Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY): 3 Big Concerns for the Pharmaceutical Industry

3. The fear of over-prescribing medications
This is another one you don’t think about all too often, but physicians in the back of their mind have to consider not prescribing antibiotics every time you or your child gets a sniffle.

Based on the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bacteria are becoming more resistant to primary antibiotics. Physicians often cited that time pressure, patient demand, and diagnostic uncertainty led to their decision to prescribe antibiotics when they in fact may not have been necessary. The CDC has concluded that there could be a 30% reduction in outpatient antibiotic prescriptions written without adversely affecting patient health. That’s staggering and a concern for the pharmaceutical industry.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, via Wikimedia Commons.

One easy way to counter this is with more consistent marketing campaigns directed at both physicians and consumers that highlight the benefits of their drug.

Another idea is to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop new types of antibiotics to treat strains of bacteria that are becoming more resistant to standardized forms of medication. Unfortunately, this one’s been a bit tricky because the CDC has itself tried to do its part in educating physicians to lower the amount of antibiotic prescriptions they write unless it’s absolutely necessary. It can be pretty difficult to encourage research and development of a drug which may have little use or ultimately loses the company money. Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:SVA)‘s EV71 — a hand, foot, and mouth disease vaccine that may only help a small patient population in China — is a great example. Although EV71 performed well in late-stage trials last week, there may be little impetus for the Chinese government to utilize the vaccine on a disease where death rates are already so minute (under 0.1%).

Luckily for now, over-prescribing remains a distant concern that isn’t heeded too closely by physicians, but its effects should still be closely monitored.

The article 3 Big Concerns for the Pharmaceutical Industry originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of Dendreon and Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool recommends Accenture and Johnson & Johnson.

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