Assignment:
Essay: Questions
1. Why do pharmaceutical companies spend so much money on marketing? Why don't doctors just say no to patients' requests? Explain. Whydoes Big Pharma spend so much on lobbying?
2. Subtract the amount it costs to develop a new prescription medication, advertize it, and bring it to market(our book's quoted prices) from the profit generated for Pradaxa. How much did Boehringer Ingelheim make in profit?
3. Explain-described in layman's terms-the kind of law that must be in place to protect the FDA from people like Dr. Wennberg.
4. What does Martin Shkreli's email reveal? Is there anything illegal about that? Is there anything unethical about that?
5. How much did GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Elli Lilly each pay to settle lawsuits against them? Why would acompany pay billions instead of proving their innocence in court (assuming they are innocent)?
6. "Doctors in the U.S. are usually required to complete accredited continuing medical education (CME) coursework." The pharmaceutical industry pays for these training events for doctors and uses this platform to market their products claiming their representatives educate doctors about their new prescription drugs. Why does this increase sales of drugs to patients? Can't doctors just say no? Give an example from your experience which shows people can't just say no in such circumstances.
7. Why did doctors change the levels for high cholesterol? What were levels for high cholesterol before and after the change? How could an experiment be run to prove the original levels were just fine? Explain. Who would have to run such an experiment to change the legal levels back?
8. "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hepatitis C kills more Americans than any other infectious disease and often leads to a need for liver transplants. The virus has infected an estimated 2.7 to 3.3 million people in the United States. Gilead Sciences Inc. makes Sovaldi and Harvoni, the two drugs that can swiftly cure this disease, but sells them at prices so high that few can afford them (a 12-week course is $85,000)." Doesn't Gilead Sciences have the right, as all Americans do, to make as much money as they can legally? Give one plausible explanation for why they keep the price that high.
9. There are three suggestions at the end of the article for how to make things fair for patients who need drugs in the U.S. while still allowing for pill companies to make money. Pick one of the three suggestions, explain how it would work, then give one positive and one negative for that system. Do you favor it over our current system or not? Explain.
Attachment:- Business Ethics and Public Policy.rar