Government intervention in cardiovascular disease--help or hindrance? The pharmaceutical industry viewpoint

The health of its people is a matter of importance for any responsible government. This is primarily achieved through ensuring adequate standards of nutrition, housing, and hygiene. The government has additionally to ensure the provision of an effective and affordable health care system. This must deliver adequate medical resources that are readily available for those who fall ill. Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of mortality in the Western world. Thus, it is incumbent on the government to provide health care for those who suffer from cardiovascular disease. There is a further obligation to promote a healthy life-style in the community by providing dietary advice and discouraging avoidable risk factors (e.g., smoking). Life-style changes are not easy and may be insufficient to beneficially influence the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The pharmaceutical industry, therefore, plays an integral role in health care delivery by providing doctors with the medicines to manage those patients who suffer from cardiovascular disease, for whom life-style changes have not provided the answer. In most european countries, the pharmaceutical industry operates within tight government regulatory confines which define efficacy and safety of medicines. In those countries where there is a socialized health care policy, the prices of medicines are regulated by the government. Thus government intervention in most European countries is a fact of life for the industry, and the manner in which it exercises its powers will have a critical effect on whether the intervention is a help or hindrance.