Essay on Case Study: Merck & Company: the Vioxx Recall

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most powerful and greedy industries in our country, with a goal to make as large a profit as possible, at the expense of the sick.

During this time the first DTC print advertisement for Merck an “antipneumococcal vaccine, Pneumovax(pneumococcal vaccine polyvalent) was printed in Reader’s Digest (Ventola).” That created a chain effect and shortly later “Boots Pharmaceuticals ran the first DTC broadcast advertisement, which promoted the lower price of its prescription brand of ibuprofen (Rufen), compared with Motrin (Ventola).” Today, the US pharmaceutical industry spends $3.1 billion on advertising prescription drugs directly to consumers.

Dr. David Graham is the senior scientist within the FDA’s Office of Drug Safety. Graham became concerned when he started to see an increased number of patients having heart attacks and strokes after taking a large does of the drug Vioxx, back in 2002. He raised his concern to the FDA saying that the warning label needs to be changed due to his new findings. He had trouble getting this any attention from the FDA’s administration and decided it was time to ‘blow the whistle’ and go to the media.

Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs has attracted several controversies, especially from people opposed to it. Some of the major arguments that have been raised include the possibility of the advertising to be a blatant manipulation of the public, the huge potential benefits to pharmaceutical companies and significant damages to the health care system. However, direct-to-consumer advertising of prescriptions drugs should be carried out properly because the advantages of this measure outweigh its disadvantages. One of the major reasons for the advertisement of

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) was founded 121 years ago based on the need for sterile medical supplies to treat patient’s wounds. Post-operative mortality rates were a grim 90% and after attending a seminar on “antisepsis” Robert Wood Johnson, an apothecary, saw this as an opportunity to start a much needed company. With $100,000 in capital and the help of his brothers, James and Edward, they established Johnson & Johnson. Their prospect with J&J was “to manufacture and sell medical, pharmaceutical, surgical and antiseptic specialties and analgesic goods.”

This paper is concern with legal and ethical issues in advertising, marketing, regulations and intellectual property of product safety with respect to PharmaCARE which is a pharmaceutical company. The paper includes the information regarding drug companies, Direct to Consumers (DTC) marketing. Next we will

Health authorities estimate that 1% of Candor’s population would be infected by the viral outbreak in March of 2012. Gentura was under pressure by the new government to subsidize the price of ViroBlax. The subsidization of ViroBlax would be a breech of contract with CadMex. Furthermore, Gentura is the only licensed manufacture of ViroBlax in Candore. Acting as the Vice President in charge of International Business Development, I directed our legal counsel to take no legal action, but claim compensation from Gentura. I based my decision from the fact that legal actions against Gentura would weaken the partnership between CadMex and Gentura, and could take a great deal of time to arbitrate with nonbinding results. The alternative of asking Gentura for shared marketing rights for another drug was considered, however through conversations with Gentura’s CEO Vail Saman, and our legal counsel of Kera Sawyer I decided that this option was not in our best interest to peruse.

Founded by two mutual acquaintances and former staff members of California Biotechnology Inc. (CalBio), Lorin Johnson and Randy Hamilton set out to build a company specializing in a specific area of need, such as inflammatory bowel disease. Their search throughout the international landscape was focused on the chemical compounds that would be the foundation for therapeutic drugs that serve as a benefit to the management gastric disorders. As these compounds were discovered by way of research, with the intent to align and contract with already licensed agreements if the price allows for the newly formed company to take part. One such compound that fit the need for the company was found

Last year, in September 2004, Merck withdrawed Vioxx, off the market. Studies of Vioxx showed that it doubled the risk of a heart attack or stroke for patients who have used it more than 18 months. After Merck, withdrawed Vioxx from the market, the FDA, issued a public health advisory for the users of Vioxx. Therefore, Vioxx was on the market for five years without

Nowadays, in an ever-changing global business era, companies face a lot of ethical and legal issues in the market while implementing strategies and activities. The global organizations have to face various kinds of moral and legal problems in the current business environment. The companies need to follow the regulations, laws, and ethics. This paper assesses and analysis ethical matters relating to marketing and advertising of drug, intellectual property of AD 23 and regulation of product safety. Moreover, this paper also arguments for or against DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) Marketing by pharmaceutical companies. It determines the responsibilities of the parties for regulating compounding pharmacies according to the current regulatory scheme as well as describes PharmaCARE could face legal exposure surrounding its practices.

The problematic issue for Bristol-Myers was to position its new aspirin drug to the potential customers and decide a good price which can not only make it acceptable by the customers, but also give a fair profit to the company. In other words, the company had to formulate an effective marketing and promotional strategy for its new drug, Datril. The company was not merely willing to establish its new brand in the analgesic market; the main issue was to establish this new brand in the presence of a strong competitor, Tylenol.

Another issue is too much power is given to scientists in decision-making of candidate drugs. Also there were inadequacies and lack of communication between marketing and research. Merck’s marketing and research needed to realize that the making of the drug is not only the most important part in increasing sales, but it also included a strong advertising campaign that will satisfy the needs of the customers.

Do you believe that Merck acted in a socially responsible and ethical manner with regard to Vioxx? Why or why not? (In your answer, please address the company’s drug development and

This case study focuses Burroughs Wellcome and their drug Retrovir. Retrovir is a drug that treats AIDS and AID-related complications. In 1987, Burroughs Wellcome obtained approval from the FDA to market azidothymidine (AZT), also known as Retrovir, as a treatment for AIDS. Retrovir was the only kind of drug on the market. Because of this, many critics accused Burroughs Wellcome of price-gouging, as the price of Retrovir was $188 for a hundred 100mg capsules sold to wholesalers. The president of Burroughs Wellcome, T.E Haigler, defended the high price, stating it was due to uncertainty in the market, the possibility of new drug therapies, and profit margins created by new drugs. Even though Retrovir’s price was dropped 20 percent in December 1987, and 20 percent more in September 1989, due to the House of Representatives launching an investigation, there was still pressure to lower the price. The big question faced in this case is what is Burroughs Wellcome’s next move regarding pricing?

Merck was established in 1891 to improve human and animal health through the development of innovative products. Merck currently has two reportable segments, the Pharmaceutical Segment and the Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Segment. Merck sells products through several channels including wholesalers, retailers, hospitals, clinics, government and managed health services providers. In the 1980’s the Merck was very successful in producing 10 major new drugs and had a very healthy pipeline. In later years, Merck has entered into joint ventures with many other pharmaceutical companies in order to expand its pipeline. In the last several years Merck has