Drug Companies Put Profits First – So What?

Just to be clear, I’m not the biggest fan of drug companies. I’ve written about how much I dislike them and I’ve written about how wrong it is when they break the law and I’ve written about how ridiculous the penalties are when they do. I understand why people are outraged at companies that produce a healthcare product and then don’t follow the rules designed to protect of the health of the consumers that take it.

But that aside, people seem to be really mad that pharmaceutical companies put profits before people. And my point is, so what?

Why Do Companies Exist?

Companies en masse (except non-profits) exist for one reason – profit. That’s all. They don’t exist to make people feel better, they don’t exist to alleviate hunger, they don’t exist to ensure the economics of office furniture; they exist solely to make profit.

In fact, if a company has shareholders one might suggest that they are financially, and even morally, bound to make as much money as possible. That is why people invest in companies, after all.

Companies exist in order to facilitate their existence, in order to grow bigger and make more money. If you don’t like that, then perhaps capitalism isn’t for you.

Drug Companies Exist to Make Money

And so, no matter what a product a company makes, from shoes to blenders to tie clips to drugs, they’re in if for the money, honey. Not for your health. Not for my health. Not to save humanity. Not to make the world a better place. Every company does it for the money.

Don’t Waste Your Anger on Drug Companies – Try Politicians

So when a drug company puts profits before people, that’s not something to get mad about, that’s something to expect. Now if you want companies to behave more responsibly, you should really get mad at the legislators because they’re the ones that let drug companies act in the way that they do and barely slap them on the wrist when they’re caught not doing even that.

Because while you could hope that pharmaceutical companies just randomly start acting more responsibly, and sacrifice money to do it, that doesn’t seem in the least bit reasonable to me. I’m not standing up for bad behavior here, I’m just saying, let’s have some reasonable expectations. We don’t expect morality that sacrifices profits of other companies, so why expect it of drug companies?