Healthy Skepticism Library item: 2201

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Maitland I.
Priceless goods: how should life-saving drugs be priced?
Bus Ethics Q 2002 Oct; 12:(4):451-80
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12708456

Abstract:

This article examines the ethical issues raised by the pricing of priceless goods. Priceless goods are defined as ones that are widely held to have some special non-market value that makes them unsuited for buying and selling. One subset of priceless goods is prescription drugs—particularly life-saving and life-enhancing ones. Drug makers are under pressure to price their medicines responsibly, which means to restrain their prices (and profits). However, this article argues that it is precisely because life-saving and life-enhancing medicines are priceless that it is especially urgent to leave companies free to charge market prices for them.

Keywords:
Advertising/economics Anti-HIV Agents/economics Commodification Cost-Benefit Analysis Drug Industry/economics* Drug Industry/ethics* Drugs, Essential/economics* Ethics, Business Freedom Humans Internationality Moral Obligations Patents Social Responsibility United States Zidovudine/economics analysis United States industry perspective economics bioethics consumer drug prices efficiency HIV-AIDS REGULATIONS, CODES, GUIDELINES: DIRECT GOVERNMENT REGULATION