Essay - Pfizer the Economics of the Pharmaceutical Industry—focus on Pfizer Drugs...

Pfizer

***** Economics of the Pharmaceutical Industry—Focus on Pfizer Drugs

Specify on some background ***** the company

According to its official website, Pfizer Incorporated "discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets leading prescripti***** medicines for humans and animals and many of ***** world's best-known consumer brands. Our innovative, value-added products improve the quality of life ***** people around ***** world and help them enjoy longer, healthier, and more productive lives. The company has three business segments: health care, animal health and consumer ***** care. Our products are available in ***** than one hundred and fifty countries." (Official Website 2004)

Although Pfizer's claims to offer value to its consumers may be debatable, its contention that it is the leader of the industry in sheer dollar terms cannot ***** d*****puted. Of particular value to Pfizer as a s*****ck h***** been ***** patent of the drug Viagra, and it cont*****ues to capitalize upon its dominance as an industry leader even in ***** second of its website ***** attempts to attract *****dividuals ***** work for the comp*****y.

How inelastic is the demand for the company product?

Demand for pharmaceuticals ***** relatively inelastic, in the industry as a whole, not simply ***** Pfizer's drugs, but also in the sense that few ***** can say, 'oh well, the economy is bad, my budget ***** tight—guess I'll cut back on my *****sulin/beta blockers/cholesterol lowering drug' this month. However, generic alternatives have posed potent threats for ***** industry. (EGA, 2004) Furthermore, although Pfizer has the advantage of having certain drugs, such as 'Viagra' with such high name recognition the brand name is virtually synonymous ***** the drug's function, Viagra is not a necessary drug because of its sexual enhancement function in ***** ***** that life-preserving *****s are. However, the potency of the 'Viagra' name should not be underestimated. In o*****r w*****ds, rather than the chemical name itself, much like Eli Lilly' relationship with the antidepressant drug Prozac, be*****e Prozac's patent ran out in ***** p*****t century, people know Viagra's function to be synonymous with Viagra ***** than with the ********** generic alterative. *****, Prozac, a potent antidepressant, was far more necessary to its core audience of psychologically d*****tur*****d users than Viagra, although it ********** was alleged as being a 'cosmetic' drug, as deployed by some physicians.

Why is the pharmaceutical company considered to be part ***** an oligopoly-style market?

***** a traditional oligopoly market structure, there are only a ***** firms that make up the ***** ***** a *****. (Investopedia, 2004) Thus, the few firms making up the industry have control over the prices of the industry's product, by and large, although the relatively wide range of ********** available within the ***** industry bring th***** economic fact into some dispute—again, ***** is a difference in demand and drug effects ***** certain drug types, ***** not all. For instance, Viagra may ***** a favored ***** for its purposes, ***** the *****-the-counter Pfizer ***** Sudafed, an *****ti-contestant, has far more competition and available substitutes.

Like a monopol*****tic m*****rket, an oligopolisic market often