The History of the Pharmaceutical Industry: Natural Substances as Drugs

1999 ◽  
pp. 23-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Drews
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Natural Substances ◽  
History Of

The Case of Synthroid (A): Marketing a Drug Coming Off Patent

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Alice M. Tybout ◽  
Julie Hennessy ◽  
Natalie Fahey ◽  
Charlotte Snyder
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Patent Protection ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
The United States ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
List Type ◽  
Generic Competition ◽  
Global Challenge ◽  
History Of ◽  
Competitive Products

The case tells the story of Synthroid from its development in 1958 as the first synthetic thyroxine molecule to its competition against generic equivalents in 2004. The case introduces students to the pharmaceutical industry, its practices, and some of the complexities of pricing and drug choice, with drug manufacturers, insurance companies, physicians, pharmacists, and patients all playing a role. It also provides a primer on hypothyroidism, its symptoms, and its treatment.Because Synthroid was developed and introduced before FDA regulations and drug standards of identity were fully established, it was difficult for competitors to get their drugs certified as identical to Synthroid. Through a series of efforts with physicians, especially endocrinologists, Synthroid's owners were able to maintain the perception for forty-six years that Synthroid was uniquely effective. In 2004, however, the FDA declared several competitive products to be bioequivalent to Synthroid, which posed a significant challenge to its owner, Abbott Laboratories. Students are challenged to consider options to maintain the drug's unit volume, revenue, and/or profit in these difficult circumstances.The case is written in two parts. The (A) case provides background on the history of the drug, the pharmaceutical industry and its marketing practices, and hypothyroidism and its treatment, and it concludes in 2004 as Abbott's marketers face the impending challenge of defending the Synthroid business against generic competition. The (B) case describes what Abbott actually did to maintain its share in the United States and outlines its strategy in India, a market without patent protection for pharmaceuticals.After analyzing the case students should be able to: Describe strategies that branded competitors can use to defend their business from lower-priced competition Understand the basics of pharmaceutical marketing and pricing, including the global challenge of defending branded drugs against generic equivalents Discuss ethical issues in the marketing of high-margin branded products that have lower-priced alternatives, especially in the healthcare industry

Clinical trials and the origins of pharmaceutical fraud: Parke, Davis & Company, virtue epistemology, and the history of the fundamental antagonism

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-558
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Gabriel ◽  
Bennett Holman
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Virtue Epistemology ◽  
Medical Science ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Laboratory Science ◽  
Epistemic Virtues ◽  
History Of ◽  
Origin Point

This paper describes one possible origin point for fraudulent behavior within the American pharmaceutical industry. We argue that during the late nineteenth century therapeutic reformers sought to promote both laboratory science and increasingly systematized forms of clinical experiment as a new basis for therapeutic knowledge. This process was intertwined with a transformation in the ethical framework in which medical science took place, one in which monopoly status was replaced by clinical utility as the primary arbiter of pharmaceutical legitimacy. This new framework fundamentally altered the set of epistemic virtues—a phrase we draw from the philosophical field of virtue epistemology—considered necessary to conduct reliable scientific inquiry regarding drugs. In doing so, it also made possible new forms of fraud in which newly emergent epistemic virtues were violated. To make this argument, we focus on the efforts of Francis E. Stewart and George S. Davis of Parke, Davis & Company. Therapeutic reformers within the pharmaceutical industry, such as Stewart and Davis, were an important part of the broader normative and epistemic transformation we describe in that they sought to promote laboratory science and systematized clinical trials toward the twin goals of improving pharmaceutical science and promoting their own commercial interests. Yet, as we suggest, Parke, Davis & Company also serves as an example of a company that violated the very norms that Stewart and Davis helped introduce. We thus seek to describe one possible origin point for the widespread fraudulent practices that now characterize the pharmaceutical industry. We also seek to describe an origin point for why we conceptualize such practices as fraudulent in the first place.

Misplaced marketing “Mine is the blue one on the left”: function and dysfunction of pharmaceutical brand names

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 377-379
Author(s):  
Herbert Jack Rotfeld
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Pharmaceutical Drugs ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
History Of

Looks at the use of brand names in the pharmaceutical industry in comparison with generic versions. Gives a brief history of brand name development. Concludes that brand names for pharmaceutical drugs should be banned since this is open to abuse in the area of cost enhancement.

‘Sexual chemistry’ before the Pill: science, industry and chemical contraceptives, 1920–1960

2010 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
ILANA LÖWY
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Laboratory Tests ◽  
Chemical Compounds ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Marginal Status ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Pharmaceutical Laboratories

AbstractThe history of contraceptives met the history of drugs long before the invention of the contraceptive pill. In the first half of the twentieth century, numerous pharmaceutical laboratories, including major ones, manufactured and marketed chemical contraceptives: jellies, suppositories, creams, powders and foams applied locally to prevent conception. Efforts to put an end to the marginal status of these products and to transform them into ‘ethical’ drugs played an important role in the development of standardized laboratory tests of efficacy of contraceptive preparations; debates on the validity of such tests; evaluation of the long-term toxicity of chemical compounds; and the rise of collaborations between activists, non-profit organizations and the pharmaceutical industry. Chemical contraceptives were initially associated with quack medicine, shady commercial practices and doubtful morality. Striving to change the status of contraceptives and to promote safe and efficient products that reduced fertility in humans shaped some of the key features of the present-day production and regulation of pharmaceuticals.

scholarly journals History of Ilmul Saidala (Unani Pharmacy) Through Ages: A Critical Appraisal and Current Scenario

2022 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-36
Author(s):  
Mohd Akhtar Ali ◽  
Mohd Khalid ◽  
- Hamiduddin ◽  
- Zaigham ◽  
Mohammad Aslam
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Medical Science ◽  
Good Manufacturing Practice ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Pharmaceutical Sciences ◽  
Unani Medicine ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Current Scenario ◽  
History Of ◽  
Development Regulation

Ilmul Saidala (Unani pharmacy) is an important pharmaceutical branch of Unani System of Medicine, also known as Greco-Arabic medicine. Its historical evolution is intricately related with that of human’s disease and sufferings. The earlier records about the Ilmul Saidala reveal that the Greco-Roman civilization is credited with its origin and development. Then, the Arabs preserved their medical legacy, and enriched it with their pharmaceutical experiments, innovations, and newer formulations. Most of the physicians rendered voluminous compendium known as “Al-Qarābādhīn” (pharmacopoeia) on the pharmacy including pharmaceutical as well as cosmeceutical preparations. After the fifth century, the development in Unani Pharmacy has been greatly contributed by Arab physicians and the world acclaimed piece of knowledge from this period is Avicenna’s ‘Canon of Medicine’. The medical influences of the Arabs helped in further development, regulation, and advancement of pharmaceutical sciences in the European soil and evolved it as a distinctive institution of respect and public welfare. The vastness of knowledge of Greco-Arabic period can be judged from the fact that the contemporary innovations and developments in the pharmaceutical industry is primarily owed to the original contributions of Greek, Egyptian, and Arab philosophers and physicians, such as Hippocrates, Pedanios Dioscorides, Galen of Pergamon, Avicenna, Rhazes, Geber etc. In India, Mughals, especially emperor Akbar was very instrumental in the propagation of Unani medicine and had appointed Unani physicians in different cities of his territory. Later on, Khandan Shareefi (Shareefi family) and Khandan Azizi (Azizi family) played important roles in the promotion of Unani Pharmacy. In post-independence India , Hạkīm ‘Abd al-Hạmeed established Unani pharmacies on the lines of the modern pharmaceutical industry for the mass production of Unani formulations in compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines. At present, Unani System of Medicine and its pharmacies enjoys the patronage of Government in India and other South-East Asian countries, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh along with post graduate education in Unani pharmacy. The present work is a sincere attempt of authors to critically appraise the Unani Pharmaceutical potentials from the past, the current waves of developments and issues, and their possible ways forward. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. Vol. 21(1) 2022 Page : 24-36

Reflections

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Jack Li
Keyword(s):  
Coronary Heart Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Ldl Cholesterol ◽  
Bone Fractures ◽  
High Standard ◽  
Heart Attacks ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

The story of statins is a success story for science (both basic and applied) and scientists (in both academia and industry). It contains one of the classic scientific and marketing battles in the history of the pharmaceutical industry. More important, it has been a great boon for the millions of patients who have benefited from statins in preventing coronary heart disease. The story of the statins is a triumph of the heart. Statins, a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, have revolutionized the landscape of coronary heart disease treatment. Since Merck’s marketing of Mevacor in 1987, the world has benefited from statins in numerous ways. As a class of drugs, statins have set standards on numerous fronts in helping manage LDL cholesterol, one of the major risk factors for coronary heart disease. Statins set a high standard in efficacy, a high standard in safety, and a high standard in financial success for the patients, payers, and the pharmaceutical industry. Not only do statins greatly reduce cholesterol and lower mortality in people at risk for heart attacks, but some studies also suggest that they might help prevent or treat a wide range of ailments, including Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, bone fractures, some types of cancer, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. The world has already benefited from the statins in many ways. Low is good, but lower is even better. Fifty years ago, the connection between cholesterol and coronary heart disease was still in question. Twenty years ago, the merit of lowering LDL cholesterol was not even unanimously agreed upon. Cholesterol drugs before the statins, such as resins, niacin, and fibrates, worked to some extent but were also seriously limited by their side effects. Thanks to the emergence of the statins, with Mevacor as the first on the market in 1987, all these questions on the relationship between cholesterol and coronary heart disease are answered beyond any shadow of doubt. Today, the statins have annual sales of more than $20 billion. Hundreds of millions of patients have benefited from statins by delaying and even preventing coronary heart disease.

Penicillin and the new Elizabethans

1998 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT BUD
Keyword(s):  
Monoclonal Antibodies ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Health Service ◽  
British Government ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
British Culture

Generally, the mass media in Britain, as elsewhere, treat the history of science as arcane knowledge. A few iconic tales do none the less come to permeate public consciousness. How do these come to be selected from the myriad of possible narratives?One of the most enduring and well known of stories is the discovery of penicillin, which stretched from Alexander Fleming's observation in 1928 to the award of the Nobel prize to Fleming, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain in 1945 and the subsequent dominance of American companies in its manufacture. During the 1980s, when it appeared scandalous that monoclonal antibodies discovered in Cambridge, England, had not been patented by the British government, the parallel was often made with penicillin. An alternative use was made of the story when, in July 1995, a columnist in London's Evening Standard criticized massive expenditure on medical research and claimed that most drugs were discovered by accident. He sustained his thesis by merely putting in pointed parentheses the one word, ‘penicillin’. The same year, partisans found space in the correspondence columns of the New Scientist to return enthusiastically to the debate over the proper disposition of credit between Fleming and Florey. The BBC's Money Programme broadcast a piece on how best to support inventors today in October 1996; it included film of the Science Museum's coverage of Fleming.The story of penicillin seems therefore bound, time and time again, to great issues in British culture: pride over technological prowess, resentment over the loss of opportunity, jealousy of American success, the National Health Service and the emergence of the modern pharmaceutical industry. The appeal of the story and meaning of its associations are matched by reverence for its material relics. In high profile auctions, the sale of samples prepared by Fleming raises thousands of pounds and is previewed in the newspages and on the radio. The original plate on which Fleming observed penicillin with its sterile ring surrounding the healing penicillin is one of the most familiar of historic relics (Figure 1).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document