Guy David - Faculty Research in Knowledge@Wharton

Profits and Social Responsibility: Chastened Drug Makers Step Up Efforts to Bring Affordable Medicines to Poor Countries

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:00:50 EST

A decade after pharmaceutical companies took heat for their reluctance to make HIV/AIDS drugs widely available to impoverished African nations, the industry has changed its approach on pricing and access to drugs. Now, advocates for social responsibility in global health are focusing on how companies decide which drugs they will develop and how they manage operations in the developing world. New approaches include sharing patented compounds with companies developing treatments for tropical diseases, and rewarding companies that develop treatments for neglected Third World diseases.

Rx for the Pharmaceutical Industry: Focus on Innovation, Not Marketing

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:33:51 EST

The good news for the pharmaceutical industry is that, short-term, it may emerge as a winner in the health care reform battle as new customers enter the system and price protections remain in force. The bad news is that while big pharma has used increasingly large megamergers to support its reliance on blockbuster products, it still faces the long-term need to develop fundamentally new business models to cope with its most significant problem -- a failure to come up with new treatments, according to Wharton faculty.

Presidential Candidates Push Health Care Reform, but Who Will Pay?

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:23:27 EST

As medical costs escalate and the number of Americans without health insurance continues to rise, the 2008 presidential candidates have responded by putting health care near the top of their agendas. Indeed, many candidates have already laid out detailed programs to address the nation's health care problems. As a result, meaningful change in the system seems likely to occur once a new president takes office. As Mark V. Pauly, Wharton professor of health care systems, notes: "I'm optimistic this time that we'll get something.... There is actually a chance of doing more good than harm, and I wouldn't have said that in some other years."

After Decades of Malaise, the Vaccine Industry Is Getting an Injection

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 16:31:57 EST

After decades of decline, the vaccine industry is gaining new interest from drug makers and the federal government in response to last year's flu-shot shortage, concerns about an avian flu pandemic, and the development of potential vaccines targeted at new markets, including cancer. Still, vaccines remain a small piece of the overall drug market -- less than 3% of the global pharmaceutical industry -- and vaccine manufacturers continue to face liability problems and low payments from public-health customers, according to Wharton faculty and other experts. In the face of these obstacles, what will it take to inject some life into the ailing industry?

Why Bush and Kerry are Wrong on Health Care

Tue, 19 Oct 2004 05:21:18 EST

Though health care has taken a backseat to Iraq and the economy in this year's presidential campaign, the two candidates have put forth detailed - and vastly different - proposals to solve the three broad issues facing American health care consumers: mushrooming cost, inadequate availability and uneven quality. Yet Wharton health care experts doubt either candidate's plan could be enacted as proposed - or would lick all those problems if it were. Here is what they suggest instead.