Why is the pharmaceutical industry so unethical?

Question

- Accusations of forging or suppressing clinical trial results to maximise sales of some medications.
- Accusations of manipulating the market for their products by excessive gifts to doctors[13].
- Too much advertising materials in the doctor's office, such as clocks, poster ads, etc.
- Reluctance of the industry to fabricate treatments of diseases in less capable countries, such as malaria.
- Sponsorship of medical schools, with influence on the curriculum
- Increased number of drug tests on animals before FDA approval
- Drug companies spent $900 million on consumer ads in the first half of 1999 alone. Pharmaceutical companies often fund non-profit "patient groups" that consume their drugs. Patient groups can advertise for the drug companies, and are unregulated by the FDA. .
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_company#Sales_and_marketing

Answer 1

You can say they are unethical but there are always too sides of the story. They plough billions of pounds in R&D and the results save lives. Without them we would not be living as long as we do now.

Answer 2

Is this one of those the ends justify the means?? I think so. We all enjoy the fruits of their labor, but at what cost? The F.D.A.,pharmaceutical industry and government are in bed together, there is no doubt about it. Who spends the most money lobbying government now days,check it out, the pharmaceutical industry. Who lobbied the government to make natural remedies un-patentable,and promoted patient ed medication. The last one I heard of was ephedrine because a few people died, what about the stimulants they been producing for years? They caused addiction and wasted lives. It's really a double edged sword. How many companies test on animals and how many people are animal activists but do or don't boycott the product when their in need of it. There will always be controversies until voices are heard and a medium is found. Keep adding your voice, it can make a difference.

Answer 3

I don't think they are unethical, they are a target due to the current economy and the high cost of health care. When one wants to dig in, one can easily find flaws in every industries. I think most people missed the point that their products help improve human lives. As a result, we live healthier and longer. It's too easy to accuse the industry because of the high cost of medications, especially when you're down with aches, pains or whatever. People ignore the high cost of drug development, the competition, the high failure rates of discovering drugs, the high risks and potential liabilities that come with their products. People neglect the fact that we have a problem with our legal system allowing people to sue the companies whenever unforeseen side effects turn up. This significantly drives up the cost. How about the cost of hospitalization? In comparison, very few people accuse cosmetic companies for their overpriced 'feel good and look good' products. People don't mind spending their dollars for some low risk and ridiculously low-cost-of-goods sugary drinks. People emotionally simply don't want to fork up money when their health is down. The pharmaceutical industry was just unfortunately been singled out for the high health cost. Maybe their business practice has more to be desired, but I don't think they're any worse than other industries.

Answer 4

The history of applied ethics is merely twenty so years old, whereas our need for, and dependency upon, medicine is as old as humanity itself, and so are the ailments of our body and the ills of our society. Would not this be logical if some people see opportunities to become instrumental to the powerful and power hungry? Why just the pharmaceutical industry?

If there are so many issues out of which you have painstakingly identified a few then the answer must be something most obvious. That something obvious is likely to be lost as an answer in the philosophical and ethical debates in the camps of the activist. The answer is in the question - who benefits from all this? And who should?

Answer 5

It's all about money and population control. Why should Germany make so much money when our treatments can make millions from one patient. Also, I think there are cures for everything. However what happens to all our hospitals, Doctors, nurses, clinics and other medical situations, if we get cured? The answer is simple.

Answer 6

Because it is run by a team of people who are motivated to make money, which is their top prioririty than it was for them to cater to the wellness of the entire human race.

If there are medicines for a chronic case where it could actually cure it, as oppose to a medicine which could only control it, via long term usage, I suspect the pharmaceutical industry would scrap the former medicine in favour of the latter.

Answer 7

This industry is composed of people. People when given the chance to enrich themselves do so. If people would just say 'no' to wealth at the expense of others this would cease. The problem is that even folks who can see that this is evil choose the money when they are offered a spot at the trough...This includes: rich, poor, black, brown, white, gay, straight, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Jew.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

Pharamaceutical is unethical because its unethical from the root. Its wish is that more and more people become sick and then only the business would thrive..

Answer 10

- Supression of Royal Rife and his technologies that could have made pharmaceuticals nearly obsolete

It's all about money. Shameful, isn't it?