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SampleLitReview.docxJane Doe
English 102
Literature Review/Annotated Bibliography
Research question: Why is the American government allowing Americans to pay the highest prescription drug costs in the world?
Hypothesis: While there are legitimate challenges involved in creating, testing, and marketing new drugs, the underlying cause of America’s outrageously high costs for new prescription medicines is the lack of realistic government controls on the pharmaceutical industry.
Allen, Leslie. "Do Research Expenses Justify Eye-Popping Prices?" CQ Researcher, vol. 26, no. 20, 20 May 2016. CQ Researcher Online, ezproxy.shoreline.edu:2113/cqresearcher/ document.php?id=cqresrre2016052000&type=hitlist&num=0. Accessed 21 Apr. 2018. Thesis: Drug manufacturers blame the rising cost of research and development for the soaring prices of life saving drugs. Summary: The cost of more than two dozen drugs from 2013-2015 grew 400% or more and by 1000% for a few more. In 2018, total prescription drug spending is projected to rise to $535 billion. The drug industry says it needs to cover past research and development costs, for both drugs that get approved and that fail. Pharmaceutical companies are spending more money than ever on drug ads. This article answers my question by giving many examples of how much Americans spend on prescriptions and how much drug companies are spending to develop and market the drugs. It helps me to prove just how bad the problem is.
Critique : The evidence given as support in this article includes a chronological timeline, percentage increases on drug prices, and real stories about real people being affected directly from the skyrocketing prices. The assumptions in this article are definitely valid and allow the consumer to be informed on what needs to be done to get government involved.
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.
Thesis: Americans spend more money per capita on prescription drugs than anywhere in the world. Summary: Single payer healthcare, also known as universal healthcare in other countries, is run by the government and paid for by the people. This gives them more power to negotiate with drug companies for the prices they are willing to pay. The U.S. does not impose regulations or price constraints on drug companies. Countries such as Canada do have regulations and constraints on what a drug company can charge which eliminates price gouging. This article answers my question in several different ways by explaining how other countries health insurance works and the different restraints for drug costs that they have that the U.S does not.
Critique: I trust the information reported by this source; the statistics are consistent with others I’ve seen, and the website GoodRx is not affiliated or sponsored by any of the companies it uses for the claims and comparisons. I would assume that the assumptions in this article are valid since GoodRx has nothing to lose or gain by posting this article.
Berman, Aaron, et al. "Curbing Unfair Drug Prices. A Primer for States." Global Health Justice Partnership, Aug. 2017, law.yale.edu/system/files/area/center/ghjp/documents/ curbing_unfair_drug_prices-policy_paper-080717.pdf. Accessed 25 May 2018. Thesis: Prescription costs for both new and old drugs are rising faster than inflation in the United States. Summary: The high prescription costs are not just limited to new and unique drugs. Generic and older medications that have been around are also being increased in price seemingly overnight in some cases. The result of these drug increases is costing Americans more by higher insurance premiums, deductibles, and out of pocket drug payments. Americans have few laws protecting their pockets against the price increases. The Trump administration does have the power to lower drug prices, but has yet to do so. This article answers my question with several examples of drug price increases and how health insurance across the board is costing Americans more. Included in the article is also the possible plans and bills that could be brought into legislature to help control the prices, but cannot be done until the federal government acts on them.
Critique: There are five authors for this scholarly source. All of them are Yale graduates. Two from the Yale School of Public Health and three from Yale Law School, which give them all good credibility as sources. The paper is also backed by the Global Health Justice Partnership, National Physician's Alliance, and the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. The paper gave lots of stats, percentages, and possible bills from each state that could help reduce prescription drug costs as evidence. The evidence is representative because of the many random samples of princes around the country. This is a highly credible source because it is informative and fact-based, with no bias.
"Big Pharma's Cash Flood Is Drowning Seniors." CNN Wire, 4 Apr. 2018. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, ezproxy.shoreline.edu:2160/apps/doc/A533193428/OVIC?u= shorlncc&sid=OVIC&xid=90e59bff. Accessed 21 Apr. 2018.
Thesis: The top selling drugs for senior citizens in America have skyrocketed over the past five years. Summary: The average mark up has been 12% per year with some even doubling in price. Many seniors are actually skipping doses of medication to have their prescription last longer. Senior citizens are literally having to choose meals or pills. The pharmaceutical industries greed is affecting a vulnerable community and their huge mark-ups in pricing. This article pertains to my question by showing not only are working Americans paying the highest in prescription costs, but so are our elderly who are on fixed incomes and Medicare.
Critique: I got this source from the opposing viewpoints database; they are impartial to the drug companies and for the people. The claims made in the article are biased, but still expose the truth behind how the elderly are being effected by these high prescription costs. This is not the strongest set of evidence, but I still think it offers a valid, argument for the plight of seniors in the United States.
Brody, Howard. "Conflicts of Interest." Philosophy: Medical Ethics, edited by Craig M. Klugman, Farmington Hills, Macmillan Reference USA, 2016, pp. 261-77. Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks. Gale Virtual Reference Library, ezproxy.shoreline.edu:2160/apps/doc/CX3633500023/GVRL?u=shorlncc&sid=GVRL&xid=564ba004. Accessed 21 Apr. 2018.
Thesis: The link between altruism and self-interest for physician's. Patient care for most physician's is first and foremost, but living a nice lifestyle is also enticing.
"The Facts About Rising Prescription Drug Costs." The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, www.csrxp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CSRxP_Facts-of-Rising-Rx-Prices.pdf. Accessed 24 May 2018.
Kaplan, Sam. "Why Our Drugs Cost So Much." AARP, May 2017. AARP, www.aarp.org/health/drugs-supplements/info-2017/rx-prescription-drug-pricing.html. Accessed 24 May 2018.
"Prescription Drug Prices in the US." JAMA, vol. 319, no. 10, 13 Mar. 2018, jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2674663. Accessed 26 May 2018. Scholarly Source
Stahl, Leslie, host. "The Rockford File." Produced by Richard Bonin and Ayesha Siddiqi. 60 Minutes, season 50, episode 33, ABC, 6 May 2018.
Thesis: The Rockford File is the story of how one very expensive drug, threatened to cripple an entire city. One drug for babies was only $40 a vial in 2003 and his since been marked up to $40000 a vial in 2018. This news episode explains in depth on how the city of Rockford, Illinois really explored and unfolded how the pharmaceutical industry is able to hike these prices buy creating monopolies in the industry.
Thesis: The Trump administration has asked pharmaceutical companies to bring production back to the U.S. and he will lower regulations for getting drugs and new operating plants approved.
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. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, ezproxy.shoreline.edu:2160/apps/doc/A481470577/OVIC?u=shorlncc&sid=OVIC&xid=b41923af. Accessed 21 Apr. 2018. The president would like to increase competition in the pharmaceutical industry by having "bidding wars." This would cause a decrease in prices for the consumer.
Wazana, Ashley, MD. "Physician's and the Pharmaceutical Industry. Is a Gift Ever Just a Gift?" JAMA: Journal of American Medical Association, vol. 283, no. 3, 19 Jan. 2000, med.stanford.edu/coi/journal%20articles/Wazana_A-Is_A_Gift_Ever_Just_A_Gift.pdf. Accessed 17 May 2018. Thesis: More than $11 billion is spent each year by pharmaceutical companies for marketing and promoting prescription drugs. Summary:The interaction between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians brings up many ethical and heated discussions about doing what is best for the patient. Compensating physicians with gifts both monetary and physical could only make them bias to prescribing certain drugs. The gifts are not solely to say thank you, they also have hidden reminders to keep them coming. Ultimately the patients pay the bill for those gifts with higher drug costs. This Scholarly Source answers my question by exposing some of the hidden costs in research, marketing, and promoting done by the pharmaceutical industry. Critique: The author of the article is an MD herself. Evidence for this article was done by searching MEDLINE for articles from 1994 to present with the headline, conflict of interest and the drug industry. Further evidence of 538 studies also provide data on any of the study questions targeted for retrieval, 29 of which were included in the analysis of information for the article. Considering this is a scholarly article with a lot of research done I find this article to be credible.
