5 Myths About Big Pharma

Big Pharma consists of the world’s largest publicly traded pharmaceutical companies. There are a lot of myths and conspiracy theories surrounding this industry. Sometimes it gets to the point where you don’t even know what to believe. Here are the top five myths we would like to debunk in this post.

Pharmaceutical Companies Exaggerate Production Costs

People say that most pharmaceutical institutions double the costs of researching and developing new drugs to charge high prices. This is an outright lie that should be refuted immediately. Most research and development initiatives in this industry cost millions of dollars. In addition, all these expenditures are subject to public scrutiny at every stage of development. So, there is no need to exaggerate them at any moment. Reports have it that pharmaceutical companies in the US spend more than $50 billion in research and development. This expenditure accounts for 21 percent of all the research and development spending by all businesses in the country. This level of spending is what is needed to provide new medicines to people all over the world.

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Prescription Medicines Increase Healthcare Costs

Many feel that it is time to reduce the dominance of prescription medicines in the healthcare industry. According to them, these medicines have stayed for a long time and are increasingly leading to high cost of healthcare. Prescription medicines do not increase the cost of health care. Instead, they save consumers a lot of money. If you research thoroughly, you will find that the number of dollars Americans spend on prescription medicines has not changed in more than 55 years. Their prices have been stagnant, even though medicine has advanced significantly during this period. These medicines not only retail at cheaper rates, but they also provide value to users.

Most New Medicines Come From the Government and Universities

The pharmaceutical industry contributes significantly towards the development of new medicines. The government and academic research usually contribute insights in the biomedical progress. The intricate and the expensive processes of turning the insights into something substantial are done by the pharmaceutical companies. This involves employing various techniques to transform the research and ideas into authorized treatments for patients. If you look at the patent applications for most drugs approved by FDA, you will find that half of them cited government or university publications. This shows that the government and universities only contribute indirectly towards research and development.

The Public Must Accept All the Prices Charged for New Drugs

It is not a must for the public to accept and pay any price Big Pharma charges for various medicines. The free market concept works everywhere and is highly applicable in this industry. This allows public payers to regulate drug expenses. For instance, the health insurance sector has a say when it comes to spending on branded medicines. They are allowed to establish guidelines for approval and implementations on various treatments. Many hospitals have a significant market share and can leverage over the prices of new medicines.

Government Pricing Explains Lower Health Care Costs

Many people who compare the US healthcare sector with other countries have made this statement their central point of argument. They believe that the government’s influence on pricing could lead to reduced costs of healthcare. The truth is that the cost of medicines is only a small fraction of what actually goes on in the research and development processes. The cost also represents a smaller part of the difference between the US healthcare sectors and the systems where socialized medicine prevails.

There several ongoing debates in the pharmaceutical industry. Most of them are baseless and misleading. It is imperative you gain knowledge from trusted Big Pharma sources before you develop an opinion about this industry.