Introduction of Ethical Issues in Turing Pharmaceuticals

Turing Pharmaceuticals, being the biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the patient in medical needs and not able to meet those needs. The company was launched by the CEO Martin Shkreli in February 2015 and became most famous for the two prescription drugs of the company i.e. vecamyl and daraprim. The mission statement of Turing Pharmaceuticals is dedicated to providing assistance to the patients that have no effective or limited options for the treatment by commercializing and developing the innovative treatment for serious conditions and diseases across the broad therapeutic areas range.  

Ethical Issue of Ethical Issues in Turing Pharmaceuticals

Turing Pharmaceuticals faced the ethical issue and got the public attention after raising the price of medication for AIDS by five thousand per cent after it bought the drug daraprim. Daraprim is the drug that is being used to prevent the infection in the nervous system and treat the parasitic infections in those suffering from HIV. A quite controversy was caused against the company after this rise in the price of drug daraprim. It was the 62-year-old love saving medicine and price was raised to 750 dollars from 13.50 dollars per pill overnight and the increase was around five thousand per cent.

Moreover, the medicine worked as the therapy for toxoplasmosis as a compromised immune system is being carried by the victims normally because of the disease like AIDS and HIV. Previously, the Daraprim medicine cost 18 dollars, but it was bought by Turing since the patent expired and it became the only company who was selling this medicine. In Britain, the medicine cost 0.66 dollars that were even less than the price in India. The medicine has been around for the last 60 years, and the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals increased the prices and made it clear that he is taking the advantage of his monopoly position in the market.

The ethical issue arise was that CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals thought about himself and the company only to generate significant profits and revenues while putting lives of other people in danger. Not only ethical, but legal dilemma was raised especially when the CEO of the company was the hedge fund manager formally. The increase in the price of the drug was not for the first time but this hike was one of the largest in the history, especially when the drug was mean between death and life, so it was highly unethical. 

Stakeholders of Ethical Issues in Turing Pharmaceuticals

There were the multiple groups of people who were impacted by such an incredible price hike, such groups of people are known as the stakeholders. The first and the very obvious group that was affected by this price hike was patients suffering from the diseases like HIV and AIDS and they were affected directly. The cost of living of such people was increased drastically and many of the patients who were not able to afford the increased prices were likely to lead to the death. Another group affected by this price hike was Turing Pharmaceuticals Company itself as it received the terrible and very negative feedback from the community that discredited the Turing Pharmaceuticals Company completely.

Although the profit and revenue of the company spiked within the short period of time, it dropped in the long run. Along with the Turing Pharmaceuticals and the patients, the government of the United States had the large partaking in the case as well, mostly because they were expected to outlaw the company and create something possibly so that such incidents could be prevented from happening in the future. The entire industry of biotech became under the microscopic observation because of Turing Pharmaceuticals. The biotech index of NASDAQ got plummeted, and moreover, the employees of the industry were being monitored constantly. Other stakeholders affected by this ethical issue were patent holders and other companies of Martin Shkreli.

Decision Analysis of Ethical Issues in Turing Pharmaceuticals

The decision of Turing Pharmaceuticals was completely unethical and wrong for hiking the drug prices to 750 dollars to 13.50 dollars per pill. So many people in the United States were affected by the decision that was otherwise innocent. The action was done by the company entirely out of selfishness and greed that made their decision and action highly unethical. The prices of the drug were raised to the unaffordable and unreasonable prices where the main drug consumer needed it for survival purpose. It seems really disgusting to increase the drug price by 5000 per cent when the company knew that drug is being used for the survival purposes. The CEO of the company was taking advantage out of his temporary monopoly and he followed the arrogance as well through the media. Practically, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals did not make any law but what he did was came under the law dilemma as well as an ethical dilemma. The business was impacted negatively as it received terribly negative feedback and the CEO had to face the extensive background check.

Conclusion of Ethical Issues in Turing Pharmaceuticals

In a nutshell, according to my views, the ethical business is the one that contains the criteria that society has to respect. For instance, the business is making the clean money, keep the environment clean, following all of the laws and regulations, and not harming any individual. Ethical business examines the ethical or moral problem and ethical principles in the business that is applied to the individual as well as the organization. I believe that businessmen or investors engaged in ethical business consider themselves accountable before public and media if needed. After attending the class lectures and finishing this case study assignment on Turing Pharmaceuticals, my views on business ethics have become stronger as it kept my views intact. The ignorance of CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals before media shows that he was not engaged in the ethical business practices as I described above that I believe that businessmen or investors engaged in ethical business consider themselves accountable before public and media if needed. Moreover, the incredible hike in the price of life-saving drug proved that the business was not making clean money. 

References of Ethical Issues in Turing Pharmaceuticals

Long, H. (2015, September 24). 'Hated' CEO lowering the price of $750 AIDS drug Daraprim. Retrieved from https://money.cnn.com/2015/09/22/investing/daraprim-aids-drug-price/index.html

Lorenzetti, L. (2015, September 21). This 62-year-old drug just got 5,000% more expensive. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/09/21/turing-pharmaceuticals-drug-prices-daraprim/

Luckerson, V. (2018, December 18). Everything to Know About the Arrested Drug Price-Hiking CEO. Retrieved from http://time.com/4153512/martin-shkreli-pharmaceuticals-arrested-turing-daraprim/