A pharmaceutical company (or drug company) is a company licensed to discover, develop, market and distribute A medication is a drug or substance taken to reduce symptoms or cure an illness or medical condition. Medications are generally divided into two groups -- over the counter (OTC) medications, which are available in pharmacies and supermarkets without special restrictions, and prescription only, which must be prescribed by a physician... drugs.

Most large pharmaceutical companies were founded in the 20th century, and derive their market share from a few well-marketing preparations. Examples are In pharmacology, simvastatin (Zocor®, Zocor Heart Pro®, marketed by the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co.) is the main drug from the class of statins. It is used to control hypercholesterolemia (elevated cholesterol levels) and to prevent cardiovascular disease. Uses Simvastatin is a powerful lipid-lowering drug that can decrease low... simvastatin (Zocor®), which was marketed successfully for twenty years by Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) or Merck Sharp and Dohme (as it is known outside the USA and Canada) is a US pharmaceutical company. It was originally the US subsidiary of the German company, Merck KGaA. In common with many other German assets in the United States, Merck &... Merck & Co. Some of the reason for this is that the process of development, In medicine, a clinical trial (synonyms: clinical studies, research protocols, medical research) is a research study. Types of clinical trial The most commonly performed clinical trials evaluate new drugs or medical therapies to patients in strictly scientifically controlled settings. The purpose of such trials is to determine whether one or... clinical trials and marketing is expensive and takes a long time. After this the company will usually be granted a A chemical patent is an important source of technical and bibliographic information. Chemical patents are different from other sources of technical information because of the generic, Markush structures contained within them, named after the inventor Eugene Markush who won a claim in the US in 1925 to allow such structures... patent for the drug for about 20 years. Drugs are initially sold at a price higher than after competition is introduced. When the patent for the drug runs out, a generic is usually created by a competing company and released, causing the price to drop markedly.

Controversies

Recently, some large companies have received a fair share of criticism. Examples are:

• Accusations of forging or suppressing clinical trial results to maximise uptake of some medications;
• Accusations of manipulating the market by showering doctors with free gifts, trips and other services;
• Criticism for keeping the price of AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, sometimes written Aids) is a human disease characterized by progressive destruction of the bodys immune system. It is widely accepted that AIDS results from infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), although this hypothesis is not without controversy. HIV infection is... AIDS medication artificially high, limiting patients in the Third World in their therapeutic possibilities. Pharmaceutical companies on their side claim that lowering the price will not generate enough profits and can not be justified after their high development costs. Developing countries want to be able to produce and import cheap generic AIDS drugs for their relatively poor population, but since these drugs are generally developed by first world countries like the US, this is not without controversy and it has been claimed that selling cheap AIDS drugs to developing countries might cause pharmaceutical companies to focus their research on other, more profitable areas. In March 2001 South Africa was sued by 41 pharmaceutical companies for their Medicines Act that allowed for import and generic production of cheap AIDS drugs, the case was later dropped after protest around the world.

See also

• Category:Pharmaceutical companies
• This is a list of pharmaceutical and biotech companies that are major manufacturers on global or national markets : Abbott Laboratories Able Laboratories Akzo Nobel Allergan Almirall Prodesfarma Alphapharm Altana (previously Byk Gulden) ALZA, part of Johnson & Johnson Amgen AstraZeneca Aventis, now part of Sanofi-Aventis Bayer AG Biogen... List of pharmaceutical companies
• Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmacon is drug, and logos is science) is the study of how chemical substances interfere with living systems. If these substances have medicinal properties, they are referred to as pharmaceuticals. The field encompasses drug composition, drug properties, interactions, toxicology, and desirable effects that can be used in... Pharmacology