Glaxo Smith Klein (GSK) is a company that specializes in pharmaceuticals, and its most popular products are respiratory treatments Ventolin and Advair. The headquarters of this organization is located in London, but it has branches across the globe. In 2017, GSK’s estimated profits were $40.4 billion (Compton, 2020). Since GSK is a bigphrama representative, the company faces many ethical challenges regarding the price of its medications, availability, effects of the drug, and other ethical dilemmas. This paper will review ethical dilemmas in GSK and discuss the implications of them.
Pharmaceutical companies, unlike any other, face a plethora of ethical dilemmas. They have to balance business objectives with the provision of medication that saves people’s lives. By definition, an ethical dilemma is a choice between two options, both compromising moral principles (Iranmanesh et al., 2020). For example, a pharmaceutical company may develop a medication to treat HIV, which would have the potential of curing millions of people.
However, the investments a company made to create, test, and manufacture this drug were substantial, requiring it to sell this novel drug for a very high price. This means that only a small portion of patients who will be able to pay for the medication will have the ability to access it. From an ethical perspective, this is a dilemma because a company cannot sell medications for a price that does not cover the expenses, while not providing medication that can save lives is unethical as well. According to Iranmanesh et al. (2020), a few examples of ethical issues in pharmaceutics include “hoarding, black market, inter-professional trading, and unclear pharmaceutical policies” (p. 84). Thus, pharmaceutical companies face a plethora of ethical dilemmas.
In the past, GSK was accused of leading business unethically. In the United States, GSK misbranded its anti-depressant drugs, which led to a $3 billion fine from the government (Compton, 2020). GSK advertised its drugs with the implication that these can be used for treating depression in children, although the company never received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Moreover, the company was accused of falsifying a journal article data that would suggest the effectiveness of their drugs for people below the age of 18 (Compton, 2020).
The ethical dilemma here is the following: the drugs produced by GSK for treating depression are among the most potent on the market, suggesting they can help people treat this disorder. Children suffer from depression too, but since this medication was not approved, GSK was promoting something that can have substantial side effects on a child’s health. Another potential explanation is that GSK’s management was tempted by the potential of selling their drug to a new consumer segment, meaning that they chose profits over the safety of patients. Hence, the issue of benefit for the patient and the company’s profits raises some critical questions relating to ethics.
When manufacturing a drug, the company has to consider the benefits and potential detrimental effects of it. One of the GSK’s top-sellers is Paxil, a medication patients use to treat depression. The company paid a total of $160 million to settle lawsuits, the main implication of which was that Paxil causes suicidal intentions (Compton, 2020). Similarly, other drugs GSK produces face accusations for side effects and severe health harm.
For instance, Avandia that was developed as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, also caused heart attacks and strokes in some patients (Compton, 2020). The ethical dilemma that arises here is the following: should a company continue manufacturing and selling medication that led to the death of some patients? On the other hand, patients who do not experience severe side effects are able to treat their illnesses and improve their quality of life.
A part of the promotion process for medical products involves partnering with healthcare professionals. This creates moral dilemmas, especially if a company’s medication has alternatives from competitors because the choice of a brand is in a physician’s hands. In China, GSK was accused of bribing healthcare workers with the purpose of the latter recommending GSK’s drugs to patients (Compton, 2020). Hence, a company used bribes rather than scientific evidence proving that its medication is more effective or lower prices to reach its business objectives. This case resulted in a fine and a prison sentence for several of GSK’s executives (Compton, 2020).
However, the issue of pharmaceutical companies approaching physicians and partnering with the latter to promote their medication remains problematic. This rates a dilemma of whether a choice of a drug was based on the patient’s needs or on the partnership between the doctor and the pharma company.
Overall, this paper examines the ethical dilemmas faced by GSK. Being one of the largest pharmaceutical companies, GSK faces many ethical dilemmas connected to the need for balancing business and helping patients. Moreover, some products produced by GSK caused harm to patients, which resulted in several lawsuits against the company. Reporting the side effects and misbranding drugs are other ethical issues that GSK faced over the years.
References
Compton, K. (2020). GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Drug Watch. Web.
Iranmanesh, M., Yazdi-Feyzabadi, V. & Mehrolhassani, M.H. (2020). The challenges of ethical behaviors for drug supply in pharmacies in Iran by a principle-based approach. BMC Med Ethics 21, 84. Web.