The extraordinary character of the drug industry and drug markets arises from the fact that research-intensive exchange-values are combined with exceptional use-values. The special form of circulation of drugs can be viewed as the outcome of this special “value-character.” The roots of the peculiarities of drugs and drug history are in the exceptional use-values of drugs. They are partly explained by the special position which health and illness occupy in the hierarchy of human needs and partly by the logic of developed capitalism which has generated new use-values for the drugs. The purpose of this article is to examine the origin and development of these questions and the implications which these peculiarities have for modern drug policy.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abel-SmithB.1976Value for money in Health Services, London.
2.
AmpofoO.1977“Plants that Heal,”World Health (nov.)
3.
BernsteinA.LennardH. L.1973“Drugs against People,”Society10(4): 14–25.
4.
BreckonW.1972The Drug Makers. London, Eyre Methuen.
5.
CilingirogluA.1975Transfer of Technology for Pharmaceutical Chemicals. Paris.OECD.
6.
CoeR. M.1970Sociology of Medicine. New York. McGraw-Hill Inc.
7.
DowlingH. F.1971Medicines for Man. New York. Alfred A. Knopf.
8.
DupuyM.GilbertM.1975Forces Governing the Dissemination of Drug Innovation among Doctors in Private Practice. Paris. OECD. (stencil).
9.
EggerG.1980“Psycho-Social Aspects of Increasing Drug Abuse: A Postulated Economic Cause”Social Science & Medicine14A: 163–170.
10.
IllichI.1970“Limits to Medicine” in Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health. Penguin Books.
11.
JamesB. G.1977The Future of the Multinational Pharmaceutical Industry to 1990. London. Associated Business Programmes.
12.
LallS.1974“The International Pharmaceutical Industry and Less-Developed Countries, with Special Reference to India.”Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics. 36: 143–172.
13.
LennardH. L.1971“Mystification and Drug Misuse,” in Hazards in Using Psychoactive Drugs. New York: Harper & Row.
14.
MansfieldE.RapoportJ.SchneeJ.WagnerS.HamburgerM.1971Research and Innovation in the Modern Corporation. London. The Macmillan Press Ltd.
15.
McDermottW.1980“Pharmaceuticals: Their Role in Developing Societies.”Science209: 240–245.
16.
NavarroV.1978“The Crisis of Western System of Medicine in Contemporary Capitalism.”International Journal of Health Services8: 179–211.
17.
NowotnyO. H.1971International Drug Prices, Reasonable or Exorbitant?Basel. Roche.
18.
PiachaudD.1980“Medicine in the Third World.”Social Science & Medicine14C: 183–189.
19.
RabinD. L.BushP. J., 1974“The Use of Medicines: Historical Trends and International Comparisons.”International Journal of Health Services4: 61–86.
20.
ReekieW. D.1975The Economics of the Pharmaceutical Industry. London. Macmillan Press.
21.
ReekieW. D.1977Pricing New Pharmaceutical Products. London. Croom Helm.
22.
SchickeR. K.1976“Socio-Economic Systems of Medicaments”Social Science & Medicine. 10: 277–281.
23.
Science1980“University and Drug Firm Battle over Billion-Dollar Gene.”Science209: 1492–1494.
24.
SchwartzmanD.1976Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Baltimore. John Hopkins University Press.
25.
SilvermanM.LeeP. R.1974Pills, Profits & Politics. Los Angeles. University of California Press.
26.
St. P. SlatterS.1977Competition and Marketing Strategies in the Pharmaceutical Industry. London. Croom Helm.
27.
SteeleH.1962“Monopoly and Competition in the Ethical Drugs Market”Journal of Law and Economy. 5: 131–163.
28.
SvenssonP. G.1980“The Concept of Health - Some Comments from a Social Science Perspective.”Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine. Supplementum 18.
29.
TeminB.1978The Evolution of the Modern Pharmaceutical Industry. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Working Paper, Department of Economics. Number 223.
30.
United Nations1979Transnational Corporations and the Pharmaceutical Industry. New York. United Nations.
31.
UnschuldP. U.1980“The Issue of Structured Coexistence of Scientific and Alternative Medical Systems: A Comparison of East and West German Legislation.”Social Science & Medicine14B: 15–24.
32.
WalkerH. D.1971Market Power and Price Levels in the Ethnical Drug Industry. Bloomington. Indiana University Press.
33.
WHO1977WHO Chronicle. 31: 47–52.
34.
YoungJ. H.1964Social History of American Drug Legislation. In: Drugs in Our Society (ed. TalayP.). Baltimore. The John Hopkins University Press.
