The competitiveness within the pharmaceutical industry has increased significantly. The pharmaceutical industry depends on the marketing and sale of a variety of drugs for its success. Considering the fact that the health and lives of millions of people depends on this industry, following an ethical and moral path is essential. However, the number of controversial issues connected with this industry has increased recently. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the benefits of the pharmaceutical industry and the ethical side of the industry in terms of controversial issues.
Despite the controversial issues, when it comes to health, a lot of good has come from the pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical drugs play an integral role in helping to enhance and improve the health of people. The use of pharmaceutical drugs has resulted in monumental outcomes. Based on the 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics, millions of lives have been enhanced, improved and saved by the produced developed and produced within the pharmaceutical industry ("bls.gov"). Despite the benefits, controversial issues connected to the pharmaceutical industry have been growing rapidly.
In the recent years, public opinion has been glaring upon the drug companies, and the opinion has been firmly negative. The pharmaceutical industry is constantly falling under unflattering light because of a myriad of controversial issues. For instance, branded drugs continue to become costlier, while the prices of generic drugs are dropping (Kamp). Drug companies have been outrageously overcharging drugs that they sell Medicaid and other public health programs ("lifealignwellness.com"). The rights of patients who participate in clinical trials are constantly violated (Tansey), and the effectiveness of these trials is often overstated by selectively publishing them in scientific journals (Dolgin). Drug companies have also been bribing physicians to prescribe their drugs to patients (Veracity; Neville). Even the sale of prescription drugs online is a controversial issue, and currently, there are tens of thousands of such websites.
When analyzing the ethical side of the pharmaceutical industry, these controversies could be justified as an outcome based ethical approach. For instance, there is a lot of money that can be made in the pharmaceutical industry. The wealth accumulated is spread to those involved in the profession. Those involved could even argue that they clueless that that some of the things being done within the industry are unethical and even illegal. Even the benefits of the pharmaceutical industry, especially the role of the industry in helping to enhance and save lives, could be put forth to justify the aforementioned controversial issues. Instead of emphasizing their approach on revenue, the pharmaceutical industry should take a strategic approach to outcomes reported by patients and the people who use pharmaceutical drugs.
However, for general public who is observing the industry from the outside, all of these controversial issues are a sign the pharmaceutical industry has become greedy and is failing on the ethical basis. Society has even started questioning the innovativeness and economics of the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is an industry after all; chastising it for making profits might not seem fair, especially considering the contribution the industry is making to society. However, unless the aforementioned underlying controversial ethical issues connected to the pharmaceutical industry are not resolved, the public opinion about the industry is more likely to deteriorate. Goal-based ethics, with the major goal of serving the people, could improve the image of the pharmaceutical industry and reduce the controversial issues connected to it.
Works Cited
"Drug Companies In Medicaid Overcharge Pricing Scheme." ifealignwellness.com. N.p.. Web. 7 Feb 2013.
"PPI Detailed Report." bls.gov. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 7 Feb 2013.
Dolgin, Elie. "Publication bias continues despite clinical-trial registration." nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 11 Sep 2009. Web. 7 Feb 2013.
Kamp, Jon. "Brand-Name Drug Prices Rise, But Generics Get Cheaper." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 28 Nov 2012. Web. 7 Feb 2013.
Neville, Simon. "GlaxoSmithKline fined $3bn after bribing doctors to increase drugs sales." guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media Limited, 3 Jul 2012. Web. 7 Feb 2013.
Tansey, Bernadette. "UCSF violated patients." SFGate. Hearst Communications Inc., 28 Jul 2002. Web. 7 Feb 2013.
