The Research-Based Pharmaceutical Industry and Society: What Is at Stake in the Future?

ABSTRACTThe US House of Representatives passed the far-reaching Pharmaceutical Market Access Act in July of 2003. If this bill or any similar language becomes law, the provision of health care would be affected radically on a worldwide basis. The author discusses the implications of such a law for governments, society, the pharmaceutical industry, and consumers, touching on societal expectations for cures and diagnostic procedures, aims and results of government regulation of the pharmaceutical industry, individual responsibility for health, and the situation of research-based and biotech enterprises as shouldering both social and commercial responsibility for health care. The author also addresses the economic risks of research-based and biotech enterprises, the need for transparency in cost structure, the funding of R&D, marketing costs for new products, the parallel imports market, and the effects of government reimbursement decisions.