Capitalism has allowed businesses to have immense power and influence over the lives of citizens globally. In fact, business now plays a significantly larger role in our daily lives than does government. Not only that, but in upholding business ethics, businesses are maintaining trust from the public which is an important factor for shareholders and investors. Therefore, business ethics, known as the moral code that all businesses should follow, must be held in upmost importance. Otherwise, not only will major detrimental effects ensue in society, but the trust that will be broken between the consumer and business will take a big toll on the profits of the business itself. The effects of Mylan’s absurd raise in the price of the Epi-pen showcases this well. Epi-pen, which is owned by the company Mylan, is a life-saving medication used when someone is experiencing a severe allergic reaction, known as anaphylaxis. With at least 1.6 percent of Americans… suffering from anaphylaxis it is a widely necessary medical product. However, Mylan increased the price of the Epi-pen by 400 percent over the past decade, causing it to be 600$ for a two-pack. As a result, many people have been suffering. For example, Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist that mentions: “Not only have I seen it save lives, but I’ve seen the opposite happen, of when an EpiPen wasn’t available and both children and adults passed away.”. Outrageously, pharmaceutical industry experts estimate that [EpiPen]… cost around $30 to produce.

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What Mylan has done with the Epi-pen pricing is against the principal of business ethics, and the price Mylan has been paying outlines the importance of following it. First, Mylan has gotten an enormous amount of negative exposure over the past few years. This negative exposure has given Mylan a bad reputation, even to the point where politicians such as Hillary Clinton have commented on their malice. For this reason, stockholders for Mylan have been wary and Mylan’s shares have decreased immensely in value. In it’s efforts to maximize profits by going against ethics, Mylan has achieved the opposite effect. Furthermore, the amount of suffering that people have gone through because of Mylan cannot be understated. As said by Dr.Purvi Parikh, there have been deaths of those without an Epi-pen, which could have been prevented if Mylan had raised their product to absurd costs. Human beings are priceless, yet, the breach of business ethics has caused money to be valued over humans which is completely absurd.

Mylan’s blunder in breaching business ethics has displayed the importance of maintaining the moral code, not only for themselves as a company seeking to maximize profits, but for the well-being of consumers who are priceless human beings.