Merck & River Blindness Case
Objectives
Identify the facts of the case
Identify the case methodology of the author
Examine the ethical issues of the Merck river blindness case
Synthesize the facts and issues to make a reasoned decision whether to market the river blindness drug
Overview
Students will examine a case of ethical responsibility to shareholders, stakeholders and the public. Merck faced the dilemma of whether to develop, test and market a drug which might not produce a profitable return.
Description
In 1978, Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, undertook major research to develop new drugs. This occurred as two of its blockbuster drugs were about to go off patent. One of the drugs they developed was capable of curing a rare disease that resulted in blindness. The drug that they found, ivermectin, showed promise in curing the rare disease; however, the cost of testing and marketing the drug would be very high, resources were limited and the people who needed the drug were in poor parts of the world.
Required Materials
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2017). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Case entitled “Merck & River Blindness” at the end of Chapter 9 of the textbook.
writeonline. (n.d.). Case study report. Retrieved from http://writeonline.ca/casestudy.php?content=section1
Instructions
Review the process of analyzing a case study in Case Study Report.
Then review the Merck & River Blindness case. You will apply your analysis from the article on it.
Determine the issues raised in the readings, and in your personal observation and study, that you will focus on in your case study analysis.
Read the case study carefully, and gather from it information you will need for your analysis.
Submit a 7-8 page paper, (excluding title page and reference page), in APA format, analyzing the case study.
Decide what course of action should have been taken. Describe your reasoning that led to your position and conclusion.
