Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]July 27–August 3, 2000
loose canon
Are Pharmaceuticals Next?
The $145 billion death sentence that a jury in Florida handed to the tobacco companies could be a harbinger of what drug companies might be receiving soon.
American juries have established a new minimum standard of corporate decency — even for a tobacco company.
Everyone has known for decades that tobacco kills. We all knew that the pleasure came with a price — a price which we paid in part with our health.
That much was understood.
But what we didn’t know — until recently — was the degree to which tobacco companies traded human suffering for private profit. The tobacco companies, in effect, stole our health from us — and the jury in Florida was clearly outraged.
I think drug manufacturers will be next in line to feel the fury of a jury for profiteering at the expense of our health.
We know that drug companies, like tobacco companies, trade public health for their private gain — to a certain extent.
In granting a patent for new drugs, the government allows pharmaceuticals an opportunity to make a profit, even if it means that some people will not be able to afford new therapies. We permit this under the theory that a drug company’s profits pay for developing new medicines.
We understand and accept this.
But what happens if that patent on a drug is abused? What happens when a company’s backroom dealings create secret, excess profits from our pain?
If that Florida jury expected a certain measure of decency from companies who peddle a known poison, imagine what standards juries will expect from companies we license to sell life-saving drugs.
We may soon find out what happens when a drug company messes with our public trust.
According to a recent New York Times investigation, court papers suggest that Abbott Laboratories abused their patent on a blood-pressure drug called Hytrin by paying off rival manufacturers not to produce lower-cost generic alternatives.
Now that American juries seem willing to destroy tobacco sellers who betray us, just imagine how they’ll punish healthcare companies who secretly put their greed before our need.
And if these hidden deals turn out to be a common industry practice, as the Times article broadly hints, don’t be surprised if pharmaceuticals end up as the next industry on the critical list.
