Business Ethics: Merck & Blindness Case

Objectives

ü APA Formatting (title, headings & references)

ü Information organized intelligently and holistically (i.e. not simply answers to questions)

ü Support the paper with appropriate sources, including at least two academic sources (books or juried articles)

ü Identify the facts of the case. 

ü Identify the case methodology of the author

ü Examine the ethical issues of the Merck river blindness case

ü Synthesize the facts and issues to make a reasoned decision whether to market the river blindness drug.

ü Determine the issues raised in the readings, and in your personal observation and study, that you will focus on in your case study analysis.

NO PLAGIARISM.

Overview

Examine a case of ethical responsibility to shareholders, stakeholders and the public. Merck faced the dilemma of whether to develop, test and market a drug which might not produce a profitable return.

Description

In 1978, Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, undertook major research to develop new drugs. This occurred as two of its blockbuster drugs were about to go off patent. One of the drugs they developed was capable of curing a rare disease that resulted in blindness. The drug that they found, ivermectin, showed promise in curing the rare disease; however, the cost of testing and marketing the drug would be very high, resources were limited and the people who needed the drug were in poor parts of the world.

Materials Required

Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2014). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

§ Case study Merck & Blindness Case, pp 345-346 in textbook.

Study and Learning Center. (2006). Answering a case study. Retrieved from https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_assessmenttasks/assess_tuts/case%20study_LL/answering.html

Instructions in Answering a Case