Intellectual property (IP) is a significant asset for most companies. Patented products and processes often enable the company’s very existence. IP must be managed and protected in line with the fundamentals and mission of a company’s business and with the requirements of IP law.
Review Business Ethics Flashpoint 8.1: Creator/Consumer Balance (located at the end of the e-book section on intellectual property, on page 196 (E-book p. 82)). This section of the text portrays negative actions by pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, but there have also been positive examples during the Covid-19 pandemic as companies set aside competitive interests to provide testing, equipment, and research in a more collaborative manner.
The primary balance remains the same: the rights and interests of the creator of the intellectual
property compared to the needs of the consumers of the product.
Question: If you were the CEO of a pharmaceutical manufacturer that had spent many years and
millions of dollars in creating, developing, testing, and getting government approval for a new
drug, how would you address the issues of protecting your intellectual property while meeting
the patient/public needs for that drug?
Consider, e.g.:
Profit and return on investment for company owners/shareholders
Protecting intellectual property of the company
Needs of patients, practitioners, and society
Biblical support and guidance for your positions
Any other legal and ethical concepts you believe may be relevant
Full Answer Section
- Set a fair price for the drug. While I want to recoup the costs of developing and testing the drug, I also want to make sure that it is affordable for patients who need it. I would work with my team to set a price for the drug that is fair and allows patients to access it.
- Offer tiered pricing. Tiered pricing is a system where different patients pay different prices for the same drug, depending on their ability to pay. For example, patients with insurance might pay a lower price than patients without insurance. Tiered pricing can help to make the drug more affordable for patients who need it.
- Provide patient assistance programs. Patient assistance programs are programs that help patients who cannot afford to pay for their medications. These programs may provide patients with free or discounted medications. I would work with my team to develop a patient assistance program for the drug so that all patients who need it can access it.
- License the drug to other pharmaceutical companies. Licensing the drug to other pharmaceutical companies would allow me to generate additional revenue from the drug, which I could use to invest in research and development for new drugs. It would also make the drug more widely available to patients around the world.
In addition to these steps, I would also work to educate the public about the importance of intellectual property protection for pharmaceutical companies. Intellectual property protection allows pharmaceutical companies to recoup the costs of developing and testing new drugs, which is essential for innovation in the pharmaceutical industry.
Addressing the concerns of patients and the public
One of the biggest concerns that patients and the public have about pharmaceutical companies is that they are more interested in profits than in patient care. I would address this concern by being transparent about the costs of developing and testing the drug, and by setting a fair price for the drug. I would also work to make the drug affordable for patients through tiered pricing and patient assistance programs.
Another concern that patients and the public have is that pharmaceutical companies are not doing enough to address the problem of counterfeit drugs. Counterfeit drugs are drugs that have been falsely labeled or packaged to imitate a genuine drug. They can be dangerous and even deadly. I would address this concern by working to prevent the counterfeiting of the drug and by educating patients about the dangers of counterfeit drugs.
I believe that by taking these steps, I could protect my company's intellectual property while also meeting the patient/public needs for the new drug.
Sample Answer
If I were the CEO of a pharmaceutical manufacturer that had spent many years and millions of dollars in creating, developing, testing, and getting government approval for a new drug, I would address the issues of protecting my intellectual property while meeting the patient/public needs for that drug in the following ways:
1. File for a patent on the drug. A patent is a government-granted monopoly on an invention. It gives the inventor the exclusive right to make, use, and sell the invention for a period of time, typically 20 years. Filing for a patent on the drug would give my company the exclusive right to sell the drug, which would allow us to recoup the costs of developing and testing the drug.