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Case Study on Drug Testing in Nigeria Essay

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Drug Testing in Nigeria Table of Contents Introduction 3 Background 3-4 Ethical Dilemma 4-5 Situational Analysis 5-6 Stakeholder Analysis 6-7 Analysis Based on Ethical Theories 7-8 Conclusion and Recommendations 8-9 References 10 Drug Testing in Nigeria Introduction ‘What if a drug company experimenting on critically ill children does not get the proper Parental consent, 11 of those children die and a whistleblower is fired?’ (Perlroth. 2008) This paper will discuss the issues caused by the actions taken by Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company. First, we will discuss the ethical dilemmas caused by the testing and identify the factors related to individuals involved; companies and managerial practices and policies, as well as …show more content…

In addition, there was the pressure to finish testing and get FDA approval. On the other hand, the children and people of Kano needed medical aid more than anything but only a few were receiving it, in the form of Intramuscular antibiotics that were difficult to administer. Trovan promised a quick cure with a bottle of pills (Spar and Day, 2006, p. 11). According to one drug researcher, it ‘was kind of a desperate time for Nigeria, they were happy to have anyone come in and do just about any kind of work’ (Stephens, 1996/7). Pfizer had already tested a combination of oral and intravenous Trovan successfully on two strains of bacteria known to cause meningitis. Scientific research strongly suggests that Trovan would be effective against the Nigerian bacteria (Spar and Day, 2006, p. 10). Another ethical dilemma could be conducting medical experiments without the consent of the Families as well as exploiting of a developing country. Situational Analysis Several factors helped to create the ethical dilemmas addressed above. Pfizer pharmaceutical company has an estimated market value of Troval once the FDA approves all its uses. Upon approval, it would be worth $1 billion. It was also critical for pharmaceutical companies to have an uninterrupted flow of new drug discoveries, as it was essential for growth and profitability (Spar and Day, 2006, p. 3). According to scientist, overseas

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