HSS 261 Unit 3 – Discussion Board

What may be legally permitted is not necessarily ethical. What are your concerns from ethical standpoint about the pricing of prescription drugs and the new therapies based on precision medicine discoveries such as the gene therapy described in the first article?

The medication Zelgensma is the worlds most expensive medication. The drug Zelgensma is a drug that helps children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. They say Zolgensma is merely the latest example of unethical and molopolic pricing strategies among the drug manufactures. The standpoint of this is the drug companies spend more that $100 billion a year in researching and developing new drugs. The pharmaceutical companies and Biotech industries have to pay millions of dollars a year or more to the professionals that work for these companies. It takes thousands of professionals to come up with cures for diseases. It costs billions of dollars to do all this to control the diseases all over the world, With SMA being considered to be deadly parents and advocacy groups will do anything to make sure the treatment is covered.

Pharmaceutical companies must make a profit to stay in business, be accountable to their investors, and be able to continue developing new medications. Imagine you are responsible for drug pricing for a pharmaceutical company. The CEO has tasked you with setting a price for a newly developed drug that is profitable for the company and shareholders based on the time and resources that were used for the production . If you turn a profit, you will receive a bonus as well. How would you handle the price setting in this situation? Use resources to justify you decision.

I would have to figure out how much it would cost to manufacture the new drug. Then I would find out what the insurance companies would reimburse the pharmaceutical companies when the drug is purchased. I would learn what I could do to advertise the new drug so patients know about it and the providers know about the new drug. I would have to do financial planning to figure out how much the new drug would cost to bring in a profit. The pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars every year to develop new drugs for all different types of diseases. In order to be able to turn a profit there would have to be several hospitals and patients purchasing the new drug at a price that would turn a profit for the company that is manufacturing the drug.

Primary Response is due by Thursday (11:59:59pm Central), Peer Responses are due by Saturday (11:59:59pm Central).

Primary Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 200–250 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

For this Discussion Board, please complete the following:

 

One of the reasons for the rising cost of healthcare in the United States is the cost of prescription drugs. It is a complex problem and poses many ethical dilemmas for which solutions have yet to be implemented. Pharmaceutical companies set the prices for drugs and negotiate the actual payments with insurers. Insurers do not always cover the full cost of the drugs, leaving even insured patients to pay out-of-pocket for their prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies spend a lot of money on developing new medications to help people. The price of the medication must cover the upfront costs of drug discovery, development and testing, and manufacturing. It must also include the cost of the clinical trials required for approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before the medication can be sold.

Read the following 3 articles about the high cost of drugs and how the pharmaceutical industry sets prices:

• The Ethics Behind the World’s Most Expensive Medication
• EpiPen Pricing
• Prescription Drug Pricing in America

After reading the articles, answer the following questions:

• What may be legally permitted is not necessarily ethical. What are your concerns from an ethical standpoint about the pricing of prescription drugs and the new therapies based on precision medicine discoveries such as the gene therapy described in the first article?
• Pharmaceutical companies must make a profit to stay in business, be accountable to their investors, and be able to continue developing new medications. Imagine you are responsible for drug pricing for a pharmaceutical company. The CEO has tasked you with setting a price for a newly developed drug that is profitable for the company and shareholders based on the time and resources that were used for production. If you turn a profit, you will receive a bonus as well. How would you handle the price setting in this situation? Use the resources to justify your decision.

 

Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 50–100-word reply about their Primary Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following question:

 

• What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings?

For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials.

Discussion Board Rubric

 

Expectation	Points Possible	Points Earned	Comments
Application of Learning Material Content: Post demonstrates understanding of Learning Material content.	20
Application of Course Knowledge: Post contributes unique perspectives or insights gleaned from personal experience or examples from discipline.	20
DB Responses: Responds substantively to two posts. Responses encourage interaction in the Discussion Board and classroom community.	20
Organization: Post presents information logically and is clearly relevant to discussion topic.	8
Professional Language: Posts contain accurate grammar, spelling, and punctuation with few or no errors. (APA formatting is not required.)	7
Total Points	75
Total Points Earned

 

View a downloadable version of the Discussion Board Grading Rubric.

 

References

Mole, B. (2018, August 17). Years after Mylan’s epic EpiPen price hikes, it finally gets a generic rival. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/08/fda-approves-generic-version-of-mylans-600-epipens-but-the-price-is-tbd/

Pearl, R. (2018, September 24). The immorality of prescription drug pricing in America. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpearl/2018/09/24/nostrum/?sh=2cd533374fb1

Pearl, R. (2019, June 24). The ethics behind the world’s most expensive medication. KevinMD.com. https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2019/06/the-ethics-behind-the-worlds-most-expensive-medication.html

Hello Class,

What may be legally permitted is not necessarily ethical. What are your concerns from an ethical standpoint about the pricing of prescription drugs and the new therapies based on precision medication discoveries such as gene therapy described in the first article?

According to the utilitarianism theory, raising the price of the medications may make their shareholders happy but it is hurting the stakeholders and is therefore unethical. I am concerned that there are more patients suffering from the raised prices than benefiting from it. The rise in out of pocket cost can become a real threat to the health and safety of many because patients may feel that they are forced to choose to take a less than prescribed amount of medication to ration it and may delay or avoid test that are medically necessary. Patients should not have to pay more for life-saving drugs and with the research and development of new drugs, the inflated prices can unfortunately be cascaded down to the consumer. This practice can be perceived as the Pharmaceutical company caring more about their shareholders and turning a profit than about moral, ethical or societal values.

How would you handle the price setting in this situation?

Ethical responsibility should be evident from start to finish. In this situation, I would initiate medication pricing reform that included high-quality, lower cost generic medications and research ways to maximize the bottom line without raising prices. This pathway to reform can include increasing productivity and simplifying the supply chain. Life-saving treatments can be available at a fair price if a strategic partnership is formed with the suppliers and by reducing inefficiencies and by re-evaluating the responsibilities for profit and margins internally and not depend on a treatments high cost. Though it may be legal, it is immoral and unethical to turn a profit or except monies for personal gain at the expense of a human life.

Thanks,