The Pros And Cons Of The Pharmaceutical Industry

Nowadays it seems like legal drugs are more expensive than illegal ones. This dilemma occurs because the pharmaceutical industry affects the economy significantly. Although the United States is a mixed market economy, there are instances where the economy seems like a free market economy. A free market economy allows companies to determine the prices of goods free from government intervention. The pharmaceutical industry, despite several regulations set by the food and drug administration, is a free market economy. Meaning, the pharmaceutical sector lacks government regulation and has control over the prices of specialty drugs desperately needed by the public. Therefore, the pharmaceutical industry being a free market negatively affects the

A free market system only hurts the economy, which is why the U.S is a mixed market economy. A mixed market economy is beneficial to consumers due to the fact there is government regulatory oversight of goods, and there is competition for goods. This type of economy means that companies cannot become monopolies and control prices of certain goods. However, this is not the case for pharmaceutical industries because there is little to none government intervention occurring. The lack of government oversight means that pharmacies that only develop specialized medicines have complete control of the price due to the fact they are the only ones able to reproduce the product. An example of this is the Daraprim Scandal. Andrew Pollack, a journalist who has covered the Daraprim Scandal, talks about how the Turing Pharmaceuticals has changed the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 (Pollack para 2). This price change shows how the government has no control over the pharmaceutical industry. Moreover, Martin Shkreli, the chief executive,

According to Paul Antony, DTCA aids consumers because it helps them recognize symptoms and their increases communication between doctors and patients. He states that consumers that advertisements empower them to seek out their doctor (para 3,10). However, advertisements are often emotional and misleading. This type of advertisements causes patients to urge their doctors to prescribe them a specialty drug because they notice they have a symptom. Doctors then would have to comply which can end up being more harmful to the patient. Another argument is that pharmaceuticals make little profit because new drugs cost so much to develop. Derek Lowe, a chemist, states that "Expenses [are] doing nothing but rising, and the success rate for drug discovery [is] going in the other direction" (para 5). By his quote, Lowe means that the development of a drug outweighs the cost of the drug, resulting in little profit. However, this case is on drugs that failed in the market. Drugs that are long past development have the prices gouged for more profit. Therefore the government should regulate the pharmaceutical industry because the industry is harmful towards the economy and patients. The government can achieve this by enabling a cap on prices of specialty drugs and ensuring DCTA is not