Drug Compounding And Its Effects On Pharmaceutical Compounding

Pharmaceutical products do not obey the rule of marginal utility. One gets no additional satisfaction by consuming an additional unit of a drug. The majority of consumers only take prescription drugs whenever they need them and are prescribed by a doctor. This means there is low likelihood of people taking more drugs to satisfy their desire, just like other goods.

There are multiple health concerns worldwide and more and more drugs are needed every day. Many drugs however, are extremely expensive to develop, test, and produce. According to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (2002), it costs up to $802 million to bring a new drug to the market. In 2002, pharmaceutical companies spent $34 billion in research and development (Center-Watch, 2003). In addition to the costs, the overall time from the discovery to approve and market the drug can take up to 15 years.

The prices of prescription drugs in the United States are by far the highest in the world. [1] On average, Europeans pay 40% less than Americans for the same medications. [2] Consumers have been resorting to several ways, sometimes putting themselves in harm’s way, to alleviate the burden of high prescription drug costs. Some buy their medications online or cross the borders to neighboring countries so they would be able to afford buying their needed medications. Others have resorted to the illegal act of selling their unused medications in online forums just to recover part of their expenses. Many factors contribute to the increased drug prices in the United States including research and

The rise in costs of prescription medicines affects all sectors of the health care industry, including private insurers, public programs, and patients. Spending on prescription drugs continues to be an important health care concern, particularly in light of rising pharmaceutical costs, the aging population, and increased use of costly specialty drugs. In recent history, increases in prescription drug costs have outpaced other categories of health care spending, rising rapidly throughout the latter half of the 1990s and early 2000s. (Kaiseredu.org, 2012).

In 2015, the pharmaceutical industry spent over 27 billion dollars on advertising. The two greatest components of this effort were promotional advertising and free medication sampling, which the pharmaceuticals invested 15.5 and 5.7 billion dollars respectively (“Persuading the Prescribers”). Promotional advertising involves direct contact with health professionals, the most common being extravagant lunch conferences held for physicians and their staff. On the other hand, sampling involves distributing free sample of medications to physicians, who then have a choice of providing these samples to patients. As a result of these methods, the industry has seen revenue around $400 billion with 90% of physicians having a relationship with a drug company (Campbell 2007). Moreover, the prices of prescriptions continue to rise; a copay of a generic drug is $11.72, preferred brand drug is $36.37 and a specialty drug is $58.37 (Coleman and Geneson 2014). Although the profits are immense in the numbers demonstrated above, it is no surprise when pharmaceutical drug companies elevate their prices even more. For instance, recently Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of their medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750. Keep in mind, this medication is used for threatening parasitic infections, aids, and cancer with alternative options currently found to be inefficient (Pollack 2015). Another example of this practice involves cycloserine, a drug used to

In the business of drug production over the years, there have been astronomical gains in the technology of pharmaceutical drugs. More and more drugs are being made for diseases and viruses each day, and there are many more drugs still undergoing research and testing. These "miracle" drugs are expensive, however, and many Americans cannot afford these prices.

In the United States of America, prescription drugs have become so common that everyone is expected to have some sort of medicine cabinet filled with

Pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors employ pharmaceutical representatives. These representatives need to know about all these different products they are selling. They need to know not only the products they are selling and distributing but also all the pros and cons of using their product and why it is better than that one over another one that maybe less expensive. Physicians are great targets for the pharmaceutical representatives. First they will set up a meeting to educate the physicians and provide complimentary dinners. The representatives primarily go to physicians to hand out these expensive samples in hopes that the physician will prescribe the medications to the patients. Generally these medications are far more expensive

People all over the world, continue to be tendered prescription medication, which in many cases further complicate health issues with its myriad of side effects. In fact, statistics have shown that approximately 100,000 people around the world die as a result of prescription drugs annually (Smith, 2012). On the contrary, according

Recently, there has been a debate about the high prescription drug prices in the United States. Accounting for 9.7% of the national health expenditure, $329.2 billion was spent on prescription medications ($931 per person) in 2011 (Linton, 2014). So what exactly is the average American getting with their $931? Well, because there is an extraordinary amount of time, effort, and energy that goes into creating, manufacturing, and distributing a new drug, it’s no wonder the prices are so high. But what other costs are folded into the prices of your prescribed medications? This review looks beyond just the research and development costs needed to take a new drug from idea to shelf by examining several journals and other credible, secondary sources, to shed some light on how much pharmaceutical companies are spending to develop, advertise, and sell their drugs.

Prescription drug use has increased steadily in the U.S. over the last ten years. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug and more than half of those receive at least two or more prescriptions. The amount of people who took at least one prescription drugs has accelerated 4 percent between the years 1999 and 2008. As there is a steady increase in drug consumption, drug development and regulation process should be taken more

Consult www.phrma.org, The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. What steps is the branded industry taking to address the

The utilization of prescription drugs has increased across all age groups in the US, with 50% of Americans taking at least one prescription drug (Rice & Unruh, 2016). This can be attributed to physician-induced demand, substitution of pharmaceuticals for other medical regimens, commercialization of the products, increase in the aging population and drug insurance coverage, and also the increase in chronic conditions. Lathan discusses the startling fact that the rate increase of prescription drugs purchased was considerably higher in contrast to the US population growth - 71% and 9% respectively (Rice & Unruh, 2016, p. 264).

activities and tactics such as sampling and sales force promotion [3]. Whether a brand manager is using right promotional tools, whether 4P`s (now 7P`s are considered) are linked to each other and with product strategies for the two main objectives that includes [3]:  To Generate Prescription  Make the product reach the patient They can be said as Product chain and Prescription chain 1.1 The Product Chin This starts from selection of molecules and ends in the hands of patient. This chain is somehow intensive as it starts from the selection of molecules, then molecules are critically screened, after the screening of molecules the source of raw material is identified then the pilot batch manufacturing process starts at this stage pricing strategies and clinical trials are worked out. Once the pilot batch is manufactured then it starts with the commercialization of product, after commercialization product goes to distribution house and then it reaches the retailers. After patient’s diagnosis by doctor, patient purchases that product from retailer [4]. 1.2

WHO defines fixed dose combination (FDC) as ‘a combination of two or more actives in a fixed ratio of doses’. In other words, FDC includes two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) combined in a single dosage form, which is manufactured and distributed in fixed doses. WHO has made it clear that, fixed ratio combination products are acceptable only when the dosage of each ingredient meets the requirement of a defined population group and when the combination has a proven advantage over single compounds administered separately in therapeutic effect, safety or compliance. Accordingly, 19th WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, contains only 27 FDCs out of 414 total medicines. On the contrary, Indian pharmaceutical market is flooded with unnecessary, expensive, hazardous, irrational FDCs. Recent ban by MoHFW on 344 FDCs has again brought attention to these irrational formulations in market. The need of a drug policy guiding the rational use of FDC drugs is stressed more than ever. The following policy brief will address the possible actionable policy options for rational use of FDC drugs. These will include legal, regulatory and promotional measures, which will reinforce and expand the efforts of the Government to ensure that, the irrational FDCs are not manufactured, prescribed, sold or used.