I have chosen to examine current problems in are pharmaceuticals
Student Shenequa:
The business category that I have chosen to examine current problems in are pharmaceuticals. The problem with pharmaceuticals that I would like to focus on are drug donations. Upon first glance of the combination of the two words “drug” and “donation”, many would consider this a gift. A drug donation program can be compared to a medication recycling pharmacy, in the sense that medication is donated to those in need of it if it goes unused. Initially, this seems like a good cause, especially for those who can not afford medicine. However, the problem with drug donation is that it takes advantage of the vulnerability of those who need medicine but can not afford it. Critics of the donation program argue that it is a for-profit trial posing as charity. The concern is that the vulnerable populations are very gullible towards drug donation programs, so much so that these populations unknowingly provide information for the longer-term benefit of wealthy patients elsewhere. In the case study regarding profitable gifts and the donation of the drug Ivermectin it states, “those afflicted with river blindness were among the world’s poorest, and their inability to pay for medication provided little incentive for pharmaceutical companies” (Collins, 2004). Therefore, these populations were targeted for the testing of the Ivermectin being that they could not afford any other treatment. The problem with this is that the Merck Research Laboratory took advantage of the vulnerability of the population simply for drug testing purposes. Furthermore, this indicates a capitalist economy of pharmaceuticals, where product differentiation assures growth in pharmaceutical markets. In the same way prices of drugs and medication are based on what the market will bear, where the more desperate patients become the more they are willing to pay. Therefore, the capitalist laws or principles that affect operations of pharmaceutical businesses are private ownership, supply and demand, competition, freedom, and incentive.
With that, the moral theory that I would like to defend is deontology, where an action is considered morally good because of some characteristic of the action itself, not because the product of the action is good. Although drug donation does target those from lower socioeconomical status, this theory would consider the action morally good because in the end it aims to help those who cannot afford medication and give them a chance to heal. Regardless of the product of drug therapy the characteristics of the action would deem this issue morally good. However, the moral position that I would like to employ is the virtue ethics theory. This theory defines good actions as ones that display embody virtuous character traits, like courage, loyalty, or wisdom. This theory would deem the issue as morally unacceptable because the actions of the pharmaceutical companies does not employ loyalty its customers and those who trust pharmaceuticals. This is because companies that allow drug donations are more loyal to wealthy consumers rather than both poor and wealthy consumers. This is because they would rather jeopardize the lives of those who are poor and vulnerable than those who are wealthy and will pay whatever the cost is. To this extent, in regard to this theory, the morality of an action is bad.
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