PER 2015
companies to take the risk invest in these researches.
（ Source from ： http://www.mrcorfe.com/SchoolOfScience/KS4/AQA/Bio1/Drugs/TrialsTimeline.png ）
The diagram shows the time taken for a drug to be developed and it takes approximately 10-12 years for it to be on sale which is far slower than the growth rate of the bacteria. Therefore the generic drugs producers needs to wait till the drug patents expire in order to start producing the generic drugs. At that time, the bacteria may have mutated already and the drugs will become ineffective in a short period of time. Due to the bacteria will have multiple resistance, the new drugs being invented will become more specific to a certain disease and it makes the generic drugs sales dropped since the drugs are less likely to be effective to a few common disease, so that there will be less substitutes for the brand drugs. It will cause the problem that there won’t be any supply of drugs which are cheap for manufacturing available for the market and the selling price will definitely unable to keep it low. In conclusion, I agree to some extent that it is immoral that for the drugs to have cheap manufacturing cost with a high selling price but in a free market the producers will have their primary objective to maximize profits to keep their competitiveness in the market also the supply of drugs will only increase to meet with the increasing demand for drugs once the price is higher which can provide a profit motive for the drug producers. The government can interfere with the market operation but it will likely causing government failure as they lack of perfect information and causing misallocation of resources with allocative inefficiency. Therefore, I suggest it is better to have the drug manufacturing market to work under price mechanism so that it can ensure there will be profit motive for the drug producers to continue to invent new drugs. ‘Today’s problem is different—a steady wave of the diseases that come with age, not an out-of-control virus. It requires a tailored economic medicine. By varying their prices more—charging Americans and Britons more than Africans—firms can pep up their profits at the same time as expanding their markets, making both shareholders and the sick better off.’ 9 The big pharmaceutical companies is trying to make a balance between the medical ethics and the profits they could make but what suggested by the quote as the crucial factor is the understanding of the current environment with a suitable situation for them to invest in new drugs as well as they can have sufficient time and resources to try to minimize the cost of drug production. This can lead to more suppliers in the market and provide a force to drive down the drug price. At the same time, a higher price is charged in the more developed countries and
9 ibid
21
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker