I found two interesting articles.
There are a number of patents soon to expire on more than a dozen of very popular and frequently prescribed drugs. As the patents expire, the manufacturers stand to lose a lot of money as other drug producers begin offering generic brands of the drugs. In order to be able to quickly respond to this loss of sales revenue, drug companies are now beginning to partner with other companies to reduce development time, research time and increase the output of new, patented medications. According to Tufts CSDD Director Kenneth I Kaitlin, "Drug developers have gotten the message that they need to innovate 'better, faster, and cheaper' -- without sacrificing patient safety -- and partnering is proving to be an effective strategy." Kaitlin went on to say that drug developers hope to accelerate the results of their research into new medicines by joining with others and working together.
The expiration of patents on some of the most popular drugs will result in the production of generic brands of drugs that will be available to consumers at a significant savings, reducing health care costs. In response to this probable loss of sales, drug companies are joining together to produce new medicines very quickly. The reduction in the develop time of new medicines could allow more effective drugs to become available to patients in need more quickly, in some cases relieving suffering and prolonging life. However, I feel the efforts by major drug companies to reduce the development time for new medicines is more about the companies making money and offsetting what they will lose as a result of the expiration of patents. I am concerned that the rush to produce the new medicines could result in less control or attention to detail during research and production, leading to drugs that are less effective or unsafe.
The counterfeiting of prescription drugs has seen an increasing trend and has become a wide public health concern for public health officials, private companies, and consumers. In some countries, counterfeit prescriptions consist of 70% of the drug distribution and they have been responsible for thousands of deaths. In most of the world's developed countries, effective market controls keep the proportion of counterfeit drugs below 1%. Yet, patients in developed countries are still affected. According to Peter Pitts (president of The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and former FDA associate commissioner), in 2010 activities related to counterfeit drugs brought in $75 billion, and he expects that it will increase by 20% annually. If this prediction is right, the counterfeit drug industry will make as much revenue as the world's fourth largest health care company.
The thought that a patient in need of medications to treat a sickness, relieve suffering, or even prolong life, may actually receive a drug that is counterfeit and ineffective is very troubling to me. The fact that people will deliberately harm other people and deprive them of what they need to survive in an effort to make money is distressing. I think more strict controls need to be put in place and that there must be severe penalties for individuals producing and/or distributing counterfeit drugs.
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