Paper Topic

Title: BiDil and the Beginning of the Racialization of Pharmaceuticals
Elevator Pitch: In the past few decades pharmaceutical companies have made attempts at financial gains by the biologization of race. This paper is going to delve into the argument on the validity of race based pharmaceuticals, starting with the creation of BiDil and going into the further research the FDA has conducted in order to push for the biologization of race, and whether this is a applicable process, or if the companies are simply exploiting an archaic and invalid idea of a genetic separation of the races to promote their products.
Theory: Political economy of health theory is a theory that is shaped by political, economic, and socio-historical powers. The theory explains how these driving forces shape health problems in the world and how we also deal with these problems. Race is a very powerful political topic and since the United States was established there have been many disparities in the medical world for people of color. Using this theory to analyze the FDA’s choice at marketing pharmaceutical drugs towards one type of race, I am going to question what is the driving force behind this decision and why it is an ill-conceived notion to create medicines that only work at benefiting one specific race.
Bibliography:

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