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Competition in the pharmaceutical market
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Lower prescription cost There is a major issue in America that needs to be put on the top of the to do list. The amount of money we waste on prescription drugs is ridiculous. “Americans spend roughly $1 billion a day on prescription drugs. Sharp increases in U.S. spending on prescription drugs —the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) projects that it will rise 6.3 percent per year on average for the next decade.” (Frank). That is insanely high and something needs to be done. There are other issues such as the time it takes to research and develop a new drug and the cost it takes. To develop a new drug into the market place it takes on average 10 to 12 years. That is exactly why drug companies do not rush to being in a new drug to jack up the prices of the old one and play into the market place. The other issue is the cost. It cost 2.6 billion dollars to research and develop each prescription drug. Many companies rely on so much scientific research to compare the clinical and cost comparison of new drugs and will refuse to purchase a new drug that is not fairly priced closely to its value. High prescription cost hinders people from getting the medication they need …show more content…
There is a major issue when it comes to medication being free. Who will fund the company after their budget has ran out? Eventually the prices of prescription drugs will be so high that no one will be able to obtain them because of the cost. The cost of medication is already hard for those who are poor and have to budget their medication with bills. Take my father in law for instant, which has to balance his bills with the blood pressure pills that cost him roughly 300 dollars a month. Free medication in the end will only make it extremely harder on those who are having a difficult time now getting the medication they need to become
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 America today, many people are in need of medical help. In fact,the Federal Trade Commission estimates that 75% of the population complain of physical problems (Federal Trade Commission 9). They complain, for example, of fatigue, colds, headaches, and countless other "ailments." When these symptoms strike, 65% purchase over-the counter, or OTC, drugs. In order to take advantage of this demand, five billion dollars is spent by the pharmaceutical industry on marketing each year . This marketing, usually in the form of advert...
The United States of America accounts for only 5% of the world’s population, yet as a nation, we devour over 50% of the world’s pharmaceutical medication and around 80% of the world’s prescription narcotics (American Addict). The increasing demand for prescription medication in America has evoked a national health crisis in which the government and big business benefit at the expense of the American public.
... (2013) IMS health study points to a declining cost curve for U.S. medicines in 2012 Retrieved from http://www.imshealth.com/portal/site/ims/menuitem.d248e29c86589c9c30e81c033208c22a/?vgnextoid=8659cf4add48e310VgnVCM10000076192ca2RCRD&vgnextchannel=437879d7f269e210VgnVCM10000071812ca2RCRD&vgnextfmt=default
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 America, it has become a battle to earn a high paying job to cope with the expenses of a typical American. It has become even more of a battle for some people to afford medical prescriptions to keep healthy. Health becomes a crucial issue when discussed among people. No matter what, at one point or another, everyone is going to stand as a victim of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line is Americans are paying excessive amounts of money for medical prescriptions. Health-Care spending in the U.S. rose a stunning 9.3% in 2002, which is the greatest increase for the past eleven years. (Steele 46) Many pharmaceutical companies are robbing their clients by charging extreme rates for their products.
Third is performing reckonable accident errors that have been impaired on patients whereas the amount also was listed at $1.7 Million from 2008.Fourth the U.S. reckless spends about 100-200 billion a year in curing uninsured patients. Fifth, the most commonly talked about drug of all is tobacco, which amounts to about 96 billion. Healthcare not only does give patients the importance of everything but we also have technology along with so many life-enhancing benefits is ridiculously high and is way over the line. Which is why so many of our medical learners are not being trained enough to understand the importance of procuring and delivering prescription drugs that have cost about 1.3 billion dollars. The Question we should ask ourselves this how is it going to look when those are in need of a serious medical issue of having what’s required of them to take in order to ease their pain.
Has anyone noticed that there seems to be a drugstore being built on every corner these days? Revco, Walgreens, and Rite Aid seem to be just a few of the drug store chains that are expanding. One has to wonder if this has anything to do with the possibility of including medicine under coverage by healthcare systems. This means that they may become part of a capitated payment system to the pharmaceutical providers. "By capitation, we mean a prospective payment to physicians or providers - either individually or as a group - of a fixed amount of money to care for each patient (Pearson, 1998)." In other words, every physician is provided a set sum of money whether they see any patients or not and every pharmacy would be given money whether they prescribe any drugs or not. Drug costs will rise.
Why are the prices so high? Some critics of the drug companies argue that the larger firms are ripping off the American public, are dishonest and, in some cases, unsafe. On the other hand, there are health care workers such as doctors and their supporters who claim that research and testing for drugs costs money. This supposedly justifies their prices for their products. Also, as an argument to their side, they say that their practice is a benefit to the improvement to mankind. It is a life saving business, but are these prices justified? As one can see, this is a very important issue in medicine today. It affects everyone involved with medicine, which is much of the American public. It also affects the physicians and drug makers.
There are three issues when it comes to the health care cost rising. The first is the rising cost in prescription drugs. The second area of rising cost is the increased technologies when it comes to the medical industry. The third problem is the aging population. Prescription drugs are the area of the fastest growing health care expense, and it is projected to grow at 20 to 30 percent each year over the next several years. There are many newer, more expensive drugs on the market, and the use of these prescriptions is exploding. In addition, with so much television advertising, many consumers ask their doctors for expensive, brand name drugs when there may actually be a generic drug that works just as well.
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).
Pharmaceutical innovation is a crucial element of the public health care system. Studies show that 60% HCRs are highly influenced by unique drugs and are more likely to prescribe them to the patients, regardless the cost or expense. So, pharmaceutical innovation is a key driving factor of prescription rates. There is also a wide range of key factors that determine the uptake of the new drug by HCRs. These key factors are important because:
It is also easy to see the American people’s infatuation with drugs by simply looking at our current number of prescriptions filled at pharmacies annually. An active data table hosted by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation states that about four billion prescriptions are filled annually (Kaiser). This is enough prescriptions for every person in the country, children and adults, to have twelve each. Once a person is on a drug, it is often hailed as an immediate fix to the problem, but many don’t think or just don’t care about the long-term side effects it could hold.
Healthcare players are finding ways to mitigate the costs of the main operations, manage the care variations, and ensure standardization. The cost of prescription drugs is growing at a high rate with physician costs and hospital care cost following closely. Moreover, the costs of prescription drugs is fueled by the types of drugs, price fluctuations, and consumption as people continue to use more prescription drugs to manage their health conditions. The American population is expected to increase its healthcare consumption as companies spend more to advertise their brand name drugs leading to misuse of health care by the people. For instance, there is a growing number of people who are visiting the emergency room with problems that can be treated at a lower cost in urgent care
Other companies cannot replicate the drug and therefore they are forced to either wait until the patent expires or they must find an alternative drug that carries out the same purpose.... ... middle of paper ... ... It is clear to see that there are many pros and cons to patents in the pharmaceutical industry.