Pharmaceutical companies are currently discouraging and barring access to generic drugs in the marketplace. The most affected are the big pharmaceutical companies as they all oppose the issue of marketing the generic drugs. They raise this issue because they have the ability to control the market place.
The big pharmaceutical companies in the United States are capable of producing popular drugs in the market place. These drugs have long term manifest of the business offering them exclusive privileges to sell and market their drugs. They are even privileged to hold the business for more than twenty years. Similarly, the pharmaceutical companies can produce needed and unpopular drugs at the company’s loss.
The problem is the issue of “pay for delay”. This is a strategy on discussion of the high profits. That is the drug may fetch billions in the market place due to lack of any competitor when it reaches the high profitability fringe. Similarly, development and research of drugs is very expensive task for companies to undertake.
The major argument is that they should be permitted to build profits off drugs and products that took years in research and development by the scientists. The opposing side claimed that the drug companies come in collaboration with national institutes of health and universities in the development of high profitable vital drugs. In addition, they claim that the development and research expenditure are also budgeted for in the manufacture expenses of the drug.
Lastly, they argue that pharmaceutical companies drug prices are pushed up via application of monopoly powers. They claim that this has led to increasing in drug prices, in the United States. This because many people are attracted to generic drugs because they are much cheaper than the original brand name types.
In this, I support the pharmaceutical manufactures. They should not be accused of all the routes and means they take to expand drug lifecycles they discover and produce. This is because, for discovery and production of each drug, it calls for frustration, sacrifice, dedication and paperwork. In addition to this, it takes them through the cost of more than $800 million dollars and extensive time ranging from 10-15 years. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical companies wonder whether the effectiveness and quality of the generic drugs have been compromised to make them less expensive.
Generic version of drugs is guaranteed as being the same as the normal drug. This is the work and research done by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That leads to a general inquiry on whether drugs sold in the pharmacy are generic version of a brand-name being marketed. Though, the producers of both the original and patent drug are competing for the market place, the generic drugs are sold at a cheaper place. From a critical view, consumer advocates that the companies have made massive profits over the past ten years. In that way, the generic drugs are responsible for lowering high costs in the health care system.
Generic drugs are sold by companies before exclusive patent drug expiration date leading to a major challenge of the patent drugs validity in the marketplace. In addition, the generic drugs cartels the profitability brand name of the drug manufacturers. All these are made by the generic drugs in the efforts of improving the economic reimbursements to the clients. Though, all the major pharmaceutical needs to keep the generic products and drugs out of the marketplace.
References
Somers, Julie A. Effects of Using Generic Drugs on Medicare's Prescription Drug Spending. Washington, D.C.: Congress of the U.S., Congressional Budget Office, 2010. Internet resource.
