The second interview in my article series was focused on the pharmaceutical industry (link to the blog explaining what series of interviews I’m talking about). In 2018, the worldwide value of drugs was estimated at 1.2 trillion USD and with 4-5% annual growth rate it is expected to exceed 1.5 trillion USD by 2023, which makes it one of the most profitable branches of industry worldwide. And as much as the production of drugs has, per se, a strong philanthropic aspect to it and saving human lives is worth high compensation, the desire of deliberate maximization of profits of many companies in this sector needs looking into.
Profit maximisation or funding innovation? The problem with patenting
Drug patent ensures that the developed chemical formula of a new medication can be used solely by its inventor, and lasts 20 years. This time is supposed to allow the inventing company to develop a new drug, which takes on average 15 years and requires huge financial and human capital investments.
Patents are drivers for innovation in the pharmaceutical world, however, they can also be harmful from a patient’s perspective. If only a single company can issue a specific drug for 20 years, it means that for this time they can dictate its market prices. This makes certain new treatments inaccessible for people in need. There is some sort of paradox happening here. On one hand, pharmaceutical companies need the resources to develop drugs that help people, on the other hand, they limit access to those drugs, which certainly does not help those people.
The Drug Development Process (Source: Wouters et al., 2020; FDA, 2020b)
Promotion and marketing leads to overconsumption
Another profit-seeking activity pharmaceutical companies are guilty of is over advertising medicines which boosts demand for unnecessary treatments and general overconsumption of drugs. This has detrimental effects on our health and the environment. Health consequences of drugs misuse are widely acknowledged, but that’s not all. Unused or expired drugs that end up in a landfill cause soil, water and air pollution. What’s more, even consumed drugs eventually enter the environmental cycle, since between 30 and 90% orally administered substances are extracted in the urine as an active substance. The concentration of medical substances in the ecosystem can cause changes to local fauna and flora development, as well as human immunity to certain medications. This forces the industry to constantly search for newer and newer substances.
Drugs in the water cycle (Source: Shea, 2011)
Creating ethical Pharma
Pharmaceuticals have been subject of heated ethical discussion for years. The main argument against them is the lack of consistency – on the one hand, corporations are the bespoken leaders in transparency and traceability, on the other hand, the beforementioned malpractices are still not fully regulated. However, it seems clear that being credible to the public is high on the pharma agenda. Since the development of Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, those companies have shown their dedication towards almost every single one of them. Those efforts aim to change the general opinion and prove that high ethical standards are important for the firms.
As a society, we need to make sure that governments and media still keep a strict watch on the industry. Instead of condemning companies for limiting access to drugs, maybe governments could support the research through adequate subsidies and public education. Setting high norms together with supporting honest actions have the potential to ensure the highest ethical standards of pharmaceutical companies.
Sylwia Kirilenko
#LUMSatWBCSD
LUMS at WBCSD 
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