The Global Pharmaceutical Industry. The Demise and the Path to Recovery
The pharmaceutical industry has reached a tipping point. Its business growth is predicated upon fagrantly raising drug prices (especially in the U.S.), thereby increasing the inability of patients to afford medications. The clinical trials that provide the basis for pharma’s new drug development rely on biased designs to favor approvable outcomes, even as sponsors selectively publish mainly the reports that contain favorable results for their test drugs. The industry’s research process exerts a corrupting infuence on medical researchers and the channels of medical communication, while its everyday product promotions involve regular payments of financial and other inducements to prescribers that effectively constitute bribes. Even its involvement in continuing medical education poses a confict of interest and a corrupting infuence on medical practitioners.
If pharma continues operating in this manner, it cannot complain when citizens worldwide demand their governments impose onerous restrictions. Each passing week sees the emergence of additional outrages that make such controls more likely.
Any generalization doesn't fit with an objective observation of reality. However, in chapter 5, you'll find proposals for a new regulation.
