Many patients go to a pharmacy, drop off their prescription, and pick it up a few hours later never understanding the business behind the medication they purchase. With the sharp rise in health care costs and with insurance companies covering less and paying out less, the job of pharmacists have become much more important. So your first question is probably what exactly is a pharmacist? Pharmacists act as a learned intermediary between physicians and patients and ensure the safe and effective use of medications. That is one side of what pharmacists do.
The other side of the pharmacy business is pharmaceutical companies getting their medications into the market. After millions in testing, after the FDA gives you the stamp of approval, it is time to bring your medication to the pharmacy. It is truly a business and not necessarily the best available medication gets to the patients. There is a lot of politics and negotiating that gets a drug onto a pharmacy shelf.
At heart a pharmacist has the best intentions of the patients as a priority. Most pharmacists work for a pharmacy, and the pharmacy is a business, and business is about profits. If the pharmacy has a choice between two medications and they stand to make more money from one medication than they do from another, even if the less expensive medication is better why would they choose to stock it?
What many patients don
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