Adaugo Walter
English 1 Composition
Argumentative Essay
April
Big Pharma Profits while American's Suffer
Pharmaceutical companies have improved the human life. However, financially it is hard
to keep up with many medications. Companies have increased their prices and many people have
struggled to refill their prescriptions or even die. It is a profit driven corporation and it's not for
the betterment of society.
John Lechleiter, Debunking myths of pharmaceutical companies
Myth one states pharmaceutical companies inflate their prices of developing new
medications to justify their new price. He further explains this information is public record so
there's no need to exaggerate the numbers. He includes his own company spent 4.7 billion in
research and development in 2014. Big pharma accounts for 21 percent of research and
development spent all by the US business. Concluding it brings jobs and biomedical research
that the world needs. And that this level of investment is necessary. Another myth was new
medications comes from the government and universities. They contribute to biomedical
advances; however, the private industry are the ones who have insight on diseases and
improvement on treatments. Unfortunately, John's article is more than 6 years old and isn't
applicable to today's problems. Also, pharmaceutical companies do inflate their prices, which
we'll investigate shortly
Miguelle Ouellette, The benefits of big pharma
Adaugo Walter
English 1 Composition
Argumentative Essay
April "COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines has hundreds of millions in profit." Said, The New York Times
article headline. Including the revenue, profit projections, and the CEO earnings that Pfizer have
made. Miguelle augments the company's mission was entirely for the betterment of society. And
that every $20 to $30 profit was well earned for the protection from covid. This vaccine gave
everyone a peace of mind in unpredictable times. To greatly reduce the chance of death or
serious complication is justifiable for a few dollars of profit. Miguelle testify that he's benefited
more than the company itself. Yes, the COVID vaccine has its prevented measures, however
Miguelle is missing the bigger picture of the corruption in the pharmaceutical companies. He
didn't address any real benefit other than the COVID vaccine.
Big Pharma and the Public Loses
Catherine D. Deangelis adds insightful information about how the US allows
pharmaceutical companies to charge whatever price they want. While other developed countries
can negotiate, the United States cannot. And as long as the market can handle it, they will
continue to charge outrageous prices. For instance, the hepatis C medication costs a $1,000 per
pill, which adds up to $3.5 billion between April and June of 2015. Another tactic is the U.S.
congress has been persuaded by pharmaceutical lobbyists to not allow Medicare to negotiate
drug prices. While most health care systems, HMO's and some insurance companies do. Other
countries can bargain the price of their national insurance plans with pharmaceutical companies.
As for the lobbyists in America they've been successful in profiting off the public
Big Pharma collects profit while hurting everyday American
Adaugo Walter
English 1 Composition
Argumentativ