Pharmacoeconomic aspects of pharmaceutical ethics

Abstract

Nowadays, ethical standards of marketing, pricing, and safety strategies conducted by pharmaceutical manufacturers have declined significantly, which raises the question of health-care quality. The company's main objective has become to maximize profit and it is often done by unethical and deceptive marketing, implementation of direct-to-consumer ads, and educational meetings with a promotional character. One of the modern health-care areas, which aims to solve the ethical issues of the drug market, is pharmacoeconomics. The goal of pharmacoeconomics is not only the economic evaluation of various medical programs and pharmacological drugs but also the development of recommendations for the most efficient use of health resources and determining the right pricing and reimbursement strategy. Moreover, the use of the formulary system, which is the functioning tool of the evidence-based medicine (EBM), aims to provide an access to a wide range of certified and high-quality medicines that are recognized on the world market. Generics are considered a great substitutional option to the “ordinary” drugs due to their affordable price as the cost of prescription drugs in the world continues to be a source of concern. Another tool for providing affordable drug's prices is the reimbursement system, which offers a range of essential medicines at the reduced cost and can be product, disease, population, or consumption specific.

Keywords

• ethical issues
• evidence-based medicine
• formulary system
• generic drugs
• pharmaceutical market
• pharmacoeconomics
• reimbursement system