An Analysis of the Relationship Between the United States Government and the Pharmaceutical Industry: The Effect of Government on the cost of Prescription Drug Prices

The high prices of brand-name prescription drugs are a growing source of controversy in the United States. Manufacturers of brand-name drugs can command high prices because they are protected from generic competition, have navigated regulatory obstacles, flooded the market with faulty delivery systems, along with a myriad of other methods that promote constantly increasing profit margins. Through these market based tactics, the pharmaceutical industry has made the Food and Drug Administration a tool to promote its own interests. Within the halls of government itself, the massive lobbying power of the pharmaceutical industry has led powerful members of Congress to initiate legislation in favor of the industry. The goal of this research is to identify the specific tactics big pharmaceutical companies use, identify the Food and Drug Administration’s relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, identify how lobbying groups pressure the government into acting in favor of the industry, identify specific members of Congress who are affected by pharmaceutical lobbying, and establish the drastic differences between the American healthcare system compared to more efficient international systems like Sweden. This research will argue that the United States government allows the pharmaceutical industry in the United States of America to artificially increase the price of prescription drugs.