Profits before people? : ethical standards and the marketing of prescription drugs

225 Pages·2006·1.694 MB·English

by  Weber, Leonard J

$24.95
CURRENT EVENTS | BUSINESS Profi ts before People?
Weber
An effort to understand the proper In a radical departure from previous
place of commerce in disseminating practice, television ads for prescription
information about new drugs, the book drugs have become common, even for
aims to clarify basic responsibilities and drugs whose therapeutic use is never
Ethical Standards
help to identify good ethical practices. stated in the ad. A few of these pro-
It recognizes that ethics and law are A searching examination of the motional blitzes have been followed
not the same, that “having a right” is and the by news that the drug in question has
different from “doing the right thing,” business ethics of big Leonard J. Weber been withdrawn due to dangerous side
and that taking ethics seriously means effects. What’s going on here?
Marketing of
recognizing that the law does not
pharmaceutical companies
The pharmaceutical industry and its
answer all questions about what is
Prescription Drugs practices have come under intense
right. It points the way to more
P
criticism in recent years. One poll
demanding standards and better
r found that 70 percent of the indivi-
practices that might begin to restore
o
duals sampled agreed that drug
some confi dence in the drug industry.
fi companies put profi ts ahead of
“Business ethics has an essential contribution to make to the

people. Is this perception accurate?
ethics of health care. Weber’s fi ne volume illustrates how t
Have drug companies traded ethics
signifi cant that contribution can be.” s
for profi ts and placed people at risk?

—Howard Brody, M.D., Ph.D., author of The Placebo b
Response and Stories of Sickness In this book, Leonard J. Weber exam-
e
ines the practices of the pharmaceutical
f
industry that have raised such ethical
“Pharmaceutical companies have a clear and simple duty o
concerns. Providing systematic ethical
to avoid harm and the risk of harm. Weber’s elaboration r
analysis and refl ection, he discusses
of the implications of this duty constitutes not so much a e
such practices as compensating
condemnation of the industry as a challenge to live up to this
physicians for serving as speakers
social obligation. As its mass media image indicates, the P
or consultants, providing incentives
pharmaceutical industry has problems recognizing its public e
to physicians to enroll patients as
After more than 30 years on the faculty responsibility. Taking Weber’s ethical perspective seriously o
subjects in clinical research, and
of the University of Detroit Mercy, would be a giant step forward.”
p advertising prescription drugs to
Leonard J. Weber is now an ethics
—Robert T. Hall, Ph.D., Adjunct Associate Professor of
l the public through the mass media.
consultant to healthcare organizations.
Medicine, West Virginia University e
Weber’s critique of the industry is
Most recently he published Business
? stern. While acknowledging that new
Ethics in Healthcare (Indiana University
industry guidelines are promising, he
Press, 2001).
fi nds much room for improvement in
the conduct of the drug companies in
Bioethics and the Humanities marketing their products. Yet Weber
Eric M. Meslin and Richard B. Miller, editors makes a strong case that profi ts and
INDIANA
ethics are not antithetical.
University Press http://iupress.indiana.edu INDIANA
Bloomington & Indianapolis 1-800-842-6796 Cover photo © Corbis
Introduction i
PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE?
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ii Introduction
LEONARD J. WEBER
Bioethics and the Humanities
PROFITS BEFORE
Eric M. Meslin and Richard B. Miller, editors
PEOPLE?
ETHICAL STANDARDS AND THE MARKETING
OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Indiana University Press
  
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Introduction iii
LEONARD J. WEBER
PROFITS BEFORE
PEOPLE?
ETHICAL STANDARDS AND THE MARKETING
OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Indiana University Press
  
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iv Introduction
is book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street
Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA
http://iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone orders 800-842-6796
Fax orders 812-855-7931
Orders by e-mail [email protected]
© 2006 by Leonard J. Weber
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
e Association of American University Presses’
Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only
exception to this prohibition.
e paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for
Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weber, Leonard J., date
Profits before people? : ethical standards and the
marketing of prescription drugs / Leonard J. Weber.
p. ; cm. — (Bioethics and the humanities)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-253-34748-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Pharmaceutical industry—Moral and ethical
aspects—United States. 2. Marketing—Moral and
ethical aspects—United States.
[DNLM: 1. Drug Industry—ethics—United States.
2. Drug Industry—economics—United States.
3. Marketing—ethics—United States. 4. Pharmaceu-
tical Preparations—United States. QV 736 W374p
2006] I. Title. II. Series.
HD9666.5.W43 2006
174'.96151—dc22 2005027198
1 2 3 4 5 11 10 09 08 07 06
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Introduction v
To MMW

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vi Introduction
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
PART ONE
THE LIMITS OF 1 Ethics and For-Profit Business 11
COMMERCIAL
INTERESTS 2 e Pharmaceutical Industry and Its 24
Stakeholders
PART TWO
MARKETING TO 3 Drug Companies and Healthcare 37
HEALTHCARE Professionals: e Ethics Agenda
PROFESSIONALS
4 Medical Professionalism and Scientific 53
Integrity
5 e Industry’s Code: Not Good Enough 66
6 Drug Samples: e Most Important 82
Gifts
7 Marketing Is Not Objective Education 93
8 Medical Education: Industry at Arm’s 106
Length
9 Clinical Research and the Limits of 119
Commercial Interests
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Introduction vii
PART THREE
MARKETING TO 10 Citizens and Consumers 143
THE PUBLIC
11 Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: 157
Conflicting Interests
12 Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: 170
Better Is Better
Conclusion 182
Notes 185
Index 199
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viii Introduction
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Introduction ix
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to many individuals for supporting this project
and for assistance in completing the manuscript, including Rob-
ert Hall, Carol Bayley, Michael McManus, Jessica Seck, Margaret
Weber, and Gloria Albrecht. ank you. I am particularly grateful
to omas Schindler for repeated and careful review of the manu-
script and for very helpful advice.
e School of Business at Gonzaga University provided the op-
portunity to begin to identify the issues addressed in this book by
permitting me to teach a short course to MBA students on “Eth-
ics and the Pharmaceutical Industry” while a Visiting Professor
of Business Ethics in 2002–2004. e faculty “phased retirement
program” at the University of Detroit Mercy made it possible for
me to complete this project upon my return.
Working with different healthcare organizations as an ethics con-
sultant has required that I apply ethical perspectives and analysis
to a variety of issues and situations. In the process, I have learned
that the most important contribution that an ethicist can make is
to keep the focus on high ethical standards. I have attempted to
apply that lesson here.
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