Assignment 2

Section B - Group 2

Team Members:
1. Shimon P Silvester 19BM63004
2. Sathiyaraj S 19BM63016
3. Ramasundaram G 19BM63022
4. Mageshwaran S 19BM63064
5. Amol Grover 19BM63096

Utilitarianism:

It can be delineated as selecting the option that provides the benefits to the most.
Utilitarian’s believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the amount
of good things (such as pleasure and happiness) in the world and decreasing the amount of bad
things (such as pain and unhappiness).

From Merck’s point of view:

• Merck decided to give away the drug, called Mectizan, for as long as necessary at a cost
of tens of millions of dollars per year. This kind of principled decision making was inspired
by the words of George W. Merck, the son of the company’s founder: “We try never to
forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if
we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear. The better we have
remembered it, the larger they have been.” This is an example of utilitarian behaviour
• Merck heads seem to have considered cautiously the conceivable wellbeing hazard
presented by Vioxx, but then the push for benefits may have driven them to close too
effectively that Vioxx was not the reason for the cardiovascular failures endured by
guineas pigs and that further investigations were a bit much .Expanded part of
showcasing including weighty buyer promoting, in a customarily science-driven culture
was most likely a factor in whatever missteps were made, just like the adjustment in
procedure to look for proof of the items' prevalence as a feature of a promoting effort to
impact doctors. Thus, it applied to maximise utility of the persons affected by
withdrawing the drug.
• A U.S. district court ordered Merck to pay an additional $322 million as a criminal penalty
for its misleading promotion and marketing of Vioxx. This is an example of Utilitarianism
as this was a lesson to all other organizations that companies cannot get away with
risking the life of patients, however big and powerful they are. It was a huge financial and
reputational loss for Merck

Egoism:
It is that the promotion of one's own good is in accordance with morality. In the strong
version, it is held that it is always moral to promote one's own good, and it is never moral not to
promote it.
From Merck’s point of view:

• Merck halted the deals whenever they were persuaded that the medication messed
heart up. They didn't sit tight for FDA's message. They spent a ton on promoting the
medication yet didn't trial of the medication could make any issues the heart. They might
have done if at a small amount of the promoting costs. They were concerned with high
costs they had invested and neglected others interests.
• Between 1999 and 2004, Merck spent more than $500 million on DTC television and
print advertising. This expenditure was intended to keep pace with the heavy spending
by Pfizer for its competing COX-2 inhibiter Celebrex. This proves that Merck was only
concerned about profits and was egoistic
• In the first lawsuits against Merck that came to trial, evidence was presented to show
that company scientists had considered the potential heart problems with Vioxx as early
as 1997. Company though knowing it could potentially be harmful, still continued in the
market for self-interest of company's profit, ignoring the life threat it could pose to the
consumers. This is an example of egoism