EMBA Winter 2016
SMO 860: Management of Technology and Innovation
April ,07,2016
Case Analysis: Genzyme’s CSR Dilemma: How to Play Its HAND
Marcio Augusto da Matta augustod@ualberta.ca Dr. Anthony R. Briggs
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1. Introduction
Genzyme is a biotechnology company with a leading role in the world’s treatment for Orphan and neglected diseases. At the moment its Senior VP, Mr. Geragthy faces a time for decisions. The analysis momentum is over and he must propose the best direction for the company. I will go deeply inside the company and analyse the inside and outside scenario to be able to run the VRIO model and give my preference to Mr. Geragthy. 2.
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Genzyme, in 1998, launched a global version of Ceradase Assistance Program (CAP) called the Gaucher Initiative with the objective of delivering treatment to those in less developed Countries. It was a huge shift towards the need to link competitive advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility.
With this, the embedded corporate value of putting patients first was translated into a two price policy for drug. One with full price and other completely free for the ones who could not afford it. 4. The Genzyme’s Dilemma
With a successful company and a vision to help patient they started to think on how Genzyme could contribute to the plight of those suffering from such widespread, neglected diseases. It is the birth of HAND – Humanitarian Assistance for Neglected Diseases.
They need to choose the next challenge project to work with and allocate their work power and scarce resource.
After all the analysis for the competent people, they have three new diseases in their field of action: Malaria, Chagas and Tuberculosis.
4.1 Malaria widespread in India. That was the approach from Mr. Sahney and in fact very relevant one. It threats more than 3 billion people and it that has a capacity of killing more than 1 Million people per year and so, deserves all the attention. It is also
In addition, diseases such as Hookworm and Malaria–brought to Latin America through colonisation and slavery–cause economic problems to this day. According to Hausmann (2009): “countries at a high risk of malaria grow 0.6 per cent slower than countries free from malaria”. Exports can be affected such as during the Cholera outbreak in Peru in 1991 which cost the fishing industry $800 million (Hausmann, 2009). It also increases healthcare costs and reduces worker productivity (Hausmann, 2009). Presently, resistance means that cheap medications for treatment of and protection from malaria are becoming less effective (Gallup et al., 2003, p.135). As
Access to drugs The government intends to introduce value-based pricing for drugs, whereby drug companies are paid according to the value of new medicines in order to promote innovation and improve value for money.
Anyone who has purchased prescription medications has probably wondered why they cost so much, and rightfully so. Medication prices in the United States have been on a steady increase for decades, however, prices have been drastically increasing as of recent. Pharmaceutical companies have tried to justify these price increases due to the demand, the high cost of research, and the high costs of development and approval. Notwithstanding, the extent to which the prices have increased is not justifiable. Americans should be against these high medication prices and take action because pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of our healthcare system in order to capitalize from the sick. In order shed some light on this issue, the magnitude, scope, and consequences of these prices must be examined.
The journalist Nadia Kounang further explains the differences between what the U.S pays on drugs and other similar developed countries, in the article Why pharmaceuticals are cheaper abroad. Kounang displays how much American need to pay for Gleevec (cancer medication) which is $6,214 (per month/per customer) whereas in Canada patients only have to pay $1,141 and in the U.K $2,697 (Kounang 1). These prices are the result of different organizations setting different price ranges with drug companies (U.S.A), and these enables American insurance companies to take advantage of it (Kounang 1). While in other countries there are not as many organizations, so this helps to set a deal of a price that benefit both the drug company and consumers (Kounang). Strictly speaking, by having these different medical insurance companies it has made it difficult for patients to afford their medication because there is no singular organization that can set drug price ranges with pharmaceuticals, while in other countries they don’t a variety of different medical insurances which enables the country to provide treatments that its citizens can afford. Thereby, if the government does not fully cooperates with other medical insurances, lowering the cost of medication will be difficult without affecting research and development. And as a result people who can not afford them will still struggle to obtain their required prescriptions.
Anyone who has purchased prescription medications has probably wondered why they cost so much, and rightfully so. Medication prices in the United States have been on a steady increase for decades, however, prices have been drastically increasing as of recent. Pharmaceutical companies have tried to justify these price increases due to the demand, the high cost of research, and the high costs of development and approval. Notwithstanding, the extent to which the prices have increased is not justifiable. Americans should be against these high medication prices and take action because pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of our health care system in order to capitalize from the sick. In order shed some light on this issue, we must examine the magnitude, scope, and consequences of these rises in price.
Farmer addresses the issues of the outbreak of diseases in prisons and receives a grant from the World Bank to supply medicine and extra food to sick prisoners. It is not long after this that the organization that Farmer is most associated with, Partners in Health, receives a grant for 45 million dollars. This money would serve to help fight MDR-TB in Peru, curing at least four out of every five
Effective medication helps with the rising cost of health care. When medication is working, the patient’s visits to the hospital and doctor’s office will decrease. The cost of new medication is exceeding the buyer’s ability to pay for it, and pharmaceutical companies begin to lose money when the drug loses its patent. However, generic drugs become available for the medication, and patients can afford to purchase it to treat their disease or condition. National discussions with providers, payers, and health policy makers have seriously considered various solutions for mitigating drug cost, with the ultimate goal of allowing patients to access appropriate and necessary treatments (Li & Shane, 2017). The government no longer has to decide who gets the medication, and certain therapies because of cost. Insurance companies will now cover the drug in its generic form. On the other hand, the pharmaceutical companies can no longer profit from and generic drug, and are forced to make new and improved drugs for profit. The patient will benefit by getting the medication that is needed to have a better quality of
I would like to take this opportunity to bring everyone up to date on the status of our relationship with Gentura. We have been working in partnership with Gentura a biotechnology company based in Candore since 2007. Candore, a small developing island country in South East Asia, has been under the dictatorship of President Gwendoz since 2004. President Gwendoz, encourages foreign investments into Camdore however, these investments come with some risk. All Camdore international business transactions are subject to the
The prices in which the medication are set are necessary for research and development. Roy P. Vagelos, discusses about the problems regarding restricting pharmaceutical companies in the written source Are Prescription Drug Prices High?. For instance, it can reduce the profits to support research investments, since it costs at least $231 millions dollars in order to bring one new prescription medicine to the market and in a pharmaceutical company like Merck, there are at least 4500 researchers who work to develop products (Vagelos 1). In other words, it costs millions for researches to develop at least one new drug to present to the market and it also costs to pay researchers to help develop these new drugs. In addition, the article The Real Cost of “High Priced” Drugs,
Research shows that the average person can have hundreds of errors in their genetic code. Though these errors tend to leave the individual unharmed, many still suffer the consequences of faulty genes. Some of these consequences can be mild, such as color blindness. Other disorders, however, can cause extreme suffering for those affected. Genetic disorders such as Hemophilia, Progeria, Cystic Fibrosis, etc. cause a lifetime of misery for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. I want to be a part of the movement that not only improves the lives of those with genetic disorders but also works towards eliminating genetic disorders as a whole.
Marketing and priorities of the pharmaceutical industry have been a dilemma for years. Scare- mongering has been increased on the importance of drugs (Shah, 2010). For example, executives at Mylan, a pharmaceutical company that owns Epipen, reportedly reaped in nearly three hundred million in compensation from 2011 to 2015 (Tuttle, 2016). Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan, was accused of jacking up the price by 600%; her response was to blame the “broken health system”, Obamacare, and the rise of high- deductible health insurance plan. But should this be the case to do these to millions of families who can barely afford something that take thirty dollars to make and jack the price up to seven hundred dollars? We live in a greedy nation that is only there to take from one another. When people see this you can only think of how the pharmaceuticals being an “industry” it basically prioritizes that revenue comes before the needs and cures to the human society.
Many people see the drug price increases made by Martin Shkreli of Turing Pharmaceuticals of the toxoplasmosis drug Daraprim by 5000%, or, the EpiPen’s 400% price hikes as being immoral, unnecessary, and just price gouging, but others and I argue that the increases are well justified and really not detrimental to consumers. Dr. Nitin Damle of the American College of Physicians had this to say on the matter to members of congress, “The research, development, regulatory, and payment systems for prescription medication are deeply intertwined, and the pressing issue of drug pricing and payment will require comprehensive efforts not only by Congress,
Africa is the cradle of the humanity, and the second most populated continent. West Africa has suffered from lack of infrastructure and healthcare. This handicap is characterised by the weather knowing that the west in close to the equator. The tropical climate bring a lot of mosquitos, wich brings malaria to the children and the women. One of the major need are the number of doctors is low. Most African countries import their medicine from the exterior: Ex Europe, India, Middle east theses countries just provide the medicine to the sub sahara region. The lack of technology for example,the Infrared thermography (IRT) used to determined if someone has cancer is not available in Africa due to the insufficiency of money.This cause a big gap between fortunate who can travel and get treat overseas and the who can not afford the tremendous cost. The importance of coming in help to West African healthcare is to develop strong relationship, because in some way if their healthcare is weak it can affect other continent. Some individual are willing to help the Africans countries. People are creating labs for African welfare. Big organization are currently providing heath supply to help treating diseases. African is well known for all the serious diseases it contain. with today 's world, and all the diseases Africa has suffered from a century of negligence toward healthcare. Even though West Africa is slowly getting on its feet after being
As a social worker, one could aim to connect health care facilities in Zambia, where 1 in 5 children are dying from malaria, to Doctors without Borders, a resource sharing the privileges of modern medicine with participating countries (Harrison, et al., 2005). The doctors participating could provide the local doctors with new information on healthcare and possible prevention methods for contracting malaria including updated vaccinations and treatment. This would connect those without access to such resources to good healthcare and promote social justice by potentially decreasing the child mortality rate of children with
About 3.3 billion people, that is about half of the world’s population are at risk of contracting malaria (figure 1). Every year there are 250 million cases of malaria, and nearly 1 million deaths. That amounts to 2,732 deaths per day. Out of those million people that die every year, 800,000 of them are African children under the age of 5. To control malaria three actions need to be taken: insecticides need to be used to decrease the vector population, people have to be educated as to how to prevent the vector from reproducing, and anti-malarial drugs need to be distributed. To understand the vector and what the vector is, scientists had to first discover what the parasite was and how it worked. It was not until the year 1880 that French Physician Charles Laveran discovered that Malaria was caused by a protozoan in the genus Plasmodium (Malaria, 2013)