Roy vagelos attacks river blindness

The drug was needed only by people who couldn't afford it."

One day in November 1988, a chief and fourteen elders, all male, mostly in their fifties and sixties, welcomed a visitor to the village of Sikoroni in Mali, West Africa.Several were led to the gathering, held under a veranda, by young boys pulling the ends of their walking sticks. Of the fourteen, twelve arrived with lifeless eyes, victims of one of the world's most dread diseases, river blindness.The disease is spread by tiny, humpbacked blackflies that breed in fast moving streams.River blindness is a source not only of human health but also of economic development In 1978 a potential solution emerged unexpectedly, W C Campbell, a research scientist at Merck and Company.His team was developing what would later be marked as Ivermectin, a potent agent no side effects, when Campbell realises that it might also be effective against a strain of horse worms that are biological cousins of the human parasites that cause river blindness. Appreciating it the human potencial for animal treatment, cam bell asked P. Roy Vagelos, his laboratory director, for approval to develop a form of the drug for human use.

River Blindness;

" When I was born, my sight was normal," recalled a 71 year old man , it all started one day when my eyes became watery and sticky. Then I began seeing faintly. Eventually I could not see at all.I was eight."

Discovering a Cure:

The first evidence came from a single infected mouse fed a broth containing the bacterium: it ate little, but it was almost immediately worm free. " I remember the feeling of excitement in the group," Campbell recalled.

Delivering the product;

So striking were the human benefits and so modest the medical downsides that Roy Vagelos sought commercial approval in 1987. By now the company decision was entirely his to make. Though Vagelos says he " never had the yearning to run a large corporation," in 1985 the Merck board had promoted him to chief executive officer. Vagelos looked for sponsers to produce but non were found. Finally, Vagelos decided to give the drug to all who need it forever, and to ensure it was delivered before the micro worms could take their devastating toll." Sometimes in your life," he says, " you've got to take a leadership position and make a deception." As news of the drug's miraculous qualities spread across the black country of West Africa, people walked through the night to villages where it was rumoured that the drug would be dispensed.

So, by implication Vagelos clearheaded thinking about why you have been appointed to an office and what those who have placed you there expect of you is prerequisite to clear minded, if not predictable, decision making.

Doing well by Doing Good: The call for an unyielding focus on shareholder value is a powerful action principle. It is a first axiom of corporate governance, with strategic implications and guides management decisions. George .W Merck had the following to say, " We try never to forget that medicine is for people. It is not for profits, " Merck says, but he is quick to stress that the objectives are the same: " The profits follow, and if we have remembered that,they have never failed to appear.

So, by implication: Identifying ways of bolstering long term investor and public interest, even if they momentarily reduce shareholder returns, can foster a favourable culture, build a company cadre, and establish a public reputation that can more than compensate for any temporary shortfalls in investor value .

Just Doing: Managers are continually taking calculated risks. Indeed, one sign of a manager's executive promise is his or her ability to calculate those risks better than others on the executive waiting list. Moments arise, however, when strict analysis does not serve well. Sometimes what is required is simple instinct.Finally, on the eve of Mectizan's approval, knowing that a decision would be announced that the French authorities approved the drug Roy Vagelos brought the debate to a close: Merck would give the drug away forever.So certain was Vagelos that he had taken the right action, " I thought that the company couldn't have done otherwise".

So by implication: Achieving an organization's imperative is a leaders calling, but sometimes we confront moments when we must do otherwise. Such decisions must be relatively unique, otherwise the inconsistency in our organisational leadership will be evident for all to see: but if they are unthinkingly bypassed, our value as a leader may be doubted by everyone, including ourselves.

Knowing Where You're Going: For Vagelos, the question was not framed in either or terms. He knew that in assisting river blindness victims, he was ultimately building shareholder value. Vagelos did not require a leader to reveal such purpose, it was already well inscribed in the company's philosophy and culture. Moreover, a framework for reaching balanced decitions was wildly shared in the company.

So by implication : Knowing where you want to go and what your values are can be essential to getting there, to ensuring that all of your interests and concerns are factored into fast moving deceptions, and to avoiding later regrets about being less than clear minded. Building that understanding into an organisational culture can help all employees be clear minded and fast acting as well.

A Gift of Sight: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wrote in 1993 that the" the campaign against river blindness shows how a major international corporation can change the lives of millions of people"by " stepping beyond the confines of narrow, short term interest and accepting a broader, global responsibility, " Vagelos's leadership, Carter offered a year later, has " helped prove that a corporation can .... be deeply concerned with the alleviation of suffering throughout the world."

Applied Sciences

Architecture and Design

Biology

Business & Finance

Chemistry

Computer Science

Geography

Geology

Education

Engineering

English

Environmental science

Spanish

Government

History

Human Resource Management

Information Systems

Law

Literature

Mathematics

Nursing

Physics

Political Science

Psychology

Reading

Science

Social Science

Home

Blog

Archive

Contact

google+twitterfacebook

Copyright © 2019 HomeworkMarket.com