The Role Of Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies In Global Public Health Governance

With the further development of globalization,the cross-border factors affecting health inssues have increased a lot.Governments' ability to control health problems has increasingly exposed its limitation,which creates a new form,namely “global health governance”—— a whole level of actors,including states,intergovernmental organizations,non-governmental organizations,transnational corporations,etc.,are jointly involved in the process of global health governance.Global health issues are increasingly integrated with trade-related policies.Transnational pharmaceutical companies have a direct or indirect influence on the effectiveness of global health governance,through their strong economic strength and abundant medical resources.However,because their business model is a contradiction of the "stakeholder" and the "corporate social responsibility," their role in global health governance also shows a clear duality: on the one hand,in the WTO negotiation on intellectual property rights,they would protect their patents for medicines in negotiations and put pressure on developing countries,which hinders the access of developing countries to essential medicines for common diseases;on the other hand,transnational pharmaceutical companies would build public-private partnerships with governments,non-governmental organizations,foundations,etc,launching a series of public health assistance projects in developing countries.Make a comprehensive analysis of the two facets of transnational pharmaceutical companies' role in global health governance from internal to external factors: First,the peculiarities of drugs make transnational pharmaceutical companies occupy a monopoly position in the pharmaceutical market,leading to an imbalance in drug supply and demand;and,due to the high cost of drug development.Meanwhile the epidemic areas in developing countries cannot afford high drug prices,making essential drugs profitable in the market here.However,the public welfare of the public health industry determines the separation of interests between its actors and behavioral outcomes.In particular,the pharmaceutical industry must aim at social public interests,rejecting private interests,and assume the status of “corporate citizenship” and fulfill its corporate social responsibility to meet social expectations.In addition,the pressure from governments,civil society organizations and international rules also demand transnational pharmaceutical companies to fulfill their obligations in global health governance.The two-sided role of transnational pharmaceutical companies enlightens the international community that,when cooperating with them,it should be better to balance international interests with corporate interests,coordinating to share their resources,and establishing a regular contact mechanism to form a stable and changeable cooperative relationship with them.