Pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry is a medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications. Medications are then administered to (or self-administered by) patients for curing or preventing disease or for alleviating symptoms of illness or injury. Generic drugs are typically not protected by patents, whereas branded drugs are covered by patents. The industry's various subdivisions include distinct areas, such as manufacturing biologics and total synthesis. The industry is subject to a variety of laws and regulations that govern the patenting, efficacy testing, safety evaluation, and marketing of these drugs. The global pharmaceutical market was valued at approximately US$1.48 trillion in 2022, reflecting steady growth from 2020 and continuing expansion despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector showed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.8% in 2021, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In historical terms, the pharmaceutical industry, as an intellectual concept, arose in the middle to late 1800s in nation-states with developed economies such as Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. Some businesses engaging in synthetic organic chemistry, such as several firms generating dyestuffs derived from coal tar on a large scale, were seeking out new applications for their artificial materials in terms of human health. This trend of increased capital investment occurred in tandem with the scholarly study of pathology as a field advancing significantly, and a variety of businesses set up cooperative relationships with academic laboratories evaluating human injury and disease. Examples of industrial companies with a pharmaceutical focus that have endured to this day after such distant beginnings include Bayer (based in Germany) and Pfizer (based in the U.S.). The pharmaceutical industry has faced extensive criticism for its marketing practices, including undue influence on physicians through pharmaceutical sales representatives, biased continuing medical education, and disease mongering to expand...