Pharmaceutical Companies Stand in the Way of Treatment Essay -- Drug I

Pharmaceutical Companies Stand in the Way of Treatment Abstract This casebook concentrates on the negative effects that the pharmaceutical industry’s trade and production policies have on third world nations suffering from disease epidemics. My position is that pharmaceutical companies are not concerned with the health benefits of their drugs, but rather with the market that their drugs generate. I illustrate this notion by describing the trade policies that pharmaceutical companies influence and the pharmaceutical companies’ production policies which concentrate on producing life-style drugs rather than drugs that cure life-threatening diseases. Multinational pharmaceutical giants are occupied with producing drugs that yield the most profits rather than with producing drugs to cure life-threatening diseases. Though many people in third world countries suffer from curable or treatable infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, many of them go without treatment because the vaccines that cure these diseases are either too expensive for them to afford or they are not produced in sufficient quantities. To illustrate the down-production of necessary life-sustaining drugs is the fact that â€Å"between 1975 and 1999, 1,393 new drugs were marketed, out of which only 16 were for neglected diseases that accounted for over 10% of the diseases in the World† (Mà ©decins Sans Frontià ¨res). The Mà ©decins Sans Frontià ¨res (also known as Doctors Without Borders or MSF) is a non-profit organization that has contributed much aid and effort in alleviating populations suffering from endemic diseases and neglect. Beca use it is a non-profit organization and its goals are purely objective and humanitarian, the Mà ©decins Sans Frontià ¨res org... ... Times. 16 November 2001. 28 January 2004. - Ford, Nathan. Drug Development for Neglected Diseases: A Deficient Market and Public Health Policy. The Lancet. 359 (2002): 2188-94 - Martorell, Jordi. Drugs companies putting profits before millions of people's lives. Youth for International Socialism. 26 March 2001. - Silverside, Ann. No Turning Back on Cheap Drugs for Poor Nations. Canadian Medical Journal. 169 (2003): 1067. - Silverstein, Ken. Millions for Viagra, Pennies for the Poor. The Nation. 7 July 1999. 10 February 2004. - WTO Takes First Step. The Lancet. 362 (2003): 753 Pharmaceutical Companies Stand in the Way of Treatment Essay -- Drug I Pharmaceutical Companies Stand in the Way of Treatment Abstract This casebook concentrates on the negative effects that the pharmaceutical industry’s trade and production policies have on third world nations suffering from disease epidemics. My position is that pharmaceutical companies are not concerned with the health benefits of their drugs, but rather with the market that their drugs generate. I illustrate this notion by describing the trade policies that pharmaceutical companies influence and the pharmaceutical companies’ production policies which concentrate on producing life-style drugs rather than drugs that cure life-threatening diseases. Multinational pharmaceutical giants are occupied with producing drugs that yield the most profits rather than with producing drugs to cure life-threatening diseases. Though many people in third world countries suffer from curable or treatable infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, many of them go without treatment because the vaccines that cure these diseases are either too expensive for them to afford or they are not produced in sufficient quantities. To illustrate the down-production of necessary life-sustaining drugs is the fact that â€Å"between 1975 and 1999, 1,393 new drugs were marketed, out of which only 16 were for neglected diseases that accounted for over 10% of the diseases in the World† (Mà ©decins Sans Frontià ¨res). The Mà ©decins Sans Frontià ¨res (also known as Doctors Without Borders or MSF) is a non-profit organization that has contributed much aid and effort in alleviating populations suffering from endemic diseases and neglect. Beca use it is a non-profit organization and its goals are purely objective and humanitarian, the Mà ©decins Sans Frontià ¨res org... ... Times. 16 November 2001. 28 January 2004. - Ford, Nathan. Drug Development for Neglected Diseases: A Deficient Market and Public Health Policy. The Lancet. 359 (2002): 2188-94 - Martorell, Jordi. Drugs companies putting profits before millions of people's lives. Youth for International Socialism. 26 March 2001. - Silverside, Ann. No Turning Back on Cheap Drugs for Poor Nations. Canadian Medical Journal. 169 (2003): 1067. - Silverstein, Ken. Millions for Viagra, Pennies for the Poor. The Nation. 7 July 1999. 10 February 2004. - WTO Takes First Step. The Lancet. 362 (2003): 753