The History of Pharmaceutical Industry The origins of the pharmaceu pharmaceutic tical al indust industry ry can be traced traced back to the chemical chemical indust industrie riess (of the late late ninete nineteent enth h centur century) y) in the upper Rhine Valley of Switzerland . stuffs were These These indust industrie riess were were produc producing ing dye stuff stuffs. s. When When dye stuffs were found found to have number ber of thes hese indu indust stri ries es turned in into pharmaceutical antiseptic antiseptic properties properties , a num etc. industries e.g. Hoffman-a !oche, "ando#, $iba-%eigy, etc. ¬her origin is the drug store. The first known drug store was opened by Arabian many more more soon soon began began opera operati ting ng thro throug ughou houtt pharmacists in pharmacists in Baghdad in !" !", and many th the Islamic world and #urope. 'y the century, many of the drug stores in #urope and $orth America had had de%eloped into larger pharmaceutical companies . *ost of today+s maor pharmaceutical companies were founded in the late th and early th centuries.
&ey disco%eries of the '()*s and '(+*s , such as insulin insulin and and penicillin , became mass-manuf mass-manufactur actured ed and distribute distributed. d. Switzerland, -ermany, Italy, .&, .S, Belgium and $etherlands, had strong industries/
&s a result result of introdu introducti ction on and success of penicillin in the early forties and the relative success of other inno%ati%e drugs , research and de%elopment (!/0) became a ma0or thrust area of the pharmaceutical industry. The industry e1panded rapidly in the si1ties, benefiting from new discoveries. 2n the attemp mpts ts were were made by the the ./S '(1*s atte ./S// 2oo 2ood d and 3ru 3rug g Ad Admini ministra stration tion 423A5 to regulation of pharmaceutical pharmaceutical industries and to limit financial financial lin6s between increase regulation companies companies and prescribing prescribing physicians. physicians. 2n '(1", after the thalidomide tragedy (in which the use of a new tran3uili#er in pregnant women caused severe birth defects in the new 7orld 8edical 8edical Associ Associatio ation n set standa born child), the 7orld standards rds for clinic clinical al resear research. ch. efficacy and safety of the drug in 4harmaceutical companies were re3uired to prove efficacy clinical trials before marketing them.
Tighter Tighter regulatory regulatory controls controls were introduced introduced in the se%enties . The new regulations re%o6ed re%o6ed permanent permanent patents and establ establish ished ed fi1ed fi1ed period periodss on patent patent protec protecti tion on for products and branded products. &s a result industries flourished by producing generic products they started earning huge profits, because generic manufacturers do not incur the cost of drug discovery. discovery. (& generic drug is a drug drug on on which patent has e1pired). 5rom '(9, India took over as the primary center of pharmaceutical production of bulk drugs and products without patent protection. The industry remained relatively small scale until the 6s when it began to e1pand at a greater rate.
0rugs for heart disease and for AI3S were a feature of the '(9*s, and the .S 23A started appro%ing such drugs :uic6ly keeping in view the n ature of the disease.
egislation allowing strong patents, to cover both the process of manufacture and the specific products came in to force in most countries, and the small industries were hit by this and many closed down or were ta6en o%er by large industries. industries. 2n '((*s and till date a number of mergers and takeovers have taken place. &s a result pharmaceutical manufacturi manufacturing ng became became concentrated , with a few large companies holding a dominant position throughout the world.
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