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SECTION 1
Iron Throne Pharmaceuticals
Question 1:
Question 2:
Question 3:
Most of our clients wonder how to write the answers for questions effectively
So I thought to post some of the case studies which we had been tutored to one of our clients
The first Section is the reading material of case study and then second section is the solution
If you have any case study or work please mail us directly at
info@writers24hr.com
Thank You!
SECTION 1
Iron Throne Pharmaceuticals
You are S. Baratheon, an executive
at The Iron Throne of Pharmaceuticals (ITP), the leading Canadian
pharmaceutical company. You are tasked
with determining the future direction of the company, as ITP is trying to
situate itself for future profit generation in the highly competitive pharmaceutical
industry. ITP is a pioneering force in
the pharmaceutical industry, building its empire on anaesthetics, and has more
recently become a significant researcher and innovator in heart disease
medication and therapeutic vaccinations.
You are to write a brief to help guide the board’s decision on the extent
that, all things considered, ITP should pursue expanded distribution of
specific pharmaceuticals to markets that have been adversely affected by
shortages, and expand their partnerships with governments in the developing
world.
Iron
Throne Pharmaceuticals: The Good:
ITP is Canada’s leading producer of
pharmaceutical drugs and dominates the anaesthetics/barbiturates market. Anesthetics are drugs generally administered
to facilitate surgery, and when administered, lead to complete or partial loss
of feeling. Anesthetics are categorized
into two classes: general and local. General
anesthetics cause a reversible loss of consciousness, while local anesthetics
cause a loss of sensation for a limited region of the body while maintaining
consciousness. ITP revolutionized
anesthetics; before ITP came along, it was not uncommon for patients to require
painful combination of 4-7 intravenous drugs administered in rapid succession
to induce a loss of consciousness. ITP’s
industry leading innovation reduced the number of shots patients required in
both general and local anesthesia, and in the most minor cases, have produced
topical anesthesia that eliminates the need for shots altogether. Moreover, ITP was also the first company to
produce gas based anesthetics, giving those patients that fear needles a
secondary option. It is for these
reasons that 41% of surgeries that occurred in Canada that required general
anesthesia used ITP produced anesthetics, while 43% of patients requiring local
anesthesia received an ITP product, in the last 10 years. What was before a painful set of needles
before painful surgery to remove, say, a gallbladder, has been replaced by patients
who wake up after surgery, not realizing that they had had surgery at all.
While anesthetics are a highly
lucrative marketplace to dominate, ITP has more recently been hailed for their
advances in heart disease research.
Heart disease and stroke are the leading cause of deaths in Canada, with
29% of deaths in Canada in 2015 attributed to heart disease. In conjunction with stakeholders from around
the world, ITP has been making important strides in the efficacy of ACE
Inhibitors (medication that widens arteries to lower blood pressure and make it
easier for the heart to pump blood) and Aldosterone Inhibitors (potassium-sparing
diuretics that can be prescribed to reduce the swelling and water build-up
caused by heart failure), and have targeted cholesterol medication, and vaccine
efficacy, in their next phase of development.
Iron
Throne Pharmaceuticals: Economic Implications:
ITP is a Canadian success story,
and is one of the country’s principal employers. ITP has multiple production sites in every
Canadian province and Territory. In
their factories alone, ITP employs over 105,000 Canadians.
ITP gives priority to hiring local
employees when building and staffing production sites, and contributes directly
to improving the fortunes of otherwise marginalized Canadian communities. ITP touts the fact that the company gives
priority to building production sites in remote Northern communities that are
otherwise marked by isolation, and deprivation.
In these Northern communities, before ITP builds their production sites,
they make significant contributions to the region’s infrastructure, and
routinely built schools, roadways, hospitals, research centres, and in a few
examples, Universities. ITP holds that
“a strong surrounding community is in The Iron Throne’s best interest.”[1]
ITP creates jobs at a consistent
rate, and holds it as its “social responsibility that [they] train and hire
employees from local and neighbouring communities, and compensate them at a rate
that allows us to recruit and retain the best talent in the industry.”[2] In one of their many sterling examples, in
February of 2014, ITP was given the keys to Fort Blackfish, in recognition of
the progress the community has made since ITP first built a production site,
and hired 63% of its workforce from the surrounding Aboriginal
communities. Before ITP’s arrival in the
early 60’s, Fort Blackfish had Canada’s highest unemployment rate, lowest
literacy rate, had one dilapidated building that was both the school and
hospital, and no running water. Now,
Fort Blackfish is considered a major metropolis, with the world’s first
Pharmaceutical Institute of Technology (PIT) that specializes in cutting edge
research that is not found anywhere else in the world.
ITP’s production sites produce all
of their industry leading anesthetics, barbiturates, and pharmaceutical
drugs. ITP commonly refers to its larger
production sites as campuses, and each campus has both a lavish production
site, and areas designated specifically for ITP’s industry leading pharmacological
innovation and R&D, vaccination research, and clinical trial oversight. It is from here that ITP shapes and guides the
international pharmaceutical and vaccination marketplace. In fact, ITP is recognized as the most
important international player in globalized pharmaceuticals, and was the first
non-European pharmaceutical company to be included in the EU’s Commission on
Pharmaceutical Trade (EUCPT), an opportunity that enables ITP to both shape,
and enter, heretofore unavailable European markets.
ITP is the single biggest employer
of scientist and pharmacological engineers in North America, and 25% of ITP’s
overall workforce is geared towards pharmacological R&D. Because pharmacological research and
innovation requires highly training, technically skilled, and specialized
employees, ITP has become the foremost leader in training, and producing, some
of the world’s most sought after employees, with additional Ph.Ds. required to
maintain employment at ITP. ITP employs
thousands of immunologists and research scientists who work in laboratories and
oversee clinical trials geared towards improving the efficacy of their vaccines,
and developing new treatments for patients with immune disorders. ITP also employs thousands of people on their
production lines, and has a worldwide distribution network for their
drugs.
The
Iron Throne’s Political Clout:
The Canadian government has
partnered with ITP on many successful research ventures that have increased
Canada’s pharmacological profile internationally. Over the last 50 years, the Canadian
government, interested in ways to solidify its economic base, allowed for
modest subsidies and tax breaks to incentivize ITP to maintain its base of
headquarters in Canada. With each
passing decade, as ITP came to dominate the international pharmaceutical
market, the Canadian government continued to provide incentives, and
concessions, for ITP to remain based in Canada, while being competitive in the
international marketplace. This
partnership with the Canadian government has undoubtedly aided ITP’s ascension
to being one of the biggest international players in the pharmaceutical
industry, and a leader in pharmacological research; ITP has access to
government resources, facilities, and researchers, and is able to make use of
the collaborative possibilities that are a result of Canada’s place within the
larger international pharmacological network.
The Canadian government has provided ITP with more privileges[3] (grants, and funding) than
any other corporation, and ITP undoubtedly relies on the Federal government to
help offset some of their costs as they pursue further research opportunities.
Several years ago, ITP moved its
patent office offshore to Manrocovia, Prusskov.
This move did not garner much attention at the time, and continues to
receive little media attention. At the
time, it was reported that the move was reflective of ITP’s status as a Multi-National
Corporation. Shortly thereafter, ITP
began operating under Prusskov’s pharmaceutical regulations. In fact, the move was a result of the Canadian
government’s refusal to support ITP’s request to protect some of their most
profitable patents.[4] One of the benefits of moving to Prusskov, is
that ITP has essentially been able to re-write Prusskov’s pharmacological
policy.[5] For
example, while ITP’s export facilities remain in Canada, the company’s Prusskov
patent office handles all of their export oversight. Before moving to Prusskov, ITP lobbied their
government to ensure that they would have complete control, and oversight, over
reporting of their exports, and lobbied the government to repeal all laws pertaining
to transparency in reporting pharmaceutical exports; because of the significant
investment and employment that ITP was bringing to Prusskov, and the fact that
ITP would singlehandedly improve the economic fortunes of the country, the
Prusskovian government quickly capitulated.
ITP used its powerful international
position to champion the European Commission’s (EC) decision to imposed tough
new restrictions on the export of anaesthetics used to execute people in the
US. The EC, along with Canada, the UN,
and 164 other countries, agree that products that may be used for capital
punishment ought to be tightly controlled on the grounds that “capital
punishment is cruel, inhumane, and/or degrading treatment of punishment.”[6] There are 34 states in the US that still
practice the death penalty, and critics believe that capital punishment is
amongst the worst human rights violations, and point to several instances in
the US were prisoners, later exonerated through DNA, were executed for crimes
that they did not commit. Critics also
seize on the readily apparent social, economic, and racial bias of the
application of capital punishment.[7] Moreover, in the US, capital punishment also
does not serve as the deterrent that it is touted as, and its use for
retribution calls into question whether or not revenge is to be viewed as
socially acceptable. In other parts of
the world, the vast majority of governments that utilize capital punishment are
illiberal governments, run by dictatorships, and often done so for draconian
purposes, political purposes, and sometimes altogether for objectionable
reasons.[8]
Worldwide opposition to the death
penalty led to the EC adding 8 barbiturates to the list of banned anesthetics
for export (including the three drugs that used in succession for almost all US
executions: sodium thiopental used to induce unconsciousness, pancuronium
bromide to cause muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, and potassium
chloride to stop the heart), which has caused a worldwide shortage. The move follows many other European
countries that unilaterally banned the export of these drugs, based on moral
opposition to the death penalty, and desires to abolish the death penalty
worldwide. In recent months, this had
led to botched executions in the US, as states have been employing unproven and
otherwise untested combinations of drugs to put prisoners to death, in absence
of the highly effective barbiturates that had previously been available. Since January 1st, 2014, there
have been at least 3 cases were prisoners, strapped down in the death chamber,
thrashed about, gasping for breath, kicking their feet, and mumbling
incoherently, as an otherwise routine procedure has been replaced with
unexpected results when states employ untested measures for capital
punishment. Sympathy for prisoners is
lacking however, as those who support the death penalty oftentimes reap macabre
satisfaction from prisoners suffering before death.
It would be naive to think that
banning the export of barbiturates used for capital punishment will lead to the
abolition of the death penalty entirely, as some US states have proposed
bringing back the electric chair (a far more cruel application of the death
penalty), firing squads, and simple beheadings, but pharmaceutical companies
around the world unite under the premise that their drugs are to be used to
help people, and not kill people. The US
penal system has had to turn to international imports of barbiturates for
capital punishment, as the only American manufacturer of sodium thiopental, the
Illinois-based Hospira, suspended production because it was suffering
commercially as a result of having its drug connected to executions. Last summer, a Danish manufacturer of
pentobarbital, Lundbeck, blocked the sale of its product trademarked Nembutal
to any penal institution in the US.
Doctors from around the world have threatened to boycott pharmaceutical
manufacturers that supply drugs for executions, arguing "no responsible
pharmaceutical company should have anything to do with executions."[9] ITP was one of the first Canadian
pharmaceutical companies to agree to the EC ban, and lobbied the Canadian
government to impose these restrictions on Canadian companies. ITP’s CEO, D. Targaryen, pledged that “the
Iron Throne is guided by ethics, and does not endorse … the execution of …
prisoners”[10]
and has made that point central to the company’s code of ethics.
The
Iron Throne’s Philanthropy:
ITP is one of the foremost
philanthropic companies in North America.
ITP has made several high profile donations to establish itself as one
of North America’s most admired companies. After the release of the Conference Board of
Canada’s 2005 report that identified heart disease and stroke costing the
Canadian economy more than 20.9 billion dollars every year in physician
services, hospital costs, lost wages and decreased productivity, ITP donated
$250 million dollars to heart disease research in Canada, and began research
into advances into the pharmacological approach to fighting heart disease in
Canada. ITP’s funding of heart disease has led to significant advances in
research relating to heart disease, and the non-invasive procedure for clearing
blocked arteries in heart patients was in large part due to research funded by
ITP. ITP’s public position is that “they
owe it to society, and our global community, to benefit others in ways greater
than merely increases in jobs, or GDP.”[11]
ITP has recently targeted vaccines
as an important opportunity for research and development; in the last 5 years, ITP
has partnered with UNICEF to work towards eradicating childhood illnesses
around the world through worldwide vaccination programs, and donated over 45
million doses of its polio, tuberculosis, and meningitis vaccines worldwide. ITP is slowly working its way towards
becoming the worldwide leader in vaccination programs; ITP’s vaccine programs
are found all over the world, but have made the most progress in eradicating
infectious diseases, and preventable infections, throughout the developing
world. In some cases, ITP is giving
individuals in the developing world access to new therapeutic vaccines and
improving vaccine efficacy.[12] Much of ITP’s progress relies on clinical
trials, and ITP continues to donate the significant amounts of money that is
necessary to build and support the healthcare infrastructure throughout the
developing world that clinical trials rely upon. In truth, much of the progress that ITP made
in improving the efficacy of their ACE Inhibitors and Aldosterone Inhibitors
was largely due to the company’s clinical trials throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
As criticism began to build
regarding ITP’s stance regarding their patents to HIV/AIDS drugs, ITP
effectively shifted the conversation, when they made a sudden investment of hundreds
of millions of dollars building the health infrastructure (hospitals, clinics,
medical laboratories, doctor’s offices, schools, medical schools, medical
training facilities, etc.) that we in the developing world take for granted, thereby
greatly improving access to healthcare resources across the developing
world.
All told, ITP, since 1988, has not
donated less than $100 million dollars a year to its various social
initiatives.
The
Iron Throne: The Bad:
Speaking off the record (for fear
of reprisal from ITP), doctors, industry insiders, government officials, and
NGOs have all condemned ITP’s approach to patents for HIV/AIDS drugs. These stakeholders claim that ITP’s conduct
alone has stalled progress towards treating the world’s 30 million HIV/AIDS
patients. ITP’s position is that by
maintaining these patents, they are able to fund their industry leading
R&D, and point to the progress they made in the last 5 years in advances in
heart disease medication as evidence to support their claims. Industry insiders, however, argue that ITP is
simply trying to leverage their position of power over the World Health
Organization (WHO), and are essentially waiting the WHO out until they are
willing to recognize ITP internationally, and allow for ITP board members to
serve on the WHO’s executive council. Once
there, ITP would then begin to pursue their corporate interests on an
international scale, and would insist, for example, that their flu vaccine
become the international standard. What’s
most troubling is that, if ITP were to allow for generic versions of many of their
drugs, they would undoubtedly still be the one of the world’s most valuable
pharmaceutical companies, with profits continuing to swell into the billions.
Secondly, there are unconfirmed
reports that connect ITP to exports of banned barbiturates worldwide. The first reports that connected ITP to
exports of banned barbiturates were met with legal action on the part of ITP,
they successfully sued the news outlet, and their reporters, for libel even
though they were simply investigating these claims, and had not actually
published any of their reports. In the
second instance, in the days leading up to the Pharmaceutical Watchdog
Organization (PWOrg.) publishing an exploratory piece on the direct connection
between ITP exports, and the increase of the use of barbiturates in worldwide
executions, the Canadian government allowed ITP to install their own
researchers, and “guide the direction of this reporting and research” (under
the auspices of their agreed upon settlement that ITP is best served to be
their own industry watchdogs). This
report was never released, and the Organization’s facilities were shuttered,
with the CEO and board members of PWOrg all becoming high ranking officials at
ITP at nearly double their previous salaries.
When the investigative news series, The Fifth Estate, was poised to
release an explosive documentary on ITP’s connection to Prusskov’s changing
pharmacological policy, and the increasing number of barbiturates used for
capital punishment worldwide (which does not make sense, given that the vast
majority of pharmaceutical companies no longer export barbiturates for
executions, but the number of executions with imported barbiturates continues
to increase), ITP’s executive board was able to prevent the release of this
documentary, as they claimed it violated ITP’s legally protected proprietary
data, and instead choose to release a documentary, produced in conjunction with
the PIT, that made little mention of barbiturates, and when it did do so, only
in conjunction with animal husbandry, a move that baffled industry insiders.
While the true details of the
PWOrg’s report, and the Fifth Estate documentary were never released, there are
individuals throughout ITP who marvel at the extent that ITP controls any and
all information pertaining to their business.
In the US, in the last 4 months alone, several states have begun again
to put prisoners to death after gaining newfound access to the banned
barbiturates. The judicial process behind
US Capital punishment, is shrouded by intense secrecy, and a lack of standard
protocol, but backed by the US Supreme Court.
States that employ the death penalty are legally protected from
disclosing the drugs they use in the executions, and the companies that provide
these drugs. While ITP steadfastly
denies that they have exported any drugs from Canada to the US for executions,
they have not ever acknowledged or accounted for the increasing amounts of
exports that they are sending from their Prusskov offices to US states, and
other countries, that allow for the death penalty.[13] Countries that have signed on to the EC’s ban
on exporting drugs for execution allow inspectors on their premises each day,
and keep strict logs of their drug exports (though these are not released to
the public), as pharmaceutical companies do not have to disclose where or what
they are exporting from certain facilities, but those who agree with the ban
have agreed to this concession. Prusskov,
though, which has not signed on to the ban, does not track what pharmaceuticals
a company exports, or to where they export to, or for what purposes the
exported drugs are to be used.
Employees, speaking amongst themselves, noted Targaryen’s carefully
crafted news release regarding the export of banned drugs, and noted that ITP
does not export any drugs that contravene Canadian law, nor do they contravene
“the law in any country they operate.”[14]
ITP is also looking to insulate
themselves from any connections they may have to the export arm of the Prusskov
office, referencing the fact that Prusskovian law (laws written by ITP lawyers)
makes it illegal to disclose the country’s exports. In a secret shareholder’s meeting, Targaryen
argued that “a company that could export banned drugs to the US and worldwide would
reap substantial profits, furthermore, if that same company were to pressure
the Canadian government to prohibit all other companies located on Canadian
soil from exporting these same drugs, and pressure the UN to extend this ban
worldwide, a very select few companies could take advantage of loopholes in the
system, and have little or no competition.”[15] Before signing onto the EC ban, ITP had not
taken a position regarding capital punishment, but had insisted that it is up
to each individual government to put in place the legal system of their
choosing, with its requisite punishments.
ITP does not believe that it should dictate how their products are used,
in fact, Targaryen points to the fact that patients undergoing unnecessary
cosmetic surgery are anesthetized using ITP products, and would think it
inappropriate to pass judgment on the use of their products in that setting,
and therefore in any setting. Targaryen’s
position is that “it is the sale of any and all of our products that allows us
to continue on with our R&D, and make advances that will benefit mankind.”[16]
Additionally, ITP has come under
serious scrutiny for some of their methods during clinical trials for
therapeutic drugs. In some regions of
the developing world (areas that Targaryen claims “need our help the most”),
critics claim that, in several instances, ITP has conducted clinical trials
with risky and experimental drugs, and sometimes without fully informed consent
from patients.[17] In one such case in Kinrovia, patients who
had signed up for a 6 week trial for one type of ACE Inhibitor were instead
given an otherwise untested experimental drug, when it was discovered that
these participants had been misdiagnosed as simply having moderately high blood
pressure, when they in fact had dangerously high blood pressure. These experimental drugs were an overwhelming
success, and after many more years of trials, became ITP’s bestselling, and
most effective, ACE Inhibitors worldwide.
Critics of ITP claim this as evidence of human rights concerns, but they
cannot deny the positive impact these trials have in improving the health of
individuals throughout the developing world and developed world.[18] Critics also argue that ITP’s clinical trials
in the developing world exploit impoverished individuals, who are willing to
sell themselves as human test patients, for drugs that will be sold throughout
the western world. Again, while these
criticisms may be valid, critics cannot also deny the incremental health
benefits that ITP’s research contributes to the developing world, benefits that
are then extrapolated into the international realm. In most cases, criticisms of ITP’s clinical
trials are rejected outright by ITP, as the company claims no wrongdoing[19] and in the most extreme
cases, ITP disputes that trails were ever conducted in the first place.[20]
Lastly, there is also serious
concern industry wide about the amount of airborne particulates that employees
are exposed to during the production, handling, and packaging process of several
types of ITP barbiturates. Particulates
are the deadliest form of air pollution, as they penetrate deep into the lungs
and bloodstreams unfiltered, causing permanent DNA mutations, heart attacks, and
premature death. The scientists who are
researching Agsepherine-D (AS-D), a specific type of particulate released
during barbiturate production, are ITP employees, and have signed
confidentiality waivers that preclude them from even discussing their findings amongst
themselves. Their most recent findings establish
a connection between aggressive lung abnormalities, and long term workplace
exposure to ITP barbiturates during production, handling, and packaging of the
product. ITP, however, has hired all of
the leading environmental scientists in the field; most environmental advisory
boards have not yet even identified AS-D as a distinct particulate (that ITP
owns the patent for[21], and wields ultimate
control over), as AS-D is a only recently discovered (by ITP scientists) as a
potential cancer causing agent. For these
reasons it may well be decades before AS-D is even identified as a concern
requiring further investigation, and that will depend on whether ITP’s
executive board believes it is in the company’s interest. In that timeframe, ITP expects to continue to
generate billions of dollars of profit.
Unreleased documents detail that CEO Targaryen became concerned when she
heard of this development, and commissioned secretive health and safety
inspections. While the results are not
widely known, ITP has significantly improved the ventilation systems in 68% of
their production plants, but this option comes at heavy costs. As their own industry watchdogs, ITP can
underreport incidences health related worker absenteeism, while providing these
employees with generous sick leave packages and access to North America’s best
healthcare benefits program. ITP also
benefits from the fact that most of their Aboriginal employees shun traditional
Western medicine, and therefore rates of illness will be artificially lower, as
these employees will not seek Western treatment.
The
Iron Throne and Prusskov:
In the years since ITP moved their
patent offices to Prusskov, the country’s economy has been revitalized. The patent offices in Prusskov have expanded
slightly to enable packaging and distribution of not only barbiturates, but
some of the pharmaceutical drugs necessary in any developing nation. The region surrounding the Prusskov patent
office has become the country’s economic epicentre, and there has been a mass
influx of migration to the area, with individuals finding gainful employment in
the industry that has sprung up to cater to the unique needs of ITP’s patent
offices, and the country’s first pharmacological distribution centre. ITP’s entrance into the country sparked
public interest in not only patents, but pharmaceutical drugs, and
pharmaceutical policy. Prusskov’s
government, and citizens, have become aware of the positive impact that
pharmaceutical drugs, and healthcare investment can have in a region, and the
country has now begun the early stages of building the health infrastructure
that can support/fulfil the needs of its people.
ITP’s investment in Prusskov has resulted
in substantial economic gains for the region. Prusskovian government officials
have recently requested that ITP not only continue to house their patent
offices in the country, but have requested that ITP consider shifting some (if
not all) production of barbiturates to Prusskov. Prusskovian officials argue that shifting
barbiturate production to the country will enable ITP to significantly decrease
the production costs of their pharmaceutical drugs[22], and streamline the
production and distribution process to one location. To entice ITP to better consider the option,
Prusskov has pledged to allow ITP to further re-write the country’s labour
code, pharmacological policy, and environmental standards, to suit their
interests. Furthermore, Prusskov, well
aware of the importance of vaccines and clinical trials, has offered to create
laws that require citizens to participate in clinical trials when called upon, thereby
giving ITP access to millions of people, in various states of health, when
testing vaccines, and conducting clinical trials, and removing all of the legal
and moral challenges associated with informed consent, and clinical trials with
experimental medicine. .
With these requests, Prusskov is
well aware that shifting clinical trials, vaccine research, and barbiturate
production to their shores would also require that ITP make significant
investments in the country’s infrastructure, and most importantly, make a
significant investment of human capital in the region, which in turn would
benefit the country in perpetuity. The
hope is that the employment that ITP production sites would bring would have an
immediate positive impact on Prusskov’s GDP, while the clinicians, researchers,
and immunologists who settle in the country to conduct research and clinical trials
would lay the foundation for Prusskov’s health infrastructure for generations
to come, with the health centres and laboratories that will need to be built
serving as the pillars of their health infrastructure.
The
Dilemma:
To put it bluntly, what should you
advise your board to do? You can advise ITP’s board to continue to produce
banned barbiturates and utilize Prusskov as a base for exporting these drugs
and maintain production of barbiturates as is, while seeking to expand more of ITP’s
pharmaceutical production into Prusskov (and away from the glare of critics),
along with production, packaging, and distribution of ITP products. Expanding ITP production into Prusskov would
enable ITP to shift the production of banned barbiturates from Canadian soil,
and give ITP access to cheaper labour, and give the company the ability to
conduct research, and clinical trials, utilizing their experimental drugs, on
citizens without concerns about informed consent, and produce their
barbiturates without concerns about the impact of AS-D on their Canadian
workforce.[23] This option allows market forces to continue
to set the demand for barbiturates, and will allow ITP to maintain their
industry dominance, and continue to gain financially from the worldwide sale of
barbiturates, but insulate the company from any criticism, as Prusskovian
operations lack transparency and will be kept at a reasonable distance. Moreover, this distance would allow ITP to
take a stronger position against the international sale of barbiturates, and
advocate severe restrictions on the sale of barbiturates. These severe restrictions would make it much
more difficult for their competition to sell barbiturates, while ITP would
continue to do so from their Prusskov offices, and away from international
scrutiny, with most, if not all, of their competition facing consistent
restrictions. ITP can then publically
shifts its focus to cancer vaccines, and producing drugs that improve life,
while continuing to reap substantial economic returns from the sale of their
barbiturates, all the while condemning these drugs and companies who sell them
and making it much more difficult for them to do so. Or, you can advise the board
to operate as advertised, and oppose the export of drugs used for executions, rid
the company of this aspect of its operations, and gradually turn ITP’s
attention solely towards drugs that save/improve lives, and leading the way forward
in therapeutic vaccines and clinical trials.
Stepping back from barbiturate
production/exporting, and actively trying to curtail worldwide executions would
entail acknowledging ITP’s previous contribution to executions, with the
reasonable expectation that ITP would relinquish their industry wide control
over pharmacological drugs and policy to make positive contributions towards
enacting effective restrictions on the sale and distribution of these
drugs. Acknowledging that ITP continued
to sell barbiturates while publically claiming otherwise may lead to a slight
loss of consumer trust in the marketplace and a slight loss of marketshare
(marketshare that your competition will very quickly snap up, companies that
rely on amoral management and show no interest in CSR, opposing the death
penalty, or informed consent in drug trials).
Regardless of your choice, ITP will maintain
itself as an international leader in pharmaceutical drugs. The only difference is whether the company will
continue to sell drugs that the marketplace demands[24]
through Prusskov, while publically focusing on drugs that improve/save lives or
abandon this practice altogether, to focus solely on drugs that improve/save
lives.
It
must be duly noted that relinquishing industry wide control over the
pharmaceutical industry may result in stakeholders becoming aware of AS-D. Opening up ITP to third party oversight may
not actually aid in identifying, and addressing AS-D, as ITP already employs
the world’s leading health scientists and researchers and the company is
already committed to providing healthier workplaces. Maintaining control, and resisting oversight,
of ITP’s pharmacological research has the further benefit of allowing the
company to maintain its reputation as an industry leader, and reaping the good PR
that would come with that. This would
also enable the company to continue making important strides in improving
health in the developing world. In truth,
acknowledging ITP’s role heretofore in executions would not imperil ITP’s
position as the dominant force in pharmaceuticals, but will lead to a decrease
in sales. Any loss in sales will harms
the
company’s bottom line, harm the company’s shareholders, limit the amount of
funding that ITP has for their industry leading R&D, and will force ITP to
significantly reduce their philanthropic endeavours.
Lastly, it must be noted that representatives
at the Prusskovian office have also recently been informed that government
officials have been inquiring about setting up a distribution scheme for banned
barbiturates worldwide, as there are many counties who are not adverse to the
death penalty and are willing to enter into negotiations with ITP regarding the
use of Prusskov as headquarters for international distribution. It must be further noted that all of these
countries are going to continue to execute prisoners regardless, and the use of
barbiturates allows it to be done in a much more humane fashion. Moreover, there are whispers that other
pharmaceutical companies are currently setting up schemes in less developed
countries, similar to ITP in Prusskov, which will lead to more competition in
the international export of barbiturates, and if ITP decides to stop producing
barbiturates, their competition will most certainly step in. Truth be told, worldwide executions will not
stop, and companies will continue to find ways to take advantage of the
economic windfall that comes with exporting these drugs.
Instructions
for completing assignment (important, please read carefully):
In no more than a total of 1,875
words (please indicate your total word count at the end of the analysis.
Assignments that do not indicate the word count will not be graded.) analyze the following ethical issue: Which
position should you defend to the board, supporting the expanded sale of
barbiturates that have been marked by shortages, or shifting away from a
product that others will then provide in your absence? To answer this question, students should do
the following: (please provide a brief introduction, that states the issue, and
your position approx. 75 words).
1.
Apply
any six of the seven moral
standards (i.e. utilitarianism, moral rights, the principle of justice,
principle of care, virtue ethics, Kantianism, egoism), to the full extent that
they are applicable, to both support and critique your position on the ethical issue (clearly state your position and
clearly indicate which moral standards you are applying) (approx. 1,200 words);
2.
Indicate
whether Milton Friedman would agree or disagree with your position on the issue
and why, based on his criteria and constraints (approx. 200 words); and
3.
Make
reference to any other relevant cases and/or theoretical concepts discussed in
the course to support and/or critique your position (approx. 400 words).
No additional research beyond the
course materials is required. Include
any reasonable factual assumptions you are making if necessary. Note that you won’t be graded on the specific
alternative you defend but on the quality of your analysis and your
demonstration of your grasp of the course concepts and cases. This assignment
is to be completed by you alone. You may
not discuss, ask, or allow another student or anyone else to read, review, or
give any comments on your answer (or even an outline of your answer), and you
may not discuss, review, or give comments on any other student's answer or
outline. Failure to observe the
requirement to write your assignment alone will be considered a serious ethical
violation, so please be careful to avoid problems. Please do not ask if you can go over the word
limit (the total maximum of 1,875 words) as I will reply that you should not go
over the word limit (in fairness to other students).
Instructions
for submitting assignment (important, please read carefully):
•
The
final assignment must be submitted in to Atkinson Room 282 December 13th, 12:00 noon.
•
Please
clearly indicate your name, the date, the course number, and the instructors
name on the cover page of your assignment.
•
Please note that
there is an automatic grade deduction of 5% for each day (24 hrs) late for any reason (i.e., including
health-related reasons, so please do not wait until the last few days to
complete the assignment). This policy will be strictly enforced, so if you ask
for an extension, the response will be that you can submit the assignment late
but you will receive the 5% per day grade deduction.
•
Good
luck on the assignment!
[1] Knight, O. ITP – Our Story.
Shamonda Press. 1985. P. 23.
[2] Ibid. 25.
[3] One such privilege that remains
highly controversial today was the Canadian government’s 2006 decision to allow
ITP to become their own industry watchdogs.
ITP lobbied the government to control all federal pharmacological and
vaccination research on the grounds that “ITP had the most expertise, and vested
interest, in guiding the issues surrounding the use and production of
pharmaceuticals, and vaccines, worldwide.” The Canadian government, concerned
with maintaining its mutually beneficial relationship with ITP, agreed to this
request (Ayodele, R. (2006) ITP wants to be become their own watchdogs. Globe
and Mail. April 27th, C8).
[4] ITP has steadfastly denied attempts
to allow for generic versions of their anti-retrovirals (ARVs) that are highly
effective and used in cocktails to treat HIV/AIDS patients, drugs that suppress
the virus, and help bolster the patient’s immune system. Traditionally, patented drugs enjoy 20 years
of protection under proprietary law; the reasoning behind this rule is to allow
companies to recoup the cost of funding that particular drug, and further
invest in R&D. Canada is a signatory
on the International Patents Pact (IPP), and forces companies that have their
patent offices on Canadian soil to agree to allow for generic versions of their
drugs be made available within, at maximum, 20 years. By moving its patent office to Prusskov,
which is not a signatory on the IPP, ITP does not have to allow for generic
versions of their drugs to be made available within 50 years.
[5] The clearest example being
Prusskov’s decision to allow ITP to re-write their pharmacological policy, and
expand patent protection to 50 years
[6] European Commission. Capital
Punushment is Immoral. Lannister Press. 2003. P. 3.
[7] In the US, capital punishment is
used more often against perpetrators from racial and ethnic minorities and from
lower socioeconomic backgrounds, than against those criminals who come from a
privileged background; the background of the victim also influences the outcome
of the case, as crimes perpetrated against more privileged members of society
are punished more severely. Researchers
have also shown that individuals are more likely to support capital punishment
when it is applied to individuals from other racial and social classes. (Amnesty
International, Arguments against Capital Punishment. O.Martell Press. 2001).
[8] In Xeershoaja, for example,
citizens can be sentenced to death for first time non-violent drug offences,
adultery, apostasy, and for expressing what the government terms ‘dissident
views.’
[9]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/06/us-executions-death-penalty-drugs
[10] ITP Press Release. August 2008.
[11] ITP Press Release “Ethics, and our
company credo.”
[12] ITP’s vaccine research is currently
focused on cancer vaccines. Any advancements
in acquired immunity to particular cancers would be a landmark in human
history, similar to the landmark achievements that ITP has made in fighting
heart disease and stroke.
[13] Over the last 12 months, ITP
shipments to Prusskov have consistently doubled from month to month. Countries that are on the receiving end of
shipments from Prusskov have also, during the same time frame, began executing
prisoners with barbiturates.
[14] ITP Press Release. October, 2008.
[15] ITP Internal Memo, March 2012. Those that received this memo took this as
confirmation of ITP’s direction.
[16] ITP Press Release, October, 2008.
[17] Although, many individuals from
impoverished nations, who are suffering from ill health, readily admit that
they would welcome the opportunity to take risky drugs, if that meant giving
them a chance (however small) at a healthier future. In Kinrovia, where chronic diarrhea kills 1
in 7 children, thousands of parents signup for the riskiest conceivable drug
trials (drug trials that only have 50 slots for children) if it means having
access to drugs that may (or may not) help their children. In fact, many in impoverished countries,
“citizens openly mock the Western notion of informed consent.” UN Risky Drug Trials Report, 2015.
[18] While that Kinrovia example had
positive results, critics cite 7 other examples throughout the developing world
where ITP clinical trials (trials that have never been confirmed or reported by
ITP) lacked transparency and UN oversight.
In another Kinrovia trial for a flu vaccine, the parents of 16 children
who died claimed that ITP did not properly disclose the risks of the
trial. This led to threats of a lawsuit
from Kinrovia’s government over informed consent, but within 10 days, Kinrovia’s
government withdrew their criticisms of ITP, and pointed to a 10 million dollar
‘donation’ of 2 hospitals (to be built and fully staffed) in the region as
evidence of ITP’s ‘good intentions’ in Kinrovia.
[19] On several occasions, ITP has made
demonstrably false, and factually incorrect, claims about its clinical trials,
sometimes disputing the established medical codes of ethics for conducting
experiments and clinical trials that govern the industry. On two separate occasions, ITP has had to
replace every member on their Clinician Advisory Board, when every current
member quit in opposition to ITP’s practices.
[20] In the weeks after the death of 16
children in Kinrovia, and other cases where children suffer brain damage in
clinical trials, ITP first claimed to be unaware of any clinical trials in the
area, identified the families of the victims, provided these families with
generous “participation packages” that surpassed 3 million dollars each, and
offered to support their claims for permanent refugee status in Canada (but
only if they chose to “not pursue this any further, retract any negative
statement made about ITP, and cease and desist any future mention of clinical
trials in conjunction with ITP”). The
moment a family accepts these benefits (which they always do), ITP begins
systematically destroying any evidence of clinical trials in the area, and then
proceeds to question the veracity of the reports in the first place (reports
that, by then, lack evidence, identifiable victims, and cooperation from
families). The most egregious example may have been when it was reported that a
child in West Africa was intentionally given a lower than advertised dose of ITP’s
flu vaccine (to study the effects of lower doses on children). When the child died days later, all evidence and
documentation of this clinical trial disappeared, the family resettled to one
of the wealthiest districts in West Africa, and 2 senior family members assumed
highly lucrative consulting positions at ITP.
Although there is no evidence to corroborate the West African flu
vaccine trials, industry insiders acknowledge that, although highly
controversial and fraught with legal perils, lower dosage trials are
fundamentally important for improving the efficacy of drugs and vaccines for
billions of people worldwide, and the death of this one child will save many
more lives.
[21] Because ITP owns the patent for
AS-D, the company can withhold any and all information pertaining to AS-D, as
it is largely considered proprietary data.
Any research pertaining to AS-D will therefore be under ITP’s control
and direction.
[22] Prusskov’s labour costs are
SIGNIFICANTLY lower than Canada’s.
Roughly converted, the equivalent of $17 Can per day would put a
Prusskovian employee in the third highest income earning bracket in the
country.
[23] ITP officials are readying a PIT
produced documentary that rejects the connection between particulates and lung
cancers (even though the UN, and every major health organization, recognizes
particulates as cancerous), should the topic arise when negotiating with
Prusskov.
[24] Regardless of how one feels about
barbiturates, there is a sustained marketplace for these drugs. ITP only sells
barbiturates t internationally recognized governments, governments that have
enacted their own rule of law that governs their country.
SECTION 2:
SOLUTION
Question 1:
There are various principles that are used
for giving decisions as an executive of ITP. They are:
Utilitarianism – The principle of Utiilatarism is one of the moral ethics that deals with
the most appropriate action. According to the principle of Utilitarianism, the
most appropriate action has the power to increase the utility. In fact, it is
the summation of all the good results that arise from a particular work. This
moral principle is the other name for consequentialism that determines the
outcomes or the consequences of any type of action (Beauchamp et al. 2004, p.72). The principle of Utilitarianism takes into
account the interests all each and every person. The Iron Throne pharmaceuticals should be
involved in the appropriate action that would be beneficial for all the
sections of the society. It should launch appropriate for the patients who
require anaesthetics drugs during their surgery and it should also produce
sufficient amount of medicines for the cardiac patients. The principle of Utilitarianism would help
the Iron Throne pharmaceuticals to undertake a course of action for the
patients of anaesthetic drugs and the patients with the cardiac diseases. Such
course of action will give the good result i.e. it would reduce the number of
people who die due to stroke or heart diseases in Canada.
The principle of justice- The principle of justice state lays down the rule which
states that each and every person should be treated equally and fairly in an
organisation. The principle of justice is more
applicable to pharmaceutical or healthcare companies which state that every
section of the society has the right to enjoy the benefits or face the burdens. This
means that the material and the service benefits should be provided equally to
each and every person. According to this
principle, the Canadian government should treat all the pharmaceutical
companies equally (Jones et al. 2007, p.137). It should not give more financial
benefits to ITP as it increases Canada’s image on an international ground. Besides, the case states that Iron Throne
pharmaceuticals are the greatest employer of scientists and chemical engineers
in North America. According to the principle, it should not prefer scientists
or chemical from North America but it should give equal opportunities to
scientists from all over the world who have similar efficiencies. Besides, the
case contains that Iron Throne pharmaceuticals have paid attention to
vaccination programs. Based on this principle it can be said that Iron Throne
Pharmaceuticals should not only provide benefits through vaccination programs
but to also treat other aspects equally.
The principle of Care- The principle of care states that Iron Throne pharmaceuticals should
take care to all the sections of the society in a particular way in which the
various sections of the society would like to be treated. According to this
principle, Iron Throne pharmaceutical company is a care service provider who
produces anaesthetic medicines, barbiturates and other vaccines along with
medicines that can help cardiac patients (Robinson,
1997). As a pharmaceutical
company, Iron Throne Pharmaceuticals should produce these medicines as per as
the market demand or in other words, it should produce each and every category
of medicines as much demand by the customers.
Besides, the case states that ITC was caught for causing pollution
during the production of barbiturates. The case states that the employees of
the company were exposed to various types of airborne pollutants. In the
employees inhale such pollutants then their lungs would get damaged and they
can also face the untimely death. Regarding this, the principle of care would
help the ITP treat the employees with care which they expect from their
company. The case also states that Iron
Throne pharmaceuticals had not taken the consent of people in some place of
developing would and had conducted certain experiments by using risk hepatic
drugs. Under such circumstances, it is the duty of ITP to take care of the
individuals whose body had been used for clinical experiments of risky hepatic
drugs.
Virtue ethics- Virtue ethics is regarded as one of the most important ethics that is
very essential in theory of normative ethics.
Such ethics lays down certain moral values which possess a contrast with
the duties of an individual. According to this moral standard, the Iron Throne
pharmaceutical should conduct its business in an ethical way. In no way, it
should perform any misdeeds for its own selfish interests (West, 2016, p.199). Besides, while conducting
the business it is the duty of the company to look at all the aspects and their
development. In the case, it has been
argued by Targaryen that ITP has been involved in the export of the banned
drugs and it prohibits the other companies to export their drugs. Besides, the
company is producing certain anaesthetics that are used in unnecessary surgery
even if they are not needed. The principle of virtue ethics states that Iron
Throne Pharmaceuticals should not resort to such an act which would restrict
the growth of other pharmaceutical companies in Canada and North America.
Moral Rights- These are the rights of different workers who have taken the copyright
of their intellectual property assets. These types of rights prevent the
pilferage and the imitation of a work of a particular person. These rights generally provide protection to
the intellectual property assets like goodwill. These rights are described in
different ways by different countries. According to VARA, the moral rights are
generally known as the right that belongs to an author for his creative or
visual work. There are different paintings, music sculptures whose creativity
has been preserved as per as this right. Sometimes this right also helps to
protect the intellectual property assets like the goodwill, patent etc (Hoffman et al.
2014). As per as this right the Iron Throne pharmaceuticals company has
patent offices in Prosskov. The patent office in Prosskov should ensure that
the Iron Throne Pharmaceuticals Company should not imitate the process or the
techniques for the production of any types of drugs like an anaesthetic,
cardiac drugs or barbiturates from any other company if the process of
manufacturing such drugs has been patented.
Besides, this right also states that the ITP Company should not restrict
the export of any medicine belonging any other pharmaceutical company in the
Canadian market. It is the moral right of every company to sell their product
and gets a patent for their invention of production techniques through research
and development.
Egoism- Egoism
can be stated as the moral theory describing the behaviour of a person. There are different types of egoism known as
psychological egoism, ethical egoism and rational egoism. The concept of
egoism, in fact, determines the most common objective of each and every person
(Held, 2017, p.53). According to this
principle of Psychological egoism, a person looks at his own interest.
Normative part of egoism states that an individual tells what he or she should
do. In this case, Iron Throne
Pharmaceuticals is a leading pharmaceutical producer in the Canadian market. It
was responsible for conducting certain operations which were criticised by the
others. The company had tried to
dominate the entire Canadian market and capture the industry which its
excellence. The company has been trying to pull up itself by finding various
loopholes in the exports of banned products. Besides, the company has done
various clinical tests of various drugs. Besides, the company has performed
various research and development activities for its products. Such activities
describe the behaviour of the company as suggested by the principle.
Question 2:
The opinion of Milton Freedman is based on
the corporate social responsibilities of business entities. The business should take into account the
interests of the common people while taking corporate decisions (Friedman, 2017). Milton Freedman would not
agree with the position because according to him responsibilities are the most
important thing. A business can flourish if it is able to follow different
types of corporate social responsibilities. He fully disagrees the format of
research and development of the Iron Throne Pharmaceuticals as because the
company has made clinical tests on the patients with risky drugs. Moreover, the
patients did not know that they were being given certain risky medicines.
Besides, usage of cheaper labour leads to exploitation of the labourers as they
labourers do not get proper money and healthy workplace. According to him, the
labourers give full efforts to the production of the goods and the services but
the usage of cheaper labour cause's exploitation of labour and such policies
are not supported by the corporate social responsibility (Friedman, 2017). Besides Freedman disregards the sale of
barbiturates because the Prusskovian offices do not have such rules and
regulations and if the barbiturates are sold from these offices then the there
would be no legal restriction on the company.
Question 3:
There are different concepts that are
relevant to the study of the Iron Throne pharmaceuticals in Canada. In fact,
the company has tried its best to flourish its pharmaceutical business within
Canada and in the international market. There are certain good measures that
the Iron Throne Pharmaceuticals Company has taken. The corporate social
responsibility states that it is one of the responsibilities of the company to
absorb the entire workforce (Hopkins, 2017,
p.83). In the case, it is found that the company have created several
employments for the scientists and the chemical engineers in North America.
There are various scientists and chemical engineers who have been employed in
various laboratories in North America. The company has also incurred costs in
providing training to the employees generally from the community of the
aboriginals. By this, it lays down the principle of equality. The company had
provided equal opportunities to the higher class employee groups as well as
lower class employee groups (Hopkins, 2017,
p.83). Moreover as suggested by
the principle of the duty of care the company has struggled to make the ACE
Inhibitors which would reduce the blood cholesterol level and widen the
arteries reducing the chances of a heart attack. The company has taken various measures to
increase its business but all the business strategies that were taken by the
board were not moral. There were certain immoral and unethical strategies that
were adopted by the board of the company regarding the production and the sale
of barbiturates. The company has decided to shift the production of
barbiturates to Prusskovian area because there were no strict trade laws
regarding exports of barbiturates. This situation is related to the case of
Takeda pharmaceuticals in which the company had to pay millions because the
medicine manufactured by Takeda pharmaceuticals were dangerous and could cause
bladder cancer. Similarly, in this case, the Iron Throne pharmaceuticals had
made an attempt to the sale of barbiturates through Prusskovian offices. The Company had not taken strategies to keep
the workers in a clear and healthy workplace. This issue is similar to the case
of Mc Donald's and Lie beck. In this case, Mc Donald had failed to follow the
social responsibility for giving a proper workplace (Rutherford, 1998, p.72). Similarly, in this case, it is found
that the workers in the production factories of Iron Throne Pharmaceuticals had
not given safe workplace to the workers and they had continuously inhaled the
airborne pollutants.
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