weite a research report

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Preliminary Research Report on

“Big Pharma” and Drug Costs for American Consumers

Pharmaceutical companies continue to make excessive profits, while many Americans are forced to choose between meals and medicine. Senior citizens who are on fixed incomes and the working class are being most effected. A report from the Center for Disease Control reported that nearly two million senior citizens did not take their medications as prescribed in 2015 because of the drug costs (Collins). Yet, consumers have little to no say in prescription drug costs. Total revenue for top brand-name drugs jumped by almost $8.5 billion over the last five years (Collins). Medicines that are frequently used by senior citizens have risen in those five years on average of 12% per year, with some of them doubling in price. CEO’s of these major pharmaceutical companies (“Big Pharma”) are making out as well. In 2015 the S&P 500 showed pharmaceutical and biotech CEO’s making 71% higher compensation for that year than the median CEO salary in all industries. The profit margins for the pharmaceutical industry exceed those of major oil and film companies. Their reasoning behind the rising drug costs is based on the need for extensive research; lower prices would result in inadequate funding (Greider).

Politics have proven to contribute in the inflation of drug prices with many of the top contributors to political campaigns being from billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer. When new bills are proposed in Washington to help control the drug costs, the pharmaceutical companies tend to win. That contributes to Americans paying the highest drug costs in the world. In 2015 Americans paid $1200 per capita. (Wapner)

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In other countries, the governments regulate how much a prescription can cost. In Canada, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) requires that a new medication cannot cost more than the median price of the drug in other countries (Beaugureau). Governments around the world are more involved and negotiate with the drug companies for pricing of new and existing drugs. In the U.S. the government does not negotiate. The politics in Washington are clearly a factor in the pricing on prescription drugs in America.

Current President Donald Trump has met with major pharmaceutical companies since he has been in office. His solution is to make it easier for drugs to get approved and remove some regulations. He wants the pharmaceutical companies to bring their business back to America. "We have to get rid of a tremendous number of regulations," Trump said. "I know you have some problems where you cannot even think about opening up new plants. You can't get approval for the plant and then you can't get approval to make the drugs." (Parker).

In continuing research on Big Pharma, politics, and the American consumer, there are still some questions left to be answered by further research.

1. What are the justifications for the current prices of prescription drugs in America?

2. Why isn’t there more negotiating or mandating being done by the government to make them more affordable?

3. Is it possible to ban funding from pharmaceutical companies to political campaigns?

4. Will President Donald Trump help the American consumers, or will he allow prescription drug prices to continue to rise?

5. Why not adopt the Canadian way of prescription drug pricing?

6. Why are Americans paying the most for the research of prescription drugs?

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My research question is a combination of the first two questions: “What are the justifications for the prices of prescription drugs in America, and how can the government step in to negotiate or mandate that they make them more affordable?”

I believe the answer to this question is that prescription drug companies have become monopolies and thus are able to practice price gouging on Americans for medically necessary drugs. Americans are looking for answers as to why the government has not stepped in yet and put regulations on the pharmaceutical industry and policital ionfluence is part of the problem.

There are several areas where I need more information. First I need to do more research on other countries and their policies about political funding by corporations (such as “Big Pharma”). I also will be researching how other countries negotiate pricing with their own pharmaceutical companies. Another piece of the argument I must address is the opposing argument that “research costs” make the prices necessary. Finding data to refute that will be crucial to my argument. One of the articles authors that I cited, Katherine Greider, also wrote a book called The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers, that I am going to seek out and read.

Works Cited

Beaugureau, Marie. "Why Are Prescription Drugs More Expensive in the U.S. than in Other Countries?" GoodRx, 19 Dec. 2017, www.goodrx.com/blog/why-are-prescription-drugs-more-expensive-in-the-us-than-in-other-countries/. Accessed 3 May 2018.

Collins, James. "Big Pharma's Cash Flood Is Drowning Seniors." CNN Wire, 4 Apr. 2018. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, ezproxy.shoreline.edu:2160/apps/doc/A533193428/ 0VIC?u=shorlncc&sid=OVIC&xid90e59bff. Accessed 21 Apr. 2018.

Greider, Katharine. "Prescription Drug Prices Are Excessive." Prescription Drugs, edited by

Christine Watkins, Detroit, Greenhaven Press, 2006. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints

InContext, ezproxy.shoreline.edu:2160/apps/doc/EJ3010441202/0VIC?u= shorlncc&sid=OVIC&xid =4cddc744. Accessed 21 Apr. 2018. Originally published as "Offering Hope - at a Price: US Drug Firms Make the Choice Clear: Our Outrageous Profits or Your Life" in The Nation, vol. 276, 9 June 2003, p. 26.

Parker, Kevin. "Trump Pledges to Work with Big Pharma to Lower Drug Prices." CNN Wire, 31 Jan. 2017. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, www.2160/apps/doc/A479575393 3b65ae1d. Accessed 21 Apr. 2018.

Wapner, Jessica. "Trump's Plan for Lowering Big Pharma Drug Prices Comes at a High Cost; Without Laws to Enforce Them, the President's Ideas to Control Drug Prices Will Do

Just the opposite." Newsweek, vol. 168, no. 7, 24 Feb. 2017. zproxy.shoreline.edu:2160/apps/ doc/A481470577/0VIC?u=shorlncc&sid= OVIC&xid— b41923af. Accessed 21 Apr. 2018.