Pharma's Road to Redemption
Big Pharma as Good Guys ...
By on Mar 13, 2009Big Pharma as Good Guys ...
The very idea that the pharmaceutical industry should make money from sick and vulnerable people will always be anathema to a section of society. At the heart of the dynamic tension between generating profit and improving the lives of patients is an understanding of the concept of a license to operate and the social contract that validates such a license. At its most basic, the social contract that exists between society and the pharma industry allows the industry monopoly rights to sell (ie a patent) new products in exchange for a commitment to develop new products that are affordable to those that need it. When the needs of patients and industry become misaligned is when difficulties arise. There seems little doubt that the desire to maintain strong profits growth in the 1990s drove a set of corporate behaviours that led to a fracture of the social contract. We all remember the dependence on "me-toos", the price increases (in the US), the use of DTC adverts on TV, the suppression of negative trial data,the massive growth in primary care field forces, all of which were designed to meet growth targets that suited shareholders during a bull market for equities. But the clamour for parallel imports from Canada to US, the FDA clamp down on safety issues, the insistence on clinical trial transparency, etc have all been a direct pushback against these growth-orientated strategies. GSK's price pledge in LICs is the start of industry's road to redemption. Industry has a long way to go but there is no reason why an industry aligned with society needs shouldnt be both profitable and well regarded. Stewart Adkins