Pharmaceutical Industry – A Valuable contributor to Our Country’s Health Care System
The pharmaceutical industry finds, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceutical drugs or medicines for use to patients, particularly to cure them of their diseases, administer to them, relieve the symptoms, or relieve the disabilities they suffer from. Pharmaceutical industries may deal in generic drugs and branded or proprietary medical devices and medications. They may also design drugs and medicines and manufacture the same. Some firms manufacture components and perform clinical tests while others conduct both tasks.
The pharmaceutical industry employs more than eight million people who perform a variety of tasks such as manufacturing, packaging, processing, selling and distribution. Of these, around 80 per cent are engaged in manufacturing. In addition, the other half is engaged in sales and distribution.
The major activities performed by the pharmaceutical industry people are as follows: producing, processing, marketing, distributing, and retailing of drugs. Manufacturing refers to the process of creating and making products. On the other hand, processing refers to adding, modifying, preparing, and packaging drugs. Marketing, on the other hand, refers to the systematic effort made by the producers, distributors, suppliers, and retailers to promote the sale of drugs to the public. And distribution involves moving the drugs to the public and assisting them in getting proper treatment.
As is known, the main source of livelihood for the pharmaceutical industry personnel is the research and development of drugs. With the help of this research and development, the pharmaceutical industry produces various drugs. However, one of the most important activities of the industry is the protection of the rights to produce drugs from other people. This is done primarily by the Food and Drug Administration or FDA, which manages and monitors the production and distribution of drugs.
The process of developing new drugs to treat diseases is known as R&D. This term is also used to describe the process by which new drugs get patented. When a pharmaceutical manufacturer decides to market a new drug, the first file for a patent with the USPTO. After filing for a patent, the company will wait for it to be published in an approved medical journal or classified as a US patent.
Once the patent is approved, anyone is allowed to manufacture, distribute, sell, or provide counselling about the drugs. According to critics, however, the process of pharmaceutical research and development does not completely benefit the pharmaceutical industry. Some say that the patents granted by the FDA do not help the pharmaceutical research and development, since the patents only cover the process of generating the drugs, not the actual drugs themselves.
Moreover, the Food and Drug Administration only approves these drugs based on the results of clinical trials. Only about twenty per cent of all new drugs are tested in clinical trials. These drugs are then distributed to the pharmaceutical companies by the Food and Drug Administration. Many drug companies have reported that their revenues have actually decreased slightly, even while spending more on marketing their new drugs. Some companies have given notice that if the results of future clinical trials are less than expected, they will be forced to increase the price of the drugs.
Pharmaceuticals spend millions of dollars every year marketing their products. Because of this, many argue that the pharmaceutical industry is an important contributor to the increase in healthcare costs across the country. Because of this, some members of Congress have called for a review of the way the pharmaceutical industry spends its money, along with stricter regulations on how the medications are advertised. There is little doubt that more attention to public health and the way medicines are made will lead to improvements in the way healthcare professionals treat patients.
For an Overview of various Pharmaceutical industries click here
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