What defines good business practices? Corporations are considered people, so why aren’t they held to the same ethical standards as every day people? People try to follow the Golden Rule as much as possible, but giant pharmaceutical corporations completely ignore this rule and secretly behave completely unethically and often times illegally. In recent news, there has rarely been a report of any pharmaceutical drug-making company that has put people first and profit second.
Pharmaceutical companies have a bad reputation for their practices, but despite that, the industry still rakes in billions of dollars in profits.
Pfizer is the biggest and most prosperous drug maker, however also one of the most unethical. John Kopchinski, who was a sales representative at Pfizer before he was fired for questioning the marketing of Pfizer’s Bextra, says "At Pfizer, I was expected to increase profits at all costs, even when sales meant endangering lives."
People who work for drug maker giants often face dilemmas with potentially dangerous drugs being distributed to the public. They would never give those drugs to their kids. The companies encourage making as much profit as possible without getting caught, and when they finally end up caught; they try as hard as they can to get away with their crime.
In 2009, Pfizer faced a settlement of $2.3 billion, the largest healthcare fraud settlement in history. Pfizer illegally promoted four of its drugs for “off-label use” which is prohibited by the FDA. A Wall Street Journal article says, “Besides Bextra, the drugs were Geodon, an antipsychotic; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug. Once the Food and Drug Administration approves drugs, doctors can prescribe them off-label for any use, but makers can't market them for anything other than approved uses.” The settlement was to resolve criminal and civil charges for Pfizer’s illegal marketing.
The world is faced with these giant companies who make dangerous drugs and market them as completely safe. There is a limit on how much the government can do to protect its citizens without intruding on the said “free market”. Basically, pharmaceutical companies can get away with what they want for a limited time before the drug is shut down. Then they simply rebrand and redistribute and the process repeats to squeeze out as much money of patients in need of these drugs as possible.
Sources used:
The products of the pharamceutical industry are so important to the consumers' quality of life. I think that it is crucial that there are strict quality control actions to lessen the chance of any life threatening events.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Meredith, even if those controls go against most of what we've been taught as the basics economics. Being responsible for the lives that they care for should be a far more important goal for pharmaceutical companies than profits.
ReplyDelete