The pharmaceutical industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The pharmaceutical industry - Essay Example These blockbuster drugs, which could have yielded substantial profits for their manufacturers have to be pulled out of the market due to mounting number of lawsuits from patients. These episodes have also proven to be public relations disasters for the pharmaceutical industry, which could explain the decline in profits. There are some political reasons as well. For example, growing health-care costs are heatedly debated in the Congress and Presidential races. Healthcare costs in the United States are the highest within the industrial world and its outcomes are some of the poorest. The pressure from the general public to reverse this trend has meant that politicians are skeptical to make further concessions to Pharmaceuticals industry. Also, there was a dip in the annual spending on prescription drugs since 2003. Between 1990 and 2003, there was a 12.5% annual increase in spending, which was expected to lower to 10% annual growth till 2013. Hence, there are a multitude of factors that have contributed to the decline in profits of pharmaceutical companies. Going forward, the prospects for the pharmaceutical industry will depend on the usefulness of genomics technology in helping find cures for various chronic ailments. Again, there is a political angle to this scenario, as conservative sections of the demography are against stem-cell research and genomics-based medical interventions, which they argue is unethical from a theological viewpoint. Having said so, scientific advancement in this area could open up plenty of revenue generating opportunities for companies in the pharmaceutical industry. There are some valid threats as well, including the pressure exerted on the judiciary to reduce the span of proprietary patents from 20 years to lesser. The smaller competitors to mega-corporations like Pfizer argue that the monopoly offered by such patents virtually wipes out competition and hands over unlimited pricing power to