RT Book, Section
A1 Burns, Lawton Robert
SR Print(0)
ID 1184094246
T1 The Pharmaceutical Sector
T2 The U.S. Healthcare Ecosystem: Payers, Providers, Producers
YR 2021
FD 2021
PB McGraw-Hill
PP New York, NY
SN 9781264264476
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1184094246
RD 2024/04/23
AB This  chapter  and  the  next  examine  the  sectors  that  manufacture  pharmaceuticals  and  biologics.  By  way  of  definition,  a  pharmaceutical  is  a  product  made  through  chemical  synthesis  (ie,  the  preparation  of  a  compound  using  plant-  and  chemical-based  substances  that  use  chemical  reactions  to  derive  a  pill  or  capsule).  By  contrast,  a  biologic  is  manufactured  in  or  extracted  from  living  biological  sources  (eg,  bacteria,  yeast,  and  mammalian  cells)  and  can  include  vaccines,  allergenics,  somatic  cells,  gene  therapies,  tissues,  recombinant  therapeutic  proteins  (including  monoclonal  antibodies),  peptides  (protein  fragments),  and  living  cells.  An  easier  way  to  distinguish  these  2  products  is  that  pharmaceuticals  are  small  molecules  (700  daltons)  that  are  usually  administered  by  a  physician  via  an  injection,  but  can  sometimes  be  patient-administered  via  an  auto-injector.