherent and irredeemable financial conflict-of-interest which drives them to exaggerate the positive and minimize the negative qualities of their own products. At a minimum, direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising should not exist unless accompanied by the full FDA-approved label. Nor should drug ads be allowed to display imagery that is primarily emotive and not educational. Drug ads on TV and radio should be prohibited because they cannot meet this standard for truthfulness.
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