Internet medicine and pharmacies: Private choice, public risks, and healthcare business

What is it about?

The injury or liability principle articulated by the classic political economist, John Stuart Mill, proscribes state intervention in private choices and actions that do not impose harmful costs on others. This study determines its validity in the context of the Internet model of healthcare business. Specifically, it examines the supply chain, marketing, and (vertical and horizontal) third party effects of online medicines and medical information.

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Why is it important?

Efficient solutions to problems and issues raised by pharmaceutical lemons inevitably entail some form of government intervention, even if market-oriented approaches are pursued. Governments should consider if better attribution of property rights, altering incentives of Internet sellers, and a tort-based system are more efficient than heavy reliance on criminal law. Nonetheless, the study asserts that regulating the public regulators is just as critical as outsourcing regulation, supply chain tracking and data-banking, marketing disincentives, multi-pronged educational initiatives, and intersectoral and intergovernmental collaborations.