Unethical Drug Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry Free Essay Example, 1500 words

An example of the unethical marketing practices would be the targeted advertising and marketing aimed at arthritic patients and convincing them to take drugs like Vioxx that have longer term side effects on the patients. The way in which drug companies marketed the said drug and its variants (it needs to be noted that most drug companies are into arthritis alleviating drugs) and given the fact that arthritic patients are vulnerable to such offers because of the intense pain that they experience, these marketing efforts reek of immorality and an absence of a conscience on the part of the drug marketers. The example of the marketing practices with reference to the drug above is a useful starting point for the analysis of the broader marketing practices from utilitarian and deontological perspectives. Utilitarianism is a branch of philosophy that advocates the virtues of universal good and causing as much happiness to a greater number of people and promoting social welfare. The pioneers of this school of philosophy were the Eighteenth Century Philosopher and Social Thinker, Jeremy Bentham and his follower John Stuart Mill who was a nineteenth century philosopher. We will write a custom essay sample on Unethical Drug Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The utilitarian’s posit the view that actions should be pursued if they result in the overall good of the people and promote social welfare and happiness for the maximum number of people. By this standard, it is apparent that marketing of drugs like Vioxx is harmful to society at large because numerous studies have shown that prolonged use of such drugs increases the risks of heart attacks and strokes though the drug companies advertized it as safe for the arthritic patients (Markel, 2006). This is one example of the unethical drug marketing practices of Big Pharma wherein they sought to increase their bottom-line at the expense of the patients. This is a clear violation of utilitarian principles where the interests of the majority are not taken into consideration and the actions of the drug companies are intended to enhance the interest of the few (shareholders) and ignoring the interests of millions of patients who were at risk by taking th is drug. Utilitarian thought has been used to justify business actions by invoking the cost benefit approach wherein the benefits to a large section of society are deemed to justify the costs involved as well as the consequences (Halbert & Ingulli, 2008). Hence, the makers of Vioxx, Merck, may claim that their drug is beneficial to many patients and the overall good that comes out can justify the incidence of side effects in a minority (Markel, 2006).