Unethical pharmaceutical manufacturer conduct worldwide and its negative impact upon pharmacy practice

Abstract

It should be noted that I have not provided explicit details of howpharmacists providing care for patientsmay be compromised by these illegal and unethical corporate behaviours. However it is not hard to deduce that if patients are placed at risk in such a fashion by company profiteering and illegal activities, people such as pharmacists that provide care for these patients are placed in an untenable position when providing care to these deserving individuals. Research is called for to pinpoint instances when these activities are occurring as soon as observed,monitor patients closely for negative or deleterious outcomes and consciously work to report these negative practices to our respective governmental oversight agencies both nationally and internationally. A call to action is called for to more closely monitor patients and negative outcomes when such illegal activities are brought to light. Through diligent monitoring, better oversight and subsequent reporting it is hoped that this alarming trend on the part of some manufacturers can be stemmed and hopefully completely halted. Those responsible for these crimes within the drug industry must be held personally responsible in a legal sense for their actions within corporations. Corporations should also be prohibited from selling their products within government programmes if they have in fact been found to be conducting illegal or fraudulent activities. Recent legal events in the USA have brought challenges to the FDA prohibition of off-label promotion of pharmaceuticals with the supposed safeguarding of freedom of speech as the impetus for court activity. The issuewill no doubt be dealt with by the US Supreme Court; it is this authors conviction that the FDA oversight responsibilities will stand the court challenges to do otherwise would harmmillion of innocent patients worldwide. © 2012 The Authors. IJPP © 2012 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.