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Social Responsibilities of Pharmaceutical Companies

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Pharmaceutical companies' social responsibilities that may differ from other companies include assisting the public with medicinal needs. These organizations have an obligation to improve medical conditions by introducing new medication to patients globally; build awareness of disease prevention, diagnosis, treatments available and health care alternatives; and to work towards continuous improvement efforts (Pfizer, 2010).

The primary stakeholders for pharmaceutical companies may include:
? Employees
? Communities
? Shareholders
? Investors
? Government
? Suppliers

"Pfizer for example, has two stakeholder specific engagement policies: Pfizer's Global Policy on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals and Pfizer Principles for Working in Partnership with Patient Advocacy Groups. Both identify the key principles that should underpin engagement with health care professional and Patient advocacy groups respectively (Pfizer Inc., 2007). Neither policy however is of a high quality. While they both make a commitment to being open about how engagement with stakeholders affects decisions, they do not identify when stakeholders can expect to be engaged in company decision making, or provide assurance that pharmaceutical companies will change policy as a result of engagement" (Pfizer Inc., 2007).

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It is my belief that pharmaceutical companies are not justified in charging such high prices for certain medications. There should be a form of leniency in a pharmaceutical companies pricing strategy. Consequently, these companies are taking advantage of the general population that requires medications due to adverse circumstances. Many patients are barely making ends meet and are forced with the decision of what is more important "food" or "prescription drugs?" It appears that in today's society, good health has been issued a very expensive price tag. I often witness patients with severe medical conditions, needing a plethora of medications, and are unable to purchase those medications due to the astronomical charges associated with purchasing the medicines they need. Prescription drug costs tend to vary according to the prescription drug coverage applied or lack thereof, prices ranging from $50-$150 with insurance and $200-$500 without insurance. Should patients suffer the consequences of the pharmaceutical companies integrated high-overhead cost? Or should patients' preventative measures of survival be predicated upon their ability to pay for a corporate executives' salary? Nevertheless a patient's journey of survival is continuous.

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Pharmaceutical companies' social responsibilities that may differ from other companies include assisting the public with medicinal needs. These organizations have an obligation to improve medical conditions by introducing new medication to patients globally; build awareness of disease prevention, diagnosis, treatments available and health care alternatives; and to work towards continuous improvement efforts (Pfizer, 2010).

The primary stakeholders for pharmaceutical companies may include:
? Employees
? Communities
? Shareholders
? Investors
? Government
? Suppliers

"Pfizer for example, has two stakeholder specific engagement policies: Pfizer's Global Policy on Interactions with Healthcare ...

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