Pharmaceutical Gatekeepers

Drawing on Kraakman’s influential framework on third-party gatekeepers in corporate finance, the article applies a gatekeeping analysis to the pharmaceutical marketplace, examining how diverse entities, including the FDA, USPTO, FTC, physicians, insurance companies, and patients, serve as potential gatekeepers against pharmaceutical misconduct. The analysis explores how these federal agencies and private actors, each wielding different powers to withhold support from potentially harmful pharmaceutical practices, can more effectively deter wrongdoing in a complex regulatory landscape.