Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review
Abstract
Paul Zwier and Reuben Guttman examine the U.S. pharmaceutical industry and the harms imposed on individual patients and healthcare consumers ' including private and government third party payers - from practices proscribed by Federal and State laws regulating marketing and pricing. This Essay focuses on the False Claims Act, which has become the government's primary civil weapon against fraudulent and/or wrongful conduct. This Essay examines the market for pharmaceuticals, as well as, its profitability and risks. The authors evaluate the pricing of pharmaceuticals, the incentives in the market that seem to cause institutional behaviors that drive illegal conduct, and why faith in the free market fails in the case of pharmaceuticals. Zwier and Guttman discuss the failures of existing traditional remedies in the False Claims Act and the related actions to adequately compensate, deter, and punish for Big Pharma's illegalities and propose a combination of remedies to address this.
Recommended Citation
Paul J. Zwier & Reuben Guttman,
A Failure of Remedies: The Case of Big Pharma (An Essay),
3
Emory Corp. Governance & Accountability Rev.
42
(2016).
Available at:
https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/ecgar/vol3/iss2/2