Rising Pharmaceutical Prices: A Cause for Concern - Essay Sample

Introduction

Daily spending on pharmaceuticals alone grows rapidly. The growth is becoming a concerning issue in the health fraternity and the whole consumer sector. The expenditure as from recent years as per the direct to consumer brought the abnormality in this considerable rise of the medicinal pricing. Efforts by the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the pricing did not bear any fruits. They wrote letters to pharmaceutical manufacturers asking them to standardize price of drugs to limit the exploitation of consumers and prevent the violation of drug advertising regulations. The rise in the cost of drugs is a critical issue in health care expenditure. There is still massive conflict between the pharmaceutical industry and the consumer so does the market when it comes on pricing. A broader picture leaves the patient on the line and suffers the cost of affording to purchase medicine just by the constant shoot of the price in the medical market.

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Physicists can help reduce the enormous gap that widens between the manufacturers and the market; the border interaction and understanding among economists, ethicists, and physicians can help combat the separation between the innovation accesses and protect the patient's needs. This will affect both pricing, development, or manufacturing and discovery as well as the market. However, the need to dialogue between the involving parties always has and is still a debating factor that will be there for a while. The end of advertising of drugs on social media platforms, which was enforced by the Food and Drug Administration, helped curb the inappropriate use of medication and but also helped to increase the price of the medicine. This was criticized due to the rapidly selling of expensive medicines that are not consumer-friendly, just benefiting the manufacturers and suppliers, and on the other hand exploiting customers. The direct to customers kind of sale has been prohibited and hence pronounce unethical in the medical sector.

Reasons for Immoral Pricing in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The so-called pharmaceutical companies have ownership rights to drugs, which they buy and, as a result raising the prices drastically. The result is causing some innocent patients who are left in between the line to go without treatment or receive second treatment after first consideration of those who can afford expensive treatment. The following are significant reasons as to why there is this dramatic rise in the price of medication and some concerns on the same.

One Manufacturer Produces Some Drugs; Hence No Alternative

The awkward situation that emerges is the fact that drug manufacturers are making a big deal out of the whole circle; they take it as a new way in the business industry, and they buy rights to produce drugs. This leaves the patient with no alternative and ends up being exploited by drug manufacturers, creating more gaps in the whole system. The manufacturers tend to increase price rates because they claim to cover their research and development in the drug industry. This has been sharply criticized by the FDA, which monitors the whole process. The drug manufacturers are seemingly selfish as they are only trying to increase or maximize on the profit making, this has been termed as greediness.

Drugs Are Already on the Market, and Hence There Is No Exact Measure of Research and Development

Certainly, these companies make more profit morally because they have a right to make it due to fact that their investment that cannot be tracked or rather than be estimated. The manufacturers are not entitled to make an excess profit that an ordinary person cannot afford; the Drug Administration strongly prohibits this as being over exploitative (Hubbard, 2007). This makes access to life-saving drugs now limited to disadvantaged patients because they cannot provide them. The actual and standard measure of the price of medicine more so from the private companies has been left terribly as patients are left just on the dark side.

This has made the right to medical care to only be possible to the rich who can stand the high cost to acquire it, leaving the middle and low-class people on the edge of confusion and are left to die merely. This has and will always be a lifetime problem that will live to disturb the minds of people as the parties involved never sit to a collective understanding decision.

Some Patients Are Adapting to Acquiring Drugs Overseas or Over the Internet

Even after the FDA puts the regulations in place, the urge to purchasing or obtaining medications via the internet always has and will always be insecure. However, they save on time, ease, and anonymity of ordering and buying them. Acquiring drugs over the internet can attract biased sellers who are after making profits. Some may be good companies, but others are just making first money and hence cheats the customers (Donohue, et al., 2007). These individuals can lure buyers on fake prescription drugs by creating fake websites that advertise drugs. This unauthorized selling of medications without an appropriate license is much discouraged by the government under the FDA and system. Patients who buy drugs illegally are at risk of being corned or even threatening their lives at the same time.

Lack of a Proper Board That Controls Drug Price

There is more pressure on FDA that is the only body that monitors pharmaceutical companies. There is no specific body that takes care of the patients and so does the market plus private companies tend to separate themselves when it comes to producing drugs for the market. The private companies exploit the market as they deliver quality drugs that surpass the expectations of the patients and so they have few options to consider.

The most recent price shoot on the market as per some medicines are as follows:

• The rise of the cost of a toxoplasmosis drug by over 60% after the company got government authority to introduce the drug to the market.
• The increase in the price of EpiPen, which blows the market by over 65% after the Mylan pharmaceutical acquired the drug.
• After purchasing numerous drugs from Primus pharmaceuticals, Novum Pharma rose their prices by over 25%, making triple profits.

Future Solutions on the Price Crises on Drugs and Pharmaceuticals

The FDA and any government system in charge of monitoring the medicines should create a better measure of the measure to determine the standard of drugs to protect patients who suffer and are ignored by the drug companies. First, there is a considerable problem identifying the measure of drug prices; pharmaceuticals tend to consider several factors in order to come up with an amount to be imposed on drugs.

Only a few companies sell their drugs following the FDA regulations, making it not to survive in the market because more expensive drugs are considered authoritative and sufficient. This kills these few companies, as they cannot survive in the market. As a result, leaving these big companies as a significant producer of expensive drugs. The intermediaries who act as a link between the customers who buy pills and the manufacturers play a significant role, as they can either increase the price or keep the standard. The government should also reduce the tax imposed on private companies to reduce the cost of production; this will help reduce the cost of drugs produced.

Ethics, Pricing and the Pharmaceutical Industry

One primary concern to the pharmaceutical industry has been the high prices imposed on the drugs sold. It was noted the several pharmaceutical companies deliver medicines that are not expensive, and they do not carry out any research or development in those areas and the markets. The prices imposed, and the profits made after are considered very unethical and unreasonable. It has become more critical, and it has even made the government and other agencies to chip in and scrutinize the issue intensively.

The Problem

The high drug prices have become quite questionable in the market. Azidothymite is one of the most mentioned drugs that has been highly priced. The drug is used to treat some complications that arise from AIDS. The drug is quite expensive, especially for those families with limited insurance cover, making it hard for them to access the medications in a year. It was, however, noted by some industrial observers that this drug was priced at such a high rate to equate the cancer treatment, which is quite pricy and expensive (Spinello, 1992). Burroughs- welcome, which charges the exorbitant price of $6500, has, however, defended itself, saying that the high research and development cost of the medicine made them charge the high price. They claim the profits would be used to finance other more effective doses, which would come later on hence the need to make the profits quickly. The oligopolistic nature and the free American market in the drug industry are some of the reasons why the prices are considered to be entirely unreasonable. The cost of making new drugs had been cited as one of the reasons why they are charging such high fees on the drug. "High risks deserve high rewards" is a principle that has been adopted by many. Regardless of the reasons the companies give as to why they are charging such high rates, it was considered to be a very burning issue in society.

Ethical Questions

Every company is entitled to profit as a reward for investors to ensure the stability of business in the end. Therefore, it should be put into consideration the profit levels of the company. Fair pricing becomes more complicated if the product at hand is an essential one. The importance of various products to human lives should be a significant factor when pricing certain commodities while determining how available these commodities are to the people. Among the very many questions, that a company should consider when learning the prices of these commodities is whether justice and fairness should play a part in the price determination of drugs.

Free Market Vs Regulation

The free-market philosophy dictates that the commodity should be charged at whatever price that the market is willing to accept. When the price is agreed on by the market that should be the end of the matter because if the costs are to be changed by the executives, then it means that the taxes imposed by the revenue authorities would be high hence making the profit margin to below. One major setback of such a kind of view is that they forget that such corporate decisions always have a significant impact on society. They not only have consequences on the social part but also affect the economic part. When the non-economic criteria taken into account in setting prices for commodities in itself is a decision that affects society.

The companies should start to treat the consumers as significant stakeholders in the company. By recognizing them, they will better appreciate the negative aspects of the pricing. When the firm is dealing with these costs treated at a prohibitive cost, they will increase the rates at which they are selling the products, which in turn also affects the consumers of the products. Companies that take into consideration some responsibilities such as morals and social ones always see the positive aspects of various situations.

Pricing Policies and Justice

Aristotle was quoted saying, "justice is not a part of virtue but the whole of excellence or merit." That is to say, that without judgment, there is no virtue only. Renowned philosophers in their discussions of justice majorly focused on how society's benefits and burdens could be fairly and equally distributed in the community. It, therefore, shows that corporations that distribute these essential commodities can choose to be either just...