The Pharmaceutical Fix

Abstract

The pharmaceutical industry, although far less important in terms of its size than the motor industry, is of particular interest because it is one of the most international industries in the world today. The leading pharmaceutical TNCs have more overseas manufacturing subsidiaries than any other branch of industry (Vaupel and Curhan, 1973 tables 2.61 and 2.62). In terms of reliance on profits from abroad, pharmaceuticals is the second most internationalised manufacturing industry in the United States (Bergsten, Horst and Moran, 1978, table 3.2). The leading TNCs are heavily dependent on foreign sales, which make up between a third and a half of the total sales of the leading US companies, and well over half (often more than 90%) in the case of European firms (UNCTC, 1979, table 6). Moreover, the importance of foreign sales has been on the increase (UNCTC, 1979, table 22).