Healthy Skepticism Library item: 2494
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
Bode UH, Geisler EP.
[Medical ethics as output of economically motivated industrial objectives].
Wien Med Wochenschr. 2002; 152:(13-14):309-12
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12168510
Abstract:
Ethics and economics are not mutually exclusive, but rather related concepts that help the human race in dealing with scarce resources. Safeguarding the resources employed and making a profit are general industrial objectives. Product-specific objectives, such as optimising medicinal safety and creating benefits for the individual and society, are discussed. Healing disease, improving quality of life and prolonging length of life are very important considerations. The contributions of the pharmaceutical industry in fulfilling ethically based demands will be primarily treated as the careful use of resources (e.g. by renunciation of state support). Other ethical contributions are the early communication of research results for intersectoral use and a voluntary code of conduct to regulate the actions of pharmaceutical companies with regard to information and advertising. In the Third World pharmaceutical industry is mainly faced to potential waste of valuable medicines, due to insufficient infrastructure of logistics and distribution capacities in one region, given a shortage of these very medicines in other and better structured regions. The value of medicines is defined by a comparison of competing therapies (difference in consumption of resources). Possible ethical deficiencies arising from a lack of direct contact of the patient with industry and the quasi-penalisation of patients because of faulty lifestyle are briefly discussed.
Keywords:
Cost-Benefit Analysis/trends
Developing Countries
Drug Costs/trends
Drug Industry/economics
English Abstract
Ethics, Medical*
Ethics, Pharmacy
Forecasting
Health Resources/economics*
Health Services Accessibility/economics
Humans
Organizational Objectives/economics*
Quality of Life
*analysis
Austria
developing countries
bioethics
economics
opportunity cost
profit
safety
cost-benefit analysis
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES: INDUSTRY
REGULATION, CODES, GUIDELINES: INDUSTRY SELF-REGULATION
