Of Prices and Pills: Ethical Issues in Pharmaceutical Pricing
Background: CML is a very deadly type of leukemia, survival rates were approximately 3-5 years Novartis found a medicinal cure to CML (Gleevec) and patent it so that they were the only company selling this medicine (helps them avoid competitive rates, can set their own prices) As the drug became more popular, the price increased from $30,000 for a yearly course in 2001 to $80,000-$90,000 a year in 2013 By 2016, it increased to $120,000 Other drugs have had an increased price throughout the years (ex: cure to hepatitis C and ALL)
Analysis: There are several ethical issues with pharmaceutical pricing The epidemiological transition Majority of deaths occur not from infectious diseases but from chronic diseases associated with age and lifestyle Great medical advances of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were huge contributors to the increase in life expectancy, health, and well-being However... as more people are living longer lives, more people suffer from chronic diseases that are expensive and difficult to treat CML is a chronic disease that is the result of (mostly) age In post-epidemiological transition societies (like the US), treatment for chronic disease is a major issue The primary determinant of price is consumer demand Pharmaceutical companies that have patents of "blockbuster" drugs like Gleevec are in a position to set prices very high since they control access to a product that can make the difference between life and death Significant question about whether companies should exploit their position relative to their customers to charge as high a price as they wish "Setting the price of a lifesaving drug like Gleevec as high as it can go is deeply unethical, as it amounts to something like holding people's lives and health for ransom" Critics of this argue three complicating factors In most cases, the prices charged for drugs are not paid directly by
government) Patents do not last forever (they are legally limited to 20 years after their filling date) can be extended by "evergreening'
High cost of new drugs is necessary for companies to recoup the cost of drug development and attract new investment to support research and development of new medications It is not the responsibility of pharmaceutical companies to boost access to their products To what extent, if any, do companies have responsibilities to their customers over and above providing products and requirements of transparency, product safety, and the like? Debates about corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the pharmaceutical industry are particularly heated and acute (since they involve questions about the role of companies in promoting health and well-being of people in their societies) Many pharmaceutical companies play a role in promoting access to medicines to be part of their CSR models, and have access programs to provide medicines to people who have trouble affording them is that enough? "Fair price" goes back to medieval European philosophy The notion of a fair price would involved building requirement s to boost access directly into pricin