Pharmaceuticals and Telecom: Rise to Power

Pharmaceuticals is one of the largest industries in the world. Big name companies like Pfizer, Roche, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis spend millions of dollars on research and development of new medications. Up for debate recently in the United States has been how pharmaceutical companies have been charging large amounts for live-saving medication. This makes the medication hard to reach for those without good insurance in the United States. For countries in the developing world, this makes the medications practically impossible to receive.

Critics of the pharmaceutical companies bring up the large amount of resources these companies direct for advertising and marketing. Much of this marketing being directed towards the patient rather than the doctors. Critics argue that the money could be spent to lower the cost of the medication, therefore making it accessible to more people. Many believe that the goal of medicine should be to help people, however the pharmaceutical industry is seen to be more focused on profits then people’s health.

Government regulations on the approvals of new drugs have also been up for debate. The protections were put in place to protect patients. The approval process includes lab tests, peer review, and clinical trials before a drug can be sold on the open market. An unintended effect of this is that it has slowed the speed for which people can get new prescriptions. This, in some cases, means that people cannot get a medicine that could potentially help them. It has also made it so that if a company launches a new medication, it will take time for a competitor to launch a competing product.

This is an example of how large corporations are able to influence government regulations. Similarly, telecom companies were able to lobby the FCC to remove net neutrality protections. These corporations argue that the regulations can be burdensome and should be removed. While consumers want the protections so that companies cannot abuse the power that they inherently have. The debate over where the line between free market capitalism and government regulation lies spans across industries and decades. I think it is interesting to see how people react to situations like this and if they are able to put enough pressure on companies and the government to make changes. Industries like pharmaceuticals are hard to protest because if you need the medication to survive, you don’t have a choice but to take the medicine or suffer the consequences which hardly affect the companies.