Pharmaceutical Crime in the US
Pharmaceutical Crime in the US
In our topic synopsis we discuss case studies of pharmaceutical crime occurring on foreign soil such as in Kenya, but it is important to note that it is rampant everywhere, and is a major issue in the United States as well.This article explores how Big Pharma in America may have taken advantage over their monopoly over certain generic drugs by increasing prices to astronomical values to the benefit of their profit. As stated in the article, this claim is simply an allegation which is currently being investigated and is yet to be proved. However, if it is found to be true, many antitrust laws have been broken at the expense of the consumer.
Let us know your thoughts on the investigation and allegations and what possible solutions can combat this issue!
The delegation of Japan believes that these issues have been very difficult to solve in the past due to the broadness of both the topic and the legislation that has occurred in the past. Japan believes that the ICPO should stress the need to set specific terms and definitions. Not only should there be a specific umbrella term such as the term illicit drugs, but also terms regarding the forms of pharmaceutical crime. Japan looks forward to expanding on this in committee.
ReplyDeleteThe delegation of the Czech Republic believes that the problem is far deeper than overcharging customers, the anti-trust laws need to be reformed as the last major act toward anti-trust laws was in 1950, 69 years ago. The current laws are completely outdated and need to be changed. The patent system in the U.S is flawed as it allows the company to renew the patent as long the product is changed, not necessarily better. This allows for companies to slightly tweak the product and keep patents. They have an incentive to raise prices because it is completely legal and they want money. Take for example Insulin, life saving drug for diabetics, the patent was sold for 1 dollar but two scientists, but now, the drug is now 297 dollars for around a week's worth. Families that can't afford it are left to die. This can be combated and solved via government playing a part in putting a cap on life saving drugs based on a number of facts, such as cost of production and number of people infected. Otherwise big pharma can keep raising prices in the U.S without any consequences.
ReplyDelete-Czech Republic
The delegation of Switzerland firmly believes that the issue is much larger in regard to the astronomically large profit margin. We must, as a committee, establish stricter guidelines which explicitly state the punishment received as a result of corporate corruption. This issue of corrupted pharmaceutical companies conspiring displays how wide-ranging pharmaceutical crime is as a problem. It not only includes individuals who counterfeit drugs and sell them on the dark market, but also full-scale corporations who exploit people through collusion and crimes. We must, as a committee, look at pharmaceutical crime from all facets and draft a resolution which will address every form of illicit activity that takes place around the world. Through the passage of a comprehensive resolution, we as an organization can effectively tackle pharmaceutical crime.
ReplyDeleteThe UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 demands that everyone has the right to good health and wellbeing at all ages. Major pharmaceutical companies worldwide have gained notoriety for their excessive price gouging in markets such as the US where the government does not directly regulate drug costs and gained the nickname “Big Pharma”. The USA’s capitalistic approach to viewing health as a privilege and not a basic human right when choosing to stand by the wayside and let companies exploit their people’s health is flagrantly an abuse of their dominant market position. Take a look at the case of Martin Shkreli — “the Most Hated Man in America” — to observe one instance of exploiting the need of the people, regardless of their circumstance. Shkreli increased the cost of Daraprim, an antiparasitic, from 13.50 USD to 750.00 USD per pill. Cases like these inhibit access to good health and wellbeing, especially for low-income and marginalized communities. China’s experience of adjusting drug pricing regulations guides them to urge the committee to consider the prospect of introducing subsidies for production of high quality generic medicines and R&D, encourage direct sales eliminating middlemen that increase shipping costs, simplifying the bottle design to the easier to read ClearRx design that also ensures those hard-of-sight don’t mistake someone else’s medicine is their own, introducing a pricing methods such as the fixed-margin added-pricing method with low end drugs using a 15% margin, middle end drugs using a 8% margin, and high end drugs using a 5% margin, and aggressively negotiating with Big Pharma by threatening to not allow their products to be sold in your borders until they agree to pricing that is beneficial to the people.
ReplyDeleteThank you,
The People’s Republic of China