Business Ethics and the Merck & Co., Inc. Case Study

Susan Gustafson

Business Ethics

Mark Matthews, Ph.D.

February 10, 2004

Applying Ethics to the Merck Case

The purpose of my essay is to show whether the business decisions made by the management team of Merck pharmaceutical are ethical. Using corporate assets for charitable purposes, the company manufactures and distributes a drug called Mectizan at no charge to impoverished nations and their inhabitants.

I will expound on three ethical theories and then analyze the Merck case according to each theory, summarizing how the authors and proponents of each theory would position themselves regarding this case. The three theories that will be used to examine the case are John Stuart Mill's ethical theory of Utilitarianism, Immanuel Kant's Supreme Principal of Morality theory, and The Voice of Care, which is a contemporary challenge to dominant ethical views such as Kants and Mills'.

I have chosen to use only the materials covered in our classroom text and information gained as a result of classroom lectures.

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Ethical Theory and Moral Practice

I will not interject my opinions but analyze the case from the perspective of the authors of the theories.

The Merck Case

Merck & Co. Inc. is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Corporate headquarters are here in the United States. In 2001 Merck recognized over 47 billion dollars in revenue.

Research scientists at Merck discovered a cure for the disease river blindness, caused by a parasite and carried by the black fly, which adversely affects large populations in third world countries. After testing the drug through clinical trials to assure its' safety, the company tried to market the drug through sources such as The World Health Organization and several U.S. health agencies. The United States government was also called upon to introduce legislation to obtain funding for the distribution of Mectizan to impoverished...