The Truth About Pharmaceutical Industry Essay

Melina Guzman Mrs. Reed Period: 4 November 7, 2011 The Truth about Pharmaceutical Industry “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction” (Erich).

Living in today’s society it’s impossible for you not see advertisement for the Pharmaceutical industry. Whether it’s a billboard, a commercial or an elderly person wearing a sponsored rain jacket their advertisements are hard to miss. Every day we see these advertisements but do we bother and ask ourselves what types of people are running these Industries?What first started out as an industry to save lives is now creating a generation of pill popping silent addicts; the Pharmaceutical industry is making millions on people and their illnesses. Although the Pharmaceutical industry does provide a treatment for diseases and illnesses because of their business mindset they have become an Industry that does not have the consumer’s best interest at heart. The Pharmaceutical Industry is defined to be “a company which provides intelligence to the pharmaceutical and health care industries” (Pharmaceutical Industry).The pharmaceutical Industry has been around for years creating advances in medicine like new vaccine’s, treatment, and even cures for diseases; however there’s something that most people don’t know about the pharmaceutical Industries. The Pharmaceutical Industry is taking advantage of the fact that many of the people in America have diseases and or illness. We are spending more and more on prescription drugs each year we as “Americans now spend a staggering $200 billion a year on prescription drugs, and that figure is growing at a rate about 12 percent a year”(Angell).

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The pharmaceutical Industries are making bank on all of the sick people in America. At first glance the Pharmaceutical Industry seems to be an industry that is meant to help people with illnesses and in some cases it does, by providing medication or treatments; however in most cases doctors and Pharmaceutical Industries work side by side to make sure they make money. According to CBS news. com “A dozen pharmaceutical companies have given doctors and other healthcare providers more than $760 million over the past two years and those companies’ sales comprise 40% of the U.

S market”(cbsnews. com). These terrifying and eye-opening facts have made many people question the pharmaceutical companies’ true interest.

After a full out investigation “two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies were fined billions of dollars after investigations into their secret working practices brought several fraudulent activities to light. Now, new revelations have emerged including pervasive fraud, corruption and huge kickbacks which were paid to doctors” (Hals).Does this sound like an industry that’s main goal is to help out people when their sick and ill? No it does not it sounds like a greedy company that only wants one thing… MONEY. There have been many cases where irresponsible pharmaceutical companies have actually caused deaths.

A good example would be “Avandia [who] used to be the world’s best-selling diabetes drug for years. It earned its maker Glaxo Smith Kline billions of dollars, but now it is linked to over 100,000 heart attacks in the United States” (Hals).Who could have thought that a company created for curing and saving lives is actually carelessly taking life’s away? Did you know that “100,000 Americans die each year from prescription drugs — that’s 270 per day, or…more than twice as many who are killed in car accidents each day”(Perdomo) . These innocent people are just looking for a way to find relief so they turn to medicine but do you think they thought for one second that the medicine that they were paying for would actually kill them in the long run?These Industries are carelessly making prescription drugs that are doing more harm than good and the only reason they are doing that is because they are irresponsible and greedy people. Many patients have even gotten sick from clinical trials where in many cases “Doctors are often paid by pharmaceutical companies to recruit patients for clinical trials or sit on clinical trial boards while simultaneously on the pay role of the manufacturing company in question.

Many research institutions and universities have institutional review boards or research ethics committees responsible for reporting procedures and policies regarding conflicts of interest. Problems arise as to who will monitor the conflicts of interest and what, if any, sanction doctors will receive for failing to disclose conflicts of interest”(Corruption in the pharmaceutical industry). The fact that doctors are now in on the greed is rather disturbing and sickening.Although the Pharmaceutical Company provides treatments for consumers and medicine for the sick as time goes by they are making it more obvious that there one true goal is to make more money.

One might think that Pharmaceutical Company is only doing more good than bad however how far will they end up going? Does the pharmaceutical company actually care about the consumer or is this just another industry of greedy businessmen? MLA 1. Angell, Marcia. The Truth About the Drug Companies. The New York review of Books, 17 June 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

<http://www. ybooks. com/articles/archives/2004/jul/15/the-truth-about-the-drug-companies/>. 2. Formm, Erinch.

Erich Quotes. N. p.

, 8 Apr. 2005. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. <http://thinkexist.

com/quotation/greed_is_a_bottomless_pit_which_exhausts_the/323959. html>. 3. Hals, Erik. Fraud, Cover-ups and Corruption: Welcome to the Drug Industry!. The Hals Report, May 2009.

Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://www. thehalsreport. com/2011/01/fraud-cover-ups-and-corruption-welcome-to-the-drug-industry/>.

4. Mega-bucks flow from drug cos. to doctors. CBSNEWS. COM, n. d. Web. 10 Nov.

2011. lt;http://www. cbsnews. com/8301-500188_162-20124165/mega-bucks-going-from-drug-companies-to-doctors/>. 5. Perdomo, Daniela. 100,000 Americans Die Each Year from Prescription Drugs, While Pharma Companies Get Rich. Alternet, n.

d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <6.

http://www. alternet. org/health/147318/100%2C000_americans_die_each_year_from_prescription_drugs%2C_while_pharma_companies_get_rich/? page=entire>.

6. Pharmaceutical Industry. Source Watch, 15 Jan. 2008.

Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://www. sourcewatch.

org/index. php? title=Pharmaceutical_industry>.

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