The productivity crisis is driving Pharma to extreme measures. These extreme measures were labeled by researchers as ‘institutional corruption.’ - CBCD
Rochester, NY (PRWEB) November 01, 2013
Big Pharma suffers from institutional corruption according to Harvard University researchers (1). They came to this conclusion after examining Pharma’s practices and policies in 5 different categories: systemic problems, medical research, medical knowledge and practice, marketing, and patient advocacy organizations. The CBCD believes this institutional corruption is a result of the productivity crisis in pharmaceutical R&D.
What is institutional corruption?
According to Marc A. Rodwin, one of the lead researchers, institutional corruption is “widespread or systemic practices, usually legal, that undermine an institution's objectives or integrity. Institutional corruption displaces some goals and compromises the attainment of others (2).”
An example of systemic corruption, (corruption of the entire system, or way of doing things) is Big Pharma’s funding of political campaigns, selectively providing information to legislators, subsidizing their work, and targeting campaign contributions to influential legislators and allies (1). Another example of a systemic problem is the fact that “Firms have strong financial incentives to develop so-called me-too drugs - products which are minor variations of existing drugs - and to heavily market them in ways that exaggerate their benefits and fail to reveal their full risks (1).”
The Harvard researchers found that Big Pharma manipulates physicians across America to achieve their financial goals. They wrote that “widespread practices in the medical and pharmaceutical industries can lead to doctors who are psychologically, financially, or intellectually dependent on drug companies (1).” In other words, Pharma turned these doctors into their agents. This is a phenomenon which has “resulted in…Doctors who take such misleading information at face value (and) prescribe drugs that are often unnecessary, harmful to patients, or more costly than equivalent medications (1).”
In short, the Harvard researchers “uncovered how pharmaceutical marketing …distorts medical practice… (1).”
When normal people become corrupted, it is usually due to extreme pressure. For example, when someone holds a gun to the head of one’s child, or when one is bankrupt and must still purchase food for one’s family…then one may be driven to extreme acts. The same holds true for Big Pharma. The productivity crisis is driving Pharma to extreme measures. These extreme measures were labeled by researchers as ‘institutional corruption.’
For more information on the productivity crisis in pharmaceutical R&D, please visit:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11232090.htm
and
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11273236.htm
The CBCD invites pharmaceutical executives to contact the Center to discuss forward thinking strategies that can help reduce corruption while maximizing profits.
We invite the media to contact us for interviews at: info (at)buy-gene-eden(dot)com or phone 585-250-9999.
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References:
(1) http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2013/10/25_edmond-j-safra-center-for-ethics-fellows-jlme.html
(2) http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2298140
(3) http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=36101
The Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD, http://www.cbcd.net) is a research center recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-for-profit organization. The mission of the CBCD is to advance the research on the biology of chronic diseases, and to accelerate the discovery of treatments.
The CBCD published the “Purple” book by Dr. Hanan Polansky. The book presents Dr. Polansky’s highly acclaimed scientific theory on the relationship between foreign DNA and the onset of chronic diseases. Dr. Polansky’s book is available as a free download from the CBCD website.