Free Antibiotics - A Stupid Decision

According to the New York Times, several smaller retail pharmacies around the country such as Wegman's Food Market, Publix, and ShopRite are offering free antibiotics this winter to compete with larger chains such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and CVS Pharmacy. This tactic has lured more patients to the smaller pharmacies, but the long term consequences of offering free antibiotics could harm the public much more than it helps.

Because of this, many patients have demanded that doctors give them a prescription for an antibiotic when it is not necessary. Antibiotics only work against bacterial infections, and patients that have a virus, such as influenza, might actually be hurting themselves by using them when it is not needed. Overusage of antibiotics increases drug resistance in humans. This decreases the effectiveness of the antibiotic in the future, when it may actually be needed.

Another major problem with increasing antibiotic resistance is the fact that most drug companies do not spend very much research and development in antibiotics. Being in a capitalist society, drug companies try to make as much money as possible. Why would a company create a new antibiotic that is used for 10 days when they could be developing a cholesterol lowering drug that patients would buy 30 days a month, 12 months a year?

Either doctors need to be much more strict in prescribing medications, or drug companies should focus more on the development of antibiotics. The only problem is that doctors want to keep patients happy so they will return, and drug companies want to choose the more lucrative option. This problem will probably not be solved soon, but doctor's must take responsibility and not hand out antibiotics like Jehovah's Witnesses leaflets.