Is it unethical for drugs companies to charge high prices for their drugs?

Answer 1

In a way that's kind of the wrong question. A corporation exists for the sole purpose of making money. Corporate ethics are like everything else in the corporate view, based on maximizing profits. In other words 'corporate ethics' is sort of an oxymoron.

I'm not anti-capitalism, I realize the profit motive is good for a lot of things. But maximizing profits should not be the ultimate goal.

For example. President Clinton proposed a program whereby the Fed. Govt. would pay to vaccinate all children. The idea was that the govt. would buy all the vaccines from existing drug companies and make them available to everyone at no charge. Under the plan, the drug companies would make a fair profit, of course. And Clinton was able to show that this was a cost-effective plan, that vaccinating every kid would save more than it cost because kids wouldn't get sick and have to be cared for at public expense.

But the plan was killed. By who? By the drug companies! Why? Because they realized they could make more money selling the vaccines only to parents who could afford them. In other words they could make more money vaccinating 80% of American kids at the MARKET price than vaccinating 100% at the GOVT. price, even though the govt. plan would have made them a profit. (And remember, these drugs were developed with public money. They don't actually even -belong- to the drug companies.)

Now of course this means that a certain number of kids would get the diseases and would cost all of us a lot of money. So we are stuck paying for the care of thousands of sick kids, not to mention the trauma suffered by the kids themselves and their families, just so that the drug companies can -maximize- profits.

It's not really a question of 'ethics', is it? It's a question of how we can best maximize the availability of drugs and health care. The corporate goals of the drug companies represent a wrong priority. Drug company profits should be only the means to an end, the end being drugs being available to people. Instead they are the end in itself.

Answer 2

Hard (but good) question! We are a capitalist country and as such value competitive business and success. Many medications are priced high to compete on the market but of course the patients, many who need these (life or death for many also), suffer.

Drug companies are like any other business, seeking to both make their money back (from materials and labor, etc.) and a profit. Selling cheap drugs hardly qualifies as a good business venture.

But, these business practices hurt the common people, many of whom are hard working people who still can't afford medication (I'm one of them!), and I do wonder what would happen if American drug companies (not to mention the insurance companies) considered and offered more programs and/or fairly priced medications to those who seriously need them!

As to your specific question, part of me says "no, the companies are not unethical" (or at the very least, there is no intrinsic property of wrongness), but as a patient and consumer, someone who takes medications and whose family takes medications, I know it hurts trying to decide between this months pills, gas, or food. Catch-22 all the way and that feels wrong.

Answer 3

What is a proper margin? How do you get back the cost of the research & development on that drug and all the others that did not work? Not saying that they don't over-charge and do other things that are ethically questionable. But there are a lot of issues that people don't always look at in the price.

Answer 4

It is a business. It can take 10yrs. and often millions of dollars to get a drug to market. Is it unethical to get the investment back? I don't think so. Even after it gets to market, no matter how many people are helped they face law suits if anyone has a bad reaction. People like to criticize because once a drug is developed it may be cheap to manufacture so they think it should be sold cheap. But the still has to recover the initial cost which may take years.

Answer 5

Unethical how? From a legal standpoint...no. They can charge whatever they want, it's all part of the American "free enterprise/ supply & Demand" that keeps America chugging along.
NOW DO I FEEL like there is something wrong with our healthcare system? HECK YEAH! The mark-up on meds is so outrageous that Americans without health insurance cannot get what they need!
Hope that answers your question!

Answer 6

Drug research is horribly expensive, but I do feel Big Pharma charges what they wish, unlike, say, retail stores that mark up an item X% and sell it.