BACKGROUND Mandatory generic substitution (GS) was introduced in Finland on 1 April 2003. The aim of this study was to explore and compare the impacts of GS on the activities of pharmaceutical companies representing mainly original or generic pharmaceutical products in Finland. The self-reported impact of GS from pharmaceutical companies' perspective was explored with a focus on the number of e...

The costs of developing the types of new drugs that have been pursued by traditional pharmaceutical firms have been estimated in a number of studies. However, similar analyses have not been published on the costs of developing the types of molecules on which biotech firms have focused. This study represents a first attempt to get a sense for the magnitude of the R&D costs associated with the di...

Export and the readiness to export constitute the first step of international marketing, which are affected by both internal and external factors of firms. One of the most important internal  factors is the presence of skilled personnel. The purpose of this study was to define the relationship between staff qualification and encouragment with the readiness level of Iranian pharmacuetical firms ...

Interaction of pharmaceutical companies (PC) with healthcare services has been a reason for concern. In medicine, awareness of the ethical implications of these interactions have been emphasized upon, while this issue has not been highlighted in dentistry. This study undertook a cross-sectional rapid assessment procedure to gather views of dentists in various institutions towards unethical prac...

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER(DTC)ADVERTISING OF PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS has rapidly become one of the most contentious issues facing the medical profession in the United States. Prior to the early 1980s, pharmaceutical companies promoted their prescription products exclusively to physicians, who were expected to act as “learned intermediaries” interpreting drug information for the general public. During...

Dr Stephen DeFelice coined the term "Nutraceutical" from "Nutrition" and "Pharmaceutical" in 1989. The term nutraceutical is being commonly used in marketing but has no proper definition. An attempt to redefine nutraceuticals and functional foods is made in this article. The proposed definitions can help distinguish between functional foods, nutraceuticals, and dietary supplements. The advantag...

Much of the focus on the future of the pharmaceutical industry in the United States has been on the very real challenges of research productivity, the development of compelling clinical evidence demonstrating product effectiveness, post-marketing safety, and threats to pricing and reimbursement. Industry leaders, however, have paid less attention to the trends in the overall healthcare system t...

The marketing of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the psychopharmacological industry presents a serious moral problem for the corporate model of medicine. In this paper I examine ethical issues relating to the efficacy and safety of these drugs. Pharmaceutical companies have a moral obligation to disclose all information in their possession bearing on the true risks and benefits of th...

The meeting was held in Washington again after a break of three years. An unusual experience was that i did not run into any south African colleagues during the entire conference. This probably reflects the fact that pharmaceutical companies have withdrawn virtually all sponsorship for attendance at international meetings. Although companies may see this as a marketing code necessity, the longe...