In the last few years, business models known as “X-as-a-Service” flourished. Most major companies turned their previous one-time products into subscription-based ones, improving, they said, customer retention...
The structure of pharmaceutical products in the U.S. and many other Western countries relies on the precautionary principle: before a drug is approved and launched on the market, it must go through several rounds of testing. The drug has to be safe, at least relative to the condition it is intended to ameliorate, and effective at doing that...
What if they could speed up the process and convince the wider public that everyone needs this new product? In a single shot – pun intended – massively expand the market for their novel product. What if, even better, it seems that everyone also needs supplements of this drug every six months or so?
Not an unfamiliar possibility thanks to the coronavirus debacle , but the whole piece is well worth reading.
But think about the numbers for a minute. And consider whether this is a Bootleggers-and-Baptists situation going on.
2 comments:
Pharma is already a service, in that lots of medicines are dished out on repeat prescriptions. The one I am taking actually comes with the warning that I must not consider stopping taking it without consulting my doctor. So, with the best will in the world, that would be in about 2026, following a lot of persistent lobbying on my part.
So my doctor prescribed me something which I now request online when my stash gets low. I doubt if anyone reads my request, and indeed it would make sense if my repeat prescription were handled by a simple algorithm. There probably isn't a single sentient being apart from me who knows that I am taking it, and the money flows neatly from the taxpayer to the doctors' practice by working on my credulity regarding their threats.
How's that for a service?!
Sam - I'm in a roughly similar position with medical supplies. I think it's worth remembering that people don't need prescriptions for mass vaccinations. The writer seems to expect big pharma to move towards something similar, towards more direct mass medication for products which need repeat doses forever.
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