This session explores the ethical dimension of selling pharmaceutical products. With the case of Blue Monday, we discuss the complex tension faced by pharmaceutical companies between achieving sales and acting ethically.
Questions treated in this session:
When is marketing ethical?
Where is the line between marketing and corruption?
What is ethically specific about pharmaceutical sales?
What has been the historical evolution of marketing by pharmaceutical companies?
Preparation
Read Blue Monday and think about the questions at the end of the case. Besides, describe another situation in Pharmaceutical Sales where an actor may have acted unethically. Describe briefly the situation and analyze the reasons that could explain this behavior.
Required readings
Henri-Claude de Bettignies and Charlotte Butler. Blue Monday. CEIBS and INSEAD Case-Study. 2009.
Jeremy A. Greene, MD, and David Herzberg. Hidden in Plain Sight: Marketing Prescription Drugs to Consumers in the Twentieth Century. American Journal of Public Health, 2010; 00: 793-803.
Optional readings
Merck to Pay $950 Million, Plead Guilty in U.S. Vioxx Probe, By Jef Feeley and David Voreacos, Bloomberg, November 23, 2011.
