Dr. Salvatore J. Giorgianni, Jr., a member of the Men’s Health Network board and its senior science advisor, has a lot to say about prescription drugs, including why they’re so expensive and the dangers that counterfeit drugs pose.
Giorgianni has been active in a number of radio and web interviews recently. You can listen to one, with Kerry Lutz with FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com.
The problems originate in a couple of ways, Giorgianni says. American pharmaceutical companies develop drugs, but often send production of those drugs overseas because production is cheaper there. However, overseas production can also expose drugs to counterfeiters.
Part of the solution, he says, is a meeting of the minds of pharmaceutical industrial movers and shakers to flatten the costs of research and develop the drugs. “We need to take a close look at how you do that from an industrialized country’s standpoint,” he says. “America can’t do it alone.” Ideally, he says, the U.S. would work together with other countries, especially those in the European Union, to improve production while keeping costs low.
The federal Food and Drug Administration’s regulations concerning drug production also sometimes get in the way, he says. Sometimes, the FDA’s efficacy requirements are an impediment to drugs coming to market more quickly.
It’s understandable that cancer treatments, mental health medicines, and other prescription drugs must be safe and work well, Giorgianni says. “But part of it is ‘how do we do this better?’ How do we not create unnecessary steps? What do we do so you can bring things into the market and still maintain diligence about their safety and efficacy?”
These questions are going to be especially important as vaccines for COVID-19 begin to come to market, he says.
