Merck was at the top of the pharmaceutical market for many years. The company made substantial profits almost every year. Not only were they a company that made money but they also made their financial gains in an ethical manor. Fourton magazine even named them the “most admired” company. But in 2004‚ the company would be faced with major challenges that would threaten to end the company’s existence. Their once best selling painkiller Viol had been recalled by the federal government because the drug
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Merck and Co. and river blindness MANUEL VELASQUEZ‚ Business Ethics. Concepts and cases 4th edt.‚ Prentice Hall‚ Upper Saddle River‚ New Jersey‚ 1998 River blindness is an agonizing disease that affects some 18 million impoverished people living in remote villages along the banks of rivers in tropical regions of Africa and Latin America. The disease is caused by a tiny parasitic worm that is passed from person to person by the bite of the black fly which breeds in river waters. The tiny worms
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Merck and River Blindness (Onchocerciasis) In understanding the decision Merck made to donate medicines‚ we need to start by understanding the motivations and core values behind the company that undertook the actions. We can get some insight into these by examining and understanding their company mission statement: The mission of Merck is to provide society with superior products and services‚ innovations‚ and solutions that improve the quality of life and satisfy customer needs-to provide employees
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Questions for the Merck Case Create a decision tree for Merck. The 2 leftmost branches would identify the alternatives related to licensing Davarink (specifically license versus not to license). Next‚ if Merck decides to pursue license‚ they go into phase I which results in a success‚ or failure. Phase I success is followed by phase II where Merck has the opportunity to develop the drug to treat depression alone‚ weight loss alone‚ or both‚ or contemplate phase II failure. Finally phase
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strategic leadership‚ managing change and even capital markets. CEO is one of the most coveted and least understood job in world. Everyone aspires to get the top job‚ as people believe CEO is a fusion of power and money. By the nature of jobs description‚ CEO is supposed to meet the needs and expectations of various stakeholders. People perceive CEOs life is easier and simpler than any other employer in the company just because the CEO has to just pass orders to his employees and then the employees
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As a result of worldwide withdrawal of Vioxx‚ Merck faced a serious public relations crisis in the fall of 2004. Pharmaceutical giant’s officials were forced to defend company’s actions‚ its motivation for those actions‚ and its reputation after several articles‚ negatively reflecting on Merck’s behavior handling the Vioxx case‚ had been published. As an initial response to Vioxx crisis‚ the company released “An Open Letter from Merck” and “For 100 years‚ patients first” in attempt at a positive
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Executive Summary Merck & Company has been presented with an opportunity to invest $30 million for the purchasing rights of an obesity and high cholesterol lowering drug‚ KL-798 from Kappa Labs. Based on the expected probabilities of success through each product-development phase for this new drug‚ as well as the costs involved‚ the net present value of the project is -$1.16 million and is therefore recommended that Merck passes on the investment. Sensitivity analysis also show that adjusting
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Merck & Co.‚ Inc (A) (The summary is based on the article in Vol. I and does not include the extra readings given by the professor) This case is a classic example of enterprises trying to balance their business of increasing profits and expected social responsibilities. This dilemma is further accentuated when the company happens to be a pharma company whose decisions directly affect people’s lives. The Dilemma: A possible drug for River Blindness‚ a disease which affects almost 85 million
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Merck‚ the FDA‚ and the VIOXX Recall MBA 520-D4C2 Ethics & Leadership in a Global Environment April 22‚ 2012 Merck and Vioxx Recall Did Merck act in social and ethical manner? In 2005‚ Merck was ranked fourth in sales among pharmaceutical companies. Merck had released the drug Vioxx‚ for treating Osteoarthritis in late 1990. Merck as a company has a reputation of being one of the most ethical and
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Merck‚ being on one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world today‚ came from a meek beginning and still encounters many problems today while trying to maintain a lead amongst its competition. While being looked at as a research and development driven company‚ Merck now has to go beyond R&D to stay competitive in the pharmaceutical industry. Attracting talent to work for the company has never been a problem for Merck‚ but the bigger question was whether or not this talent would be able
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