Are Drug Companies Acting Ethically Essay

"In the past two decades or so, health care has been commercialized as never before, and professionalism in medicine seems to be giving way to entrepreneurialism," commented Arnold S. Relman, professor of medicine and social medicine at Harvard Medical School (Wekesser 66). This statement may have a great deal of bearing on reality. The tangled knot of insurers, physicians, drug companies, and hospitals that we call our health system are not as unselfish and focused on the patients' needs as people would like to think. Pharmaceutical companies are particularly ruthless, many of them spending millions of dollars per year to convince doctors to prescribe their drugs and to convince consumers that their specific brand of drug is needed in

Specify the types of country risks that pharmaceutical firms face in international business. How do the political and legal systems of countries affect the global pharmaceutical industry?

The twenty-first century has seen pharmaceutical companies grow in unprecedented size and strength. Due to the unprecedented growth the larger pharmaceutical companies have gained leverage and power in the prescription drug industry, but they lack innovation to market and they seek ways to help the business continue to increase its profits. The pharmaceutical industry was once ethically sound and was a valuable player in the development of human health. However, overtime with the lack of innovation pharmaceutical companies are becoming an unethical market that exploits patients, doctors and anyone else it can to increase its profitability. With eyes only on profitability this can create a hazard for patients because there

We (Individuals) do not want an individual in jury duty under the use of illegal dugs. But, what if the individual is actually under prescription drugs?

It is a benefit versus risk gamble that these companies take. An example: marijuana is a plant that is medically proven to reduce nausea. Long-term use has not been evaluated, and it is illegal in most states. However, people continue to utilize it for its alleviating benefits despite the risk of not being approved by the Federal Drug Administration. The Federal Drug Administration struggles to have control over the legalization of marijuana. The battle of getting marijuana legalized for medical purposes is a struggle that some states will continue to fight against the Federal Drug Administration. The argument that has been made is that one may benefit from marijuana for medical uses. Some patients have had beneficial results from marijuana, and they prefer to use the drug instead of over the counter medication or treatment (Berg,

I personally feel that it is neither ethical nor unethical for a company to decline to sell a useful drug just because they can make more money marketing drugs that are more widely needed. It really is up to the company what drugs they want to sell however; if a drug is available that will help people and or cure disease, it should be made available and companies should sell it. From a business stand point I can understand why they would want to market only drugs that are more widely needed as it will make them more money however; by offering or selling drugs that are useful, they will eventually gain more recognition and that could lead to a competitive advantage.

Drug companies that test experimental drugs in foreign countries are not acting ethically. Testing of experimental drugs should be done in the country where the drugs are being manufactured. The major ethical dilemma is that the foreign countries that these clinical trials are not fully educated on the risks and understand what they are getting themselves into. In the article, many things stood out that these countries may not know what they are signing up for. Doing these clinical trials in foreign countries, drug companies are “exploiting the healthy who are strapped for cash and the sick who seek cheap or free remedies.” (Netto, Health-Asia:

The Pharmaceutical industry has been in the spotlight for decades due to the fact that they have a reputation for being unethical in its marketing strategies. In The Washington Post Shannon Brownlee (2008) states, “We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow.” This honorable statement is completely lost in today’s world of pharmaceutical marketing tactics. These tactics are often deceptive and biased. Big Pharma consistently forgets their moral purpose and focuses primarily on the almighty dollar. Big Pharma is working on restoring their reputation by reforming their ethical code of conduct.

These companies are clearly putting the health and well-being on people to save money, them bypassing the laws to save money and avoid regulations and protocols of the United States. The low standard of medical treatment these companies are providing in addition to the slave labor wages is preposterous to say the least. Many major pharmaceuticals companies make sure to inform the public of all the free medicines they donate to developing countries. One would think that is the least they can do considering these products were probably tested on them years ago, and let us not forget the tax

Over the past couple of decades, a sudden change has started to take over the way business is done. The time when no rules applied, and anyone could do what they pleased at the cost of others or the environment is rapidly ending. Instead, companies today have become aware that it is essential for them to employ ethics and morality in their actions, if not they will be heavily scrutinized and rejected by the public. This way of thinking also applies to the pharmaceutical industry, which over the past century has been rapidly expanding. Do to the fact that this industry can determine the health and lives of millions of people, it is imperative that this industry follow an ethical and moral path.

Society expects drug companies to improve people’s well-being and to behave like a nonprofit company not overly concerned with making large profits. However, investors

Merck was one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. • Merck was about to lose patent protection of two of its best selling drugs, which had been a significant part of their $2 billion annual sales. • Merck began putting millions of dollars into research (up to $1 billion) and within three years, Merck was able to discover four powerful medications. • Profits weren’t all that Merck cared about; Merck’s founder believed that “medicine is for people. It is not for the profits.” • He also believed that following the “medicine is for people” philosophy would lead to profits and had yet to fail.• River Blindness is caused by parasitic worms, which can be found in

Thousands of people voluntarily enroll in clinical drug trials every year. They are putting their health and safety at risk by participating in a drug trial. One would think they would be doing this to promote medical advancement, but in all actuality, it is for the high dollar amounts they receive for compensation. People that frequently enroll in drug trials are often called “guinea pigs.” The monetary amount people are paid can go as high seventy-five hundred dollars. The more invasive the procedure is the higher the compensation. These “Guinea pigs” are required to pay taxes on the money they do make. (Elliott, 2008)

The pharmaceutical industry confronts several dilemmas every year. Most of these dilemmas revolve around money or whether or not to sacrifice now for a bigger payoff in the end concerning money and/or lives. Pharmaceutical companies tend to use shortcuts that create ethical problems. Drug companies have spent millions/billions of dollars in research, and they obviously want to see

Merck and Company is a pharmaceutical research company known for groundbreaking discoveries in developing medications. This paper will cover a scenario where Merck was considering the further development of a preexisting medication to treat patients with a mosquito transmitted worm larvae that thrives in the new host and reproduces within the host better known as river blindness. This paper will examine the corporate ethical and social responsibilities by evaluating the stakeholders, the Corporate Social Responsibility Pyramid, then organizational values, Stakeholder Impact and Trust, and will make a final decision.