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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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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research scientist working for Merck and Company‚ discovered evidence that one of the company’s drugs might kill the parasite that causes river blindness. He then decided to request permission to research this new finding. The mangers for the company noticed that it would take enormous amount of funding and time to develop this new vaccine. This new product could be really hard to market and who was going to actually buy it; it could also damaged the market share that Merck currently had by selling
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Merck: Business Analysis Merck is a flourishing research-driven pharmaceutical company‚ which discovers‚ develops‚ manufacturers‚ and promotes an extensive variety of human and animal health products. Although Merck is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies of the world‚ they still come across problems today while striving to sustain a lead against its competition. Merck has achieved success with its lengthy history of breakthrough drugs and the development of three significant pharmaceutical
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2011). In 1978‚ Merck‚ while testing invermectin (a parasite killing drug for animals)‚ found that invermectin killed a parasite similar to the one that caused river blindness. The problem for Merck was that river blindness generally only affects people in very poor areas and there was very little chance to recoup their financial investment by selling the drug. The ethical dilemma represented by this situation is focused on what course of action Merck should take. Does Merck invest precious resources
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A Discussion on the Company’s Decision Making Process‚ Group Behavior and Organizational Structure Abstract Merck is a pharmaceutical and medical researching company that is dealing with managerial challenges in their daily business operations. Their background and their issues regarding the matter will then help one understand how the actual picture of the real accounts of the managerial decision processes that happen to actual multinational company operations. Having been
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MERCK: OPEN FOR INNOVATION? Founded in 1891 as an American subsidiary of his German namesake‚ Merck was once considered the “undisputed king of the pharmaceutical industry with ground‐ breaking drugs”(The Chief Executive 2003). But for the last decade‚ Merck has gone through a period of stagnation; it began to lose exclusivity patents on blockbuster drugs and has witnessed Pfizer’s rise to top place in the industry. It seemed now that internal R&D that was once the company’s main asset would
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In the year 2000‚ Merck produced a controversial product called Vioxx. Four years later it gained worldwide attention because of the drug’s potential cardiovascular risks. This was detrimental to the company’s reputation because it was alleged Merck knowingly distributed Vioxx despite its risk. Both Barbara Martinez and Anne W. Mathews of the Wall Street Journal wrote articles into the investigation of Vioxx. Their article suggests Merck knew the dangers of Vioxx at an early stage of its clinical
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positively affect the company’s image with the public. However‚ if they did not decide to develop the drug‚ it could negatively affect their image especially if the media would be aware of it. Think about the decision in terms of the CSR pyramid. Did Merck have an ethical obligation to proceed with development of the drug? Would it matter if the drug had only a small chance to cure river blindness? Does it depend on how close the company was to achieving a cure‚ or how sure they were that they could
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Introduction and Situational Analysis Merck and River Blindness ethical dilemma is whether to pursue research that may or may affect the profits‚ or to choose a safer choice and go for profit rather than researching the drug. The outcome from researching the drug could possibly lead to healing the deadly and dangerous disease known as River Blindness. This drug is known to kill the parasite that has caused the disease. The problem with this situation was that the consumers of the drug could not pay
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