[e-drug] The Truth About the Drug Companies (3)

["Dr S Toovey" <toovey@travelclinic.co.za>]

E-DRUG:  The Truth About the Drug Companies (3)
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This opens a long overdue debate. 

The problems listed by Angell clearly require solutions. Whether those
proposed will alleviate or exacerbate the problems is much less clear.

Price controls do not work. The suggestion that the highly visible but
anonymous hand of a bureaucrat might be preferable to the invisible hand
of the market is not convincing - if it were, then governments could
simply order pharmaceutical companies to produce brilliant new
discoveries. The Soviet Union, now passed into history, was not noted
for its pharmaceutical innovativeness.

Two things are needed to ensure the supply of safe and efficacious new
drugs: a good return on investment and sensible regulation, implemented
by impartial authorities, that ensures safety. 

Dr Stephen Toovey MBBCh, CTM, FFTM
P O Box 786692
Sandton
2146
South Africa
toovey@travelclinic.co.za