US opioid crisis PDF

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QUESTION 1 How would you describe the pharmaceutical industry’s strategy leading up to the opioid crisis? Is it ethical? Why or why not? The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered (or self-administered) to patients, with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate the symptoms. From the case study, it was highlighted that several party in the industry direct or indirectly involve in the opioid epidemic crisis which is the manufacturer, distributor, and also the practitioner. In view of the situation, it is believed that the organization is only focus on the profit and putting aside the side effect of their action. Business ethic can be defined as the application of general ethical principles to the actions and decisions of businesses and the conduct of their personnel whereby the manufacturer, distributor and practitioner have fail to fulfill. Therefore, the pharmaceutical industry’s strategy is unethical considering the followings has been demonstrated by the industry. 1. Faulty internal oversight allows self-dealing in the pursuit of personal gain, wealth, and self-interest 2. Short-termism pressures managers to meet or beat short-term performance targets 3. A culture that puts profitability and business performance ahead of ethical behavior drives unethical behavior and strategies.

QUESTION 2 Is there anything that the pharmaceutical industry has done or is now doing in the aftermath of that crisis that could legitimately be considered as “unethical” by its stakeholders? What grade would you assign to the industry for its handling of the crisis? Explain. Purdue Pharma is responsible to development and creation of OxyContin. Initially the medication was generally used only for end-stage cancer patients or those suffering from acute traumatic injuries or short-term post-surgical pain. In order to reduce the risk of addiction, opioids were not considered appropriate for the treatment of chronic pain, they were often mixed with other medicines like acetaminophen to discourage patients from taking larger amounts. However, Purdue Pharma seen an opportunity where some physicians began to advocate for treatment chronic pain more aggressively. Purdue allied itself by cultivating relationship with professional associations, such as the American Pain Society and the American Academy of Pain Medicine which promoted the idea that the pain was undertreated. Furthermore, the company also hired sales representatives, which resulted to increase in sales. On the other note, McKesson corporation, a leading whole sale drug distributor is solely responsible to distribution of OxyContin played a vital role to ensure supplied is sufficient towards the market demand. However, it was distributors obligation to notify the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and corresponding state regulators if order suggested that

controlled substances were being improperly diverted. In this case, it is a concerned that McKesson have failed to perform its obligation with regards to high consumption of OxyContin. Practitioner will be the last gate to ensure medicine is prescribing accordingly. However, in this case, sales representatives from Purdue Pharma approach prescriber profiles to target general practitioner. They handed out coupons for a 30-day free supply of OxyContin to doctors, who could pass them along to patients and claiming that the risk was less than one percent. This situation worsens when pain clinics, which known colloquially as “pill mills” which dispensed opioids inappropriately for nonmedical uses. In my opinion, being unethical in doing business bring more harm. In this case, a significant increase of death from opioid from 2006 to 2015 which lead to several lawsuits to the firm. The industry itself have poorly demonstrate consciousness on their sole purpose to help patient and not creating a product that may be misused later on. Putting that unethical behavior action aside, the industry is supposed to be striving profit by ensuring no backlogs to any of product or service they have rendered. In this case, the industry has failed the community.

QUESTION 3 In what ways, if any, should the stakeholders in the US opioid crisis bear responsibility? Are there any changes to the industry actors’ CSR strategy that you would suggest? A company is measured by three dimensions of performance: economic (profit), social (people), and environmental (planet). The goal is to achieve excellence in all three of these performance dimension. From my point view, the company failed to meet is performance towards social whereby high deceased recorded over the product misused. With regards to the opioid crisis, the stakeholders are not to be blame entirely. The government for itself have play its part, the investors on the company relied on the max profit which they can benefit, the society depends on the industry to have the best medicine they can have. The opioid crisis is the wakeup call for every stakeholder to further strengthen their position to further fill in the gap and having a stern control measure to avoid the same crisis occur in future.

QUESTION 4 If some shareholders complained that the pharmaceutical industry has been spending too little or too much effort on corporate social responsibility, what would you tell them. Pursuing a Sustainable CSR Strategy in the Firm’s Value Chain Activities will lead to two main impact which is moral case and business case. For moral case perspective it will lead to stakeholder benefit while business case is for competitive advantages. Among the benefit of CSR activities are: 1. Increased buyer patronage 2. Reduced risk of reputation-damaging incidents

3. Lower employee turnover costs and enhanced recruiting and workforce retention 4. Increased revenue enhancement opportunities due to the use of CSR and sustainability 5. CSR and sustainability best serving long-term interests of shareholders

QUESTION 5 Is the pharmaceutical industry striving to conduct business in a socially responsible manner? No. Based on the crisis and situation happened, the pharmaceutical industry does not conduct business in a socially responsible manner where it leads to increase of death due to opioids.

QUESTION 6 What specific additional actions could the pharmaceutical industry take that would make an even greater contribution to CSR? For big businesses, negative publicity is an occupational hazard, the pharmaceutical industry is no different. The public perception that pharma companies profit grossly and often unethically from matters of life and death has led to vitriol and mistrust. Therefore, as companies scramble to counter negative public perceptions, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has taken on a new earnestness and appeal. To turn this situation around, not only must pharmaceutical embrace responsible practices and philanthropic endeavors, it must also effectively broadcast these stories to the general public. The benefits of embracing CSR can be manifold. Embracing CSR can redeem the industry’s reputation with the general public. It also can help attract and retain talent; increasingly, employees care about the public perception of the companies where they work. A few suggestion that may consider for a greater contribution: 1. Make the CSR activity transparent To succeed in the current environment, pharmaceutical industry need to overhaul their CSR approaches toward more simple, transparent, and concrete foundations. The platform attempts to increase transparency for stakeholders and incorporate their input into goals and programs. Instead of focusing on business objectives and separately think about corporate responsibility objectives, merger between business objective and CSR will definitely foster a greater contribution. 2. Choose programs that make a difference Structure is one thing; setting specific programs into motion is another. Pharmaceutical industry need to ensure that new strategies translate into actionable programs that make a difference to people and developing countries, as well as to employees, stakeholders, and the general public. One way to do this is to develop programs that help tackle the World Health Organizations Millennium Development Goals. Another and potentially more

potent way is to respond to areas of real and unmet need on the ground, need that may not be in the international spotlight but is concrete and meaningful. 3. Tell stories If pharmaceutical industry is to transform negative public perception into goodwill, it needs to get better at telling stories. After all, doing good is nothing new, but many people outside the industry would be surprised to learn about all the good causes pharmaceutical industry have brought. Pharmaceutical industry can communicate about their CSR actions primarily through their own internal media like websites, newsletters, and reports that rarely reach the general public. When the message extends outside the pharma bubble, its targeted at external audiences like healthcare professionals, health authorities, shareholders, ratings agencies, and NGOs. 4. Partner with other players Pharmaceutical companies alone are not going to solve these problems and probably best if concerted effort to recognize and bring other players into the fold and to work as a team. As an industry, doing things together, but in general terms of governments, academic organizations, non-governmental organizations, civil society, there needs to be that recognize by achieving it together.

QUESTION 7 What might be the long-term interests of shareholders? How might a commitment to CSR contribute to the pharmaceutical industry’s competitive advantage or profitability? Shareholders interest would definitely a sustainable business and max profit from a company. By enforcing CSR, firm’s duty to operate in an honorable manner, provide good working conditions for employees, encourage workforce diversity, be a good steward of the environment, and actively work to better the quality of life in the local communities where it operates and in society at large. Among the benefit of CSR activities are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Operate ethically and legally. Provide good work conditions for employees. Be a good environmental steward. Display good corporate citizenship Increased buyer patronage Reduced risk of reputation-damaging incidents Lower employee turnover costs and enhanced recruiting and workforce retention Increased revenue enhancement opportunities due to the use of CSR and sustainability CSR and sustainability best serving long-term interests of shareholders

In summary, CSR can contribute to the pharmaceutical industry’s competitive advantage and also their profitability as they will signify the effort of the company towards preserving its performance towards social and environment which will carry them together with the stakeholders....