The pharmaceutical industry has come under intense criticism in recent years. One poll found that 70% of the sample agreed that drug companies put profits ahead of people. Is this perception accurate? Have drug companies traded ethics for profits and placed people at risk?In Profits before People? Leonard J. Weber exposes pharmaceutical industry practices that have raised ethical concerns. Providing systematic ethical analysis and reflection, he discusses such practices as compensating physicians for serving as speakers or consultants, providing incentives to physicians to enroll patients as subjects in clinical research, and advertising prescription drugs to the public through the mass media. Weber's critique of the industry is stern. While acknowledging that new industry guidelines are promising, he finds much room for improvement in the way drug companies market their products. Yet Weber makes a strong case that profits and ethics can coexist and that they are not mutually exclusive.In an effort to understand the proper place of commerce in disseminating information about new drugs, the book aims to clarify basic responsibilities and to help identify sound ethical practices. It recognizes that ethics and law are not the same, that "having a right" is different from "doing the right thing," and that taking ethics seriously means recognizing that the law does not answer all questions about what is right. Weber points the way to more demanding standards and better practices that might begin to restore confidence in the drug industry.
Author(s): Leonard J. Weber
Edition: 1
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 224
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 7
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Introduction......Page 14
PART ONE THE LIMITS OF COMMERCIAL INTERESTS......Page 22
1. Ethics and For-Profit Business......Page 24
2. The Pharmaceutical Industry and ItsStakeholders......Page 37
PART TWO MARKETING TO HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS......Page 48
3. Drug Companies and HealthcareProfessionals: e Ethics Agenda......Page 50
4. Medical Professionalism and ScientificIntegrity......Page 66
5. The Industry’s Code: Not Good Enough......Page 79
6. Drug Samples: e Most ImportantGifts......Page 95
7. Marketing Is Not Objective Education......Page 106
8. Medical Education: Industry at Arm’sLength......Page 119
9. Clinical Research and the Limits ofCommercial Interests......Page 132
PART THREE MARKETING TO THE PUBLIC......Page 154
10. Citizens and Consumers......Page 156
11. Direct-to-Consumer Advertising:Conflicting Interest......Page 170
12. Direct-to-Consumer Advertising:Better Is Better......Page 183
Conclusion......Page 195
Notes......Page 198
Index......Page 212
