BONUS CASE 4-3 - Novella



Bonus case 4-3

Raven Biotechnologies: If It Isn’t Ethical, It Isn’t Right (Video Case)

(NOTE: This case can be used with the Video on DVD for this chapter.)

Cancer affects the lives of millions of people each year. While there has been significant progress made toward fighting the disease, finding a cure is considered by many to be the “holy grail” of medicine. For most of the 20th century, cancer-fighting drugs were like World War II bombers. They’d drop thousands of bombs hoping that a few would get lucky and hit the target. Since the drugs couldn’t tell the difference between a cancer cell and a healthy cell, they killed them both. But new generations of drugs are more precise, targeting individual disease cells and leaving healthy cells unharmed.

Unfortunately developing effective new treatments for cancer is a lengthy and costly process. Every step in the process of developing a new drug calls for ethical decision making. The temptation may be to rush the process and cut corners to minimize costs and maximize profits. Does the drug violate a patent that already exists? How far should we go in testing the effectiveness and the side effects of the new product? Should we test it on animals? Should we test it on humans? How much should we charge for the drug? What should we say in our promotions?

Jennie Mather founded a company called Raven Biotechnologies to develop solutions for the most serious cancer illnesses. She understood from the beginning that ethical decisions were based on ethical management. She used the latest monoclonal technology because it enabled the company to target and attack a single disease cell like a cancer. This is a much safer and ethical way of solving the problem because it dramatically reduces the serious side effects caused by “shotgun” type treatments. Because of these precautions, such drugs tend to go through the government screening process faster and easier.

Mather hires employees who have the same ethical approach to business and the same kind of scientific approach that she has. She knows that management sets the ethical parameters, but that employees must keep those standards. Businesspeople today are conscious of the fact that the public is very sensitive to ethical practices because of companies, like Enron, that violated ethical principles. The public is particularly sensitive to issues surrounding pharmaceutical companies. One popular movie focused on the ethics of product testing. Should drugs be tested on humans? If so, how should people taking the test drugs be treated? Is it right to give some people the medicine and others a placebo (a fake medicine)? Another fundamental issue is price. It costs a lot of money to develop a new drug and companies cannot come up with new solutions to illnesses without making up those huge costs. On the other hand, people without health insurance and people in developing countries simply cannot afford high prices for drugs. Who should bear the cost of providing life-saving drugs to these people?

It’s comforting to know that people like Mather are willing to take the entrepreneurial risks demanded of a pioneering company like Raven. It is even more comforting to know that Mather and her employees take an ethical approach to everything they do. Everyone looks forward to the day when there are drugs to take for pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, and other serious illnesses. We look to science to solve those problems, and we look to ethical managers to apply the science in the right way.

discussion questions for BONUS case 4-3

1. WHAT ETHICAL ISSUES CONCERN YOU MOST ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT AND SALE OF PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS? DOES RAVEN ADDRESS ALL OF YOUR ISSUES?

2. One of the major issues involving pharmaceutical drugs is their high cost. Do you understand why drug companies have to charge such high prices? Should they charge lower prices in countries where the people don’t have the money to buy expensive drugs?

3. Is the need for high ethical standards more or less important in the pharmaceutical industry? Why? What could be done to assure the public that the highest standards are being used?

answers to discussion questions for BONUS case 4-3

1. WHAT ETHICAL ISSUES CONCERN YOU MOST ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT AND SALE OF PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS? DOES RAVEN ADDRESS ALL OF YOUR ISSUES?

This question should generate lots of discussion, from the lack of drugs for AIDS to high prices to questionable testing practices. Raven tries to answer all of those issues. Are students skeptical of the answers? Why? Good discussion starter.

2. One of the major issues involving pharmaceutical drugs is their high cost. Do you understand why drug companies have to charge such high prices? Should they charge lower prices in countries where the people don’t have the money to buy expensive drugs?

The cost of developing and testing a drug can run into the billions of dollars. Those costs have to be made up with high prices. The money is then used to develop newer drugs. Lower prices could be charged, but then fewer drugs would be developed and made available. Canada and other countries have lower prices because their governments demand that lower prices be charged. That is only possible because U.S. buyers pay high prices. Poor people can be charged less if rich people are charged more. That is the way the system works. Again, students may have lots to say on this point.

3. Is the need for high ethical standards more or less important in the pharmaceutical industry? Why? What could be done to assure the public that the highest standards are being used?

The need for high ethical standards is obvious: faulty drugs could lead to greater illness and death. Even high-priced drugs could lead to the same results. That’s why the FDA gets involved with drug development. This case can be used as a springboard to discuss business ethics in general and student skepticism about business, government, and nonprofit organization ethics in general. What about student ethics?

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