Transcript F acts FACT: Merck was aware of the risks before launching product

Business Ethics and American Corporations
Can You Trust Your
Pharmaceutical Company?
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Group III- Bhagaloo, Estrada,
Meacham, Raghunauth, Villa
Merck
Where patients come first?
Facts

FACT: Merck was
aware of the risks
before launching
product
Facts
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FACT: Merck
invented a game
called “dodge ball”
to teach drug
representatives
how to evade
doctors’ tough
questions about
the safety of Vioxx.
Facts

FACT: delayed strengthening Vioxx’s warning
label to make an extra $229 million in profits.
Result
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88,000-139,000 people suffered from
heart attacks or stroke

As many as 40 percent of these people, or
about 55,000 died as a result
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On September 30, 2004 Merck announced
the “voluntarily” worldwide withdrawal of
VIOXX from the market
Catholic Social Teaching:

“It is imperative that no one, out of indifference to the
course of events or because of inertia, would indulge in
a merely individualistic morality. The best way to fulfill
one's obligations of justice and love is to contribute to
the common good according to one's means and the
needs of others, and also to promote and help public
and private organizations devoted to bettering the
conditions of life.”
- Gaudium et Spes:
Second Vatican Council, 1965


“Primary goal of any business enterprise should be the
well-being of the human person, not the pursuit of
profit.”
Companies should make choices to protect and promote
the interests of others, not just their own.
Making an Ethical Decision


After being presented with various
documents emphasizing the negative side
effects, Vioxx should not have been
released
If Merck considered their consumers
rather than increasing revenue,
55,000 people would still be
among us.