Trends In Economic Botany: The Rising Use Of Herbal Supplements

It encourages a behavior of rent seekers. And these tactics prove highly lucrative. For example the drug Cardizem, used for blood pressure and hypertension reduction, had $700 million in sales in the 11 months the generic drug was kept off the market. This also causes generic brands to rise in cost. According to IMS Health, pharmaceutical information companies, the price for generic drugs are increasing almost twice as fast as prices f... ... middle of paper ... ...Noriko (2002) Promoting Good Ideas on Drugs: The Relative Efficiency of Patent and Public Support for Bio-Medical Research October 11, 2002, http://www.cepr.net/promoting_good_ideas_on_drugs.htm “Buying prescription Medicines Online: A Consumer Safety Guide,” available online at http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/consumer/buyonline/guide.htm Francis, David R. (2003) Healthcare costs are up.

Approximately 81 branded drugs expired 2010-2013 ( ) including 30 blockbuster drugs each previously generating over a billion in sales annually. This recent loss of pharmaceutical sales is impacting the drug company’s p... ... middle of paper ... ... the challenges will increase in the prescription drug market. Pharmaceutical companies will seek federal grant and private funding to offset the cost of research and development essential to new drug development. Academic and federal research facilities will increasingly be valuable R&D partners. Policies to reduce the patent approval process in America will be emphasized and international policy on pharmaceutical industry patents will increase in significance with United States focus on ensuring American companies remain competitive.

“In 2002 American paid an average of $5440 in medical expenditures, up $419 from the previous year alone.” (Frosch, 2005) The major increases in medical costs can be attributed to technological advancements and the high costs associated with break-through drugs. Capitalism is the driving force of the medication industry. Higher medical costs are the first major factor increasing health care costs. “What you’re seeing in the bankruptcy numbers is a function of the fact that there is a very thin social safety net in this country in terms of health care.” (Frosch, 2005) Another major factor is the huge spike in the past fifteen years of uninsured Americans. In 2005, there are 45 million uninsured Americans, a jump of 10 million since 1990.

Discussion Post #4 1.Socialize the EpiPen Summary: This article talks about EpiPens but also emphasizes the dysfunction of the American pharmaceutical system. One of the main problems specified in the article was the enormous price increase of EpiPens. Between 2007 and 2016 the price for a set of two EpiPens went from $100 to $600(Jacobin, Sept. 2, 2016). The company that sells the EpiPens is Mylan Pharmaceuticals, however they outsource to Pfizer’s Meridian Medical Technologies, which manufactures a whole lineup of autoinjector products(Jacobin, Sept. 2, 2016). And due to the sky high prices for EpiPens the CEO of Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Heather Bresch, had a huge salary increase from $2.5 million to $18.9 million(Jacobin, Sept. 2, 2016).

With a GDP of more than $8 trillion, China is the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical market. Most of the growth in China come from branded generic products manufactured and marketed by established domestic companies, although demand for innovative products from multinational companies is rising in the country’s leading urban centres. Tier 2: Brazil, Russia and India. These countries are each expected to add $5-15 billion in annual pharmaceutical sales by 2014. Brazil and Russia both have achieved consistent double-digit pharmaceutical sales growth in recent years, while ... ... middle of paper ... ...ogi, R. (2011).

Prescription sales, which accounted for 66.2 percent of sales in the quarter, climbed 10.0 percent, while prescription sales in comparable stores increased 6.1 percent. The company's number of prescriptions filled increased 12.0 percent over last year's first quarter, including a benefit of 0.7 percentage points due to more patients filling 90-day prescriptions. The company exceeded by 5.5 percentage points the industry-wide prescription growth rate, excluding Walgreens, during the same period as reported by IMS Health (Walgreens, n.d., p. 1).

BACKROUND The pharmaceutical industry's claim that high and increasing drug prices are needed to sustain research and development is a lie to the American public. Drug companies are spending more than twice as much on marketing, advertising, and administration than they do on research and development; that drug company profits, which are higher than all other industries, exceed research and development expenditures; and that drug companies provide lavish compensation packages for their top executives. Recent prices rose more than twice the rate of inflation last year and among the top nine pharmaceutical companies (Merck, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pharmacia, Abbott Laboratories, American Home Products, Eli Lilly, Schering-Plough, and Allergan), all but one (Eli Lilly) spent more than twice as much on marketing, advertising, and administration than they did on research and development, and Lilly spent more than one and one-half times as much. Six out of the nine companies made more money in net profits than they spent on research and development last year. The executive with the highest compensation package in the year 2004, exclusive of unexercised stock options, was William C. Steere, Jr., Pfizer's Chairman, who made $40.2 million.

The cost of insurance has increased dramatically over the past decade, far surpassing the general rate of inflation in most years. Between 1989 and 1996, the average amount an employee had to contribute for family coverage jumped from $935 to $1778. In 1990, American companies spent $177 billion on health benefits for workers and their dependents; that number rose to $252 billion by 1996, or more than double the rate of inflation. Among the cost drivers: an aging population – the number of senior citizens who need health benefits is increasing dramatically every year; medical technology advances – which decreased the death rate; new drugs – expensive and effective, which make us live longer; and of course the increase of fear in medical litigations among doctors. Increase in usage will surely increase the cost of health care.

The main reason for transferring some production from the far-east to the Netherlands is to increase flexibility. Fashions are changing very quickly and market trends must be followed very closely. In Netherlands wage costs are almost 60 per cent higher than in Taiwan, but the productivity will get better in Europe. Out of 2.5 million bikes which company makes every year, about 1 million are made at Taiwan plant. In the early 1990’s company introduced up to three new products every year which has grown to five to ten in today’s time.

(NIDA. Np.) Historians have found publications of ancient medical texts depicting marijuana as a drug of choice for our ancestors. It was used widely as a pain reliever for anything from a sore tooth to child birth. Marijuana has been prescribed by doctors starting in the 18th century.