Every single action taken by a firm will inevitably affect their stakeholders. Operating as an ethical business can bring about many benefits. It can strengthen the public image of the company, attract potential investors whilst keeping the existing ones, basically keeping all the stakeholders happy.
The concept of having an ethical business is a very diverse one and exists in every single industry. It ranges from the food industry producing dolphin safe canned tuna or non-GMO food products, to cosmetic companies manufacturing non-animal tested and free-trade products. There are a million examples of businesses acting ethically.
In my post, I would like to touch upon the ongoing debate on whether pharmaceutical companies are more concerned about maximizing profit than they are in the consumers’ health. Pharmaceutical companies have long been criticized for many of their practices which many analysts claim to be unethical. Many of these major companies abuse their intellectual property rights, limiting the production and distribution of generic drugs, allowing the major pharmaceutical companies to set sky-high prices for their drugs.
The issue of limited production of generic drugs boils major controversy especially when we consider developing countries that are suffering pandemics such as HIV/AIDS or malaria, which could be cured or treated by medicines which are already on the market but cost a fortune.
Take the case of Martin Shkreli. Shkreli is an American entrepreneur, founder and former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. He was dubbed the most despised man in the world because of what he did with the Daraprim drug. Back in August 2015, he purchased the rights of Daraprim; a lifesaving, anti-malarial and anti-parasitic drug most commonly used to treat patients affected by HIV/AIDS, for US$55 million, and the price of the drug hiked up from $13.50 per tablet to $750 tablet. This meant that insurance companies or patients would suddenly be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for treatment. Shkreli claimed that his actions were necessary as the company needed to turn a profit on the drug, claiming that Daraprim was still underpriced, comparing them to cancer drugs.
Another example of the questionable ethics of pharmaceutical companies is the 400 per cent price hike of the Epinephrine or EpiPen auto-injectors; which are used as an emergency treatment for people who have severe allergic reactions.
Pharmaceutical companies know that the drugs they distribute can be vital to one’s survival yet they blatantly exploit the people who need them the most. Now is this what an ethical company looks like?