Business Research the Unethical Research Behavior Discussed

Business Research

The unethical research behavior discussed was conducted by Wyeth, and is symptomatic of the systemic issues that the pharmaceutical industry has with respect to research. The article details a case involving Wyeth that resulted in class action litigation. The ethical issue in this case is fraudulent research. The allegation is that Wyeth fabricated research by using "vendors to produce ghostwritten manuscripts and place them into medical journals." The research produced was therefore entirely fraudulent, but passed off in medical journals as legitimate research. The objective of placing this research in the journals was to legitimize the new drug that Wyeth was about launch, Prempro, a menopausal hormone therapy.

The larger issue is publication planning, described by Fugh-Berman (2010) as "the process by which pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies produce and release articles in medical journals and posters at meetings to establish key marketing messages." These companies use academics to produce the articles. For both the company and the academic, such practice represents a significant breach of ethics. The ghostwriters have a duty of care as academics to only produce research that stands up to academic rigor, but instead are falsifying results to match pre-determined marketing messages. For the companies, they also have a duty of care to their customers and to the FDA to only sell products that have a tangible benefit, and one that the FDA feels outweighs the risks of using the drug.

In the Prempro case outlined, there were at least 14,000 injured parties, defined by the number of individuals who joined the class action suit. These individuals "brought claims related to the development of breast cancer while taking…" Prempro. Had Wyeth and its ghostwriters conducted proper research rather than falsified it, they would have had a better sense of the risks involved in the use of Prempro. Additionally, the research would have shown these risks, allowing physicians to make better decisions with respect to prescribing Prempro. As a result of the falsified research, thousands more women were prescribed this drug than otherwise would have. While this brought financial benefit to Wyeth, it also brought significant negative health outcomes to the victims (specifically, it contributed to the development of breast cancer).

The unethical behavior had a number of effects. It affected the company in a few ways. First, it generated significantly more income for the company than if the research had not been falsified. Beyond that, however, there are negative effects as well. The first of these is the class action suit, which could result in significant damages awarded. Punitive damages in particular could outweigh the financial benefits that Wyeth saw as a result of the falsification. Moreover, the company has damaged its reputation in light of the falsifications coming to light.

The effect on the individuals involved is clear -- they have breast cancer. Many will die, and all will suffer both physically and financially. Their families will also suffer, and their employers will as well. The effects to the victims and those surrounding the victims are therefore significant, affecting hundreds of thousands of people and costing the economy millions of dollars in lost productivity.

Society at large also suffers from this unethical behavior. The drug system that the United States has developed, and the medical system in general, relies heavily on the compartmentalization of knowledge. Consumers often know little about their conditions or the treatments are receiving -- they trust the people treating them to be knowledgeable. When doctors and pharmacists are duped by falsified research, they are unable to serve the interests of the patients. In addition, because this particular ethical breach is systemic, public trust in the medical profession, the medical system, academia and in regulators like the FDA is undermined. Undermining trust in those who have the highest degree of knowledge and expertise is likely to have further repercussions down the road, including people making poor medical decisions for themselves because they do not trust their medical providers to be serving their interests with knowledge and integrity.