Inside out business
Recently, it has become increasingly active to talk about lobbying the interests of pharmaceutical companies by doctors and pharmacies. New drafts of legislative acts are widely discussed (for example, the FAS is preparing a number of amendments to legislative acts) - all this is of course understandable. But let's understand, whether doctors, pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies “sin” at will, or they have to resort to such methods.
Companies that invest a lot in the development of so-called. original drugs are trying to subsequently benefit from this benefit. The word "benefit" in relation to medicines cuts a little hearing. But the pharmaceutical business is also a business and there is no getting away from it.
Let's try together to simulate the stages of this business.
It is logical, perhaps, to agree with those same prescriber than to break the law. For this purpose, the pharmaceutical companies in their state have countless representatives and even entire departments of promotion.
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It would seem that there is nothing wrong with this scheme. Normal business. But afterwards, at the end of the so-called patent term, our “abracadabrin” begins to produce many other companies under other trade names. This is done in order to “bite off a piece of cake”. These medicines are called generics. Prices for them, as a rule, much less. There are pharmaceutical companies that produce only generics, while not investing in the development of original drugs.
Now, the doctor and the patient will have to choose not the drug itself, but its trade name. It becomes a shame for a company-developer that another company will earn a part of the profit from its investments (and sometimes the lion’s share). That is why a tough and sometimes not ethical competition begins.
In such an environment, new “talents” of doctors are opening up - the ability to “breed” representatives of pharmaceutical companies for various benefits. Benefits here mean everything from banal souvenirs and pens to “trips to the warm seas”. Doctors have a position: “Whoever dances better, we will prescribe the drug”. The most decent doctors become “actors” - they play the role of a doctor, going to cooperate (to give more :), but in practice they are still guided by common sense. True, one of my friends’s doctor struck me with his honesty: before prescribing a drug, he opens a reference book and writes out all the trade names of the prescribed drug, and the patient chooses what he can afford. Pharmacies and pharmacy chains also behave in a bad way.
So how should the drug reach the patients? How should doctors learn about new modern drugs? Will government agencies be able to provide doctors with information?
In my opinion, this whole problem can be solved as follows:
Pharma business is also a business!
Companies that invest a lot in the development of so-called. original drugs are trying to subsequently benefit from this benefit. The word "benefit" in relation to medicines cuts a little hearing. But the pharmaceutical business is also a business and there is no getting away from it.
Let's try together to simulate the stages of this business.
- Research stage. The company begins research work on the creation of a new drug and its testing. As a rule, they develop drugs for the treatment of the most pressing and common diseases. A new drug should have some unique advantages over other drugs for the treatment of the same disease. Probably the most expensive and long stage.
- Stage of clinical research. Also expensive stage. Large-scale clinical studies are being conducted involving a large number of medical specialists in different countries to confirm the high efficacy and safety of a new drug.
- Registration stage. The drug is registered under a specific trade name.
- Sale. Here, in theory, the profit should finally begin. But which doctor or pharmacist would recommend your “abracadabrin”, even if it is supereffective. We must somehow declare themselves! It's time to remember the saying “Advertising is the engine of trade”! Of course, it is rude about medicine, but it is!
- Promotion. This is where the “advertisement” begins. In the pharmaceutical business, it is special - mediated. For example, prescription drugs can not be advertised directly to consumers - on TV, in newspapers, etc. On the way between the manufacturer and the consumer gets a doctor or pharmacist pharmacy. The pharmaceutical companies called them “prescriber” for this.
It is logical, perhaps, to agree with those same prescriber than to break the law. For this purpose, the pharmaceutical companies in their state have countless representatives and even entire departments of promotion.
')
It would seem that there is nothing wrong with this scheme. Normal business. But afterwards, at the end of the so-called patent term, our “abracadabrin” begins to produce many other companies under other trade names. This is done in order to “bite off a piece of cake”. These medicines are called generics. Prices for them, as a rule, much less. There are pharmaceutical companies that produce only generics, while not investing in the development of original drugs.
Now, the doctor and the patient will have to choose not the drug itself, but its trade name. It becomes a shame for a company-developer that another company will earn a part of the profit from its investments (and sometimes the lion’s share). That is why a tough and sometimes not ethical competition begins.
Doctors are good too.
In such an environment, new “talents” of doctors are opening up - the ability to “breed” representatives of pharmaceutical companies for various benefits. Benefits here mean everything from banal souvenirs and pens to “trips to the warm seas”. Doctors have a position: “Whoever dances better, we will prescribe the drug”. The most decent doctors become “actors” - they play the role of a doctor, going to cooperate (to give more :), but in practice they are still guided by common sense. True, one of my friends’s doctor struck me with his honesty: before prescribing a drug, he opens a reference book and writes out all the trade names of the prescribed drug, and the patient chooses what he can afford. Pharmacies and pharmacy chains also behave in a bad way.
Where is the consensus?
So how should the drug reach the patients? How should doctors learn about new modern drugs? Will government agencies be able to provide doctors with information?
In my opinion, this whole problem can be solved as follows:
- To prohibit the appointment of trade names, discharge only by international names: doctors should not think about trade names, but about medical treatment regimens.
- To fix the price range for products with more than one trade name: the manufacturers of original products will not be “offensive”, and it will not be profitable for the generic companies to produce them, because they will buy the original one.
- Require pharmacies to list all trade names of the drug and have the patient choose the one he or she can afford.
- To assign the responsibility for informing medical and pharmacy workers about new drugs (their international names) to state structures.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/74329/
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