Ethical Issues Within The Pharmaceutical Industry Essay

The problem solving methods that might be helpful to assist Jerry in making an ethical decision would be to establish trust with the patient and become aware of the problem. Then analyze the problems and decide on a plan with the patient. He will then want to make sure he reinforces the commitment to the patient and activate the plan. Last, he will follow through with the task and monitor everything until the situation is taken care of.

In July 2001 Robert R. Courtney’s illegal and highly unethical behavior was brought to the attention of local authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Courtney’s blatant disregard for the trust patients placed in him was evidenced by his daily violations of their rights and expectations while he supposedly provided quality healthcare service. By August 2001, following investigation, the FBI filed 20 federal charges against Courtney that carried a maximum prison sentence of 196 years (United Press International, 2002). $8 million of his assets which were estimated to be in excess of $10 million were frozen to be used as restitution for victims in the criminal case. Following a plea agreement Courtney’s prison

An article was chosen from the University Library to evaluate the issue of unethical business research conduct. The article chose is called Flacking for Big Pharma: Drugmakers Don't Just Compromise Doctors; They Also Undermine the Top Medical Journals and Skew the Findings of Medical Research . The identification of the unethical business research involved in the article is given. The parties involved along with effected party is mentioned. The evaluation of the article also identifies how the unethical behavior affected the organization, injured party, and society. A proposition of

Before a health care organization implements an EMR system, they should have a security system in place, which includes “access control” component. Access control within an EMR system is controlled by distinct user roles and access levels, the enforcement of strong login passwords, severe user verification/authorization and user inactivity locks. Health care of professionals regardless of their level, each have specific permissions for accessing data. Even though the organization have the right security system in place to prevent unauthorized users from access patient records, autonomous patients will expect to have access to his or her records with ease. Access their record will ensure that their information is correct and safe.

In Marcia Angell’s book, The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to do About It, she reveals to readers the truth about what the pharmaceutical drug companies do to make money and how it effects us as customers and patients. Angell shows through her use of facts from credible sources and her use of statistic and knowledge on the subject that the pharmaceutical industry has transformed into one that is more profit based than one that is trying to help out people with innovative medication.

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.

Pharmaceutical companies are receiving negative allegations due to the “off-label” advertising of drugs. The Federal and Drug Administration require strict regulations for the use of “off-label” drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. “Off-label” practice of drugs are not prohibited, however, promoting the drugs are illegal. The concern of effective treatment is weighing the benefits and risks of “off-label” drugs for the best interest of the patient. In addition, companies who fail to comply with the FDA regulations, face consequences such as costly fines as well as criminal issues. Pharmaceutical companies often settle with the government, due to lack of proper procedures, complying with public health agencies. Modifying the policies of pharmaceutical companies with a different approach will limit the misuse of “off-label” drugs (Ghillyer, 2014).

The movie the Constant Gardner and the commentary by Sonia Shah bring forward many moral principles that could be argued. The movie and the commentary bring to light the ethical and moral dilemmas pertaining to drug trials and the capitalist interests that create the moral dilemmas. I propose to argue only the moral principle that greed should dictate one’s actions with regards to the testing the effectiveness of new drugs. In theory the goal of doctors practicing medicine is to heal people. In theory the goal of the pharmaceutical industry should be creating drugs to cure diseases not creating wealth. When was the last time that a disease was actually cured, versus having to take medicine every day? It appears that pharmaceutical companies are motivated solely by profit and getting their new drugs to market rather than actually curing diseases. It appears that the primary motivation is profit and the secondary motivation is curing diseases. There is a rush to get new drugs to market purely for profit rather than perfect them to actually serve the purpose that they were created for, which is to cure diseases.

This paper will research the Product recall involving the Drug Company known as Merck, who produced the drug Vioxx use to treat osteoarthritis, and acute pain in adults. Looking at the relationships Merck had with government and lobbyist one can see what actions the drug company may have taken to lead them to this recall. In Addition, This paper will look at the actions Merck took in the approval process and recall of their drug. Using all information provided on this case this paper will decide whether Merck was ethically correct in bringing the drug to market and if they took the right steps in recalling it. Finally I will discuss the other stakeholder responsibilities and provide solutions to prevent this from happening in the future.

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.

The pharmacy business and healthcare in general is an immensely complex subject with profound ethical, economic and political intricacies and considerations. As discuss previously in this paper a lot of the issues with Shkreli arise from his own personality and a lack of moral turpi-tude. For the purpose of generating a reasonable solution we will put Shkreli’s personality aside and examine the specific strategy and conditions in the healthcare space that allowed Shkreli to single handedly raise the price of Daraprim by over 5000%. This section will examine the practice of trolling, a strategy used by Martin Shkreli and Turing pharmaceuticals to profit off the drug Daraprim despite adding nothing to the development or improvement of the drug.

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)

In the last three decades HIV/ AIDS has become the one of the most notorious and widely spread diseases in the modern world. Its discovery in the late seventies prompted worldwide concern. The one thing that has become the most bothersome thing about the HIV/ AIDS epidemic is prevention. Prevention or stopping the transmission of the diseases is hindered by factors such as: denial or non-acceptance by infected persons, unsafe sex, and non-disclosure by infected persons to their at risk sexual partner(s). According to Alghazo, Upton, and Cioe (2011):

Pharmaceutical companies should attempt to be as transparent as possible when marketing prescription drugs to the public. Their marketing efforts should not only convey the benefits of the prescription drug, but also easily convey the possible risks associated with the prescription drugs. Many patients may tend to think the benefits outweigh the potential risks of prescription drugs and may pressure their physician to prescribe it. Due to the way the prescription drug is marketed, the consumer may believe the