International Pharmaceutical Social Risk Regulation: An Ethical Perspective

Cameron Gordon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
51 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Pharmaceutical production and distribution constitute big business. For the companies the rewards can be substantial. Rates of return on drug company investments tend to be higher than many other manufacturing enterprises. But reward is only one side of the story. There is also the issue of social risk, the focus of this article. Social risk for pharmaceutical production is especially pronounced. An ineffective or, worse, dangerous drug, can have dire consequences for the population at large. For this reason, there is elaborate government regulation and oversight of drug safety and risk. These systems, especially in the US and Europe, will be the main focus of this paper. The two systems will be described, and then compared and contrasted in terms of their framing of social risk and actions governments take to limit it. Systems elsewhere, especially in the developing world, are increasing in relative importance and these will be briefly discussed as well. Ethical issues that have arisen in these various systems will be surfaced and analysed. The paper will close with some conclusions and suggestions for further research
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)15-23
Number of pages9
JournalActa Pharmaceutica
Volume61
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2011

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'International Pharmaceutical Social Risk Regulation: An Ethical Perspective'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this