PharmaCARE (We CARE about YOUR health® ) is one of the world’s most successful pharmaceutical
companies, enjoying a reputation as a caring, ethical and well-run company that produced high-quality
products that saved millions of lives and enhanced the quality of life for millions of others. The company
offers free and discounted drugs to low-income consumers, has a foundation that sponsors healthcare
educational programs and scholarships, and its CEO serves on the PhRMA board. PharmaCARE
recently launched a new initiative, We CARE about YOUR world® , pledging its commitment to the
environment through recycling, packaging changes and other green initiatives, despite the fact that the
company’s lobbying efforts and PAC have successfully defeated environmental laws and regulations,
including extension of the Superfund tax, which was created by Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
Based in New Jersey, PharmaCARE maintains a large manufacturing facility in the African nation of
Colberia, where the company has found several “healers” eager to freely share information about
indigenous cures and an abundance of Colberians willing to work for $1.00 a day, harvesting plants by
walking five (5) miles into and out of the jungle carrying baskets that, when full, weigh up to fifty (50)
pounds. Due to the low standard of living in Colberia, much of the population lives in primitive huts with no
electricity or running water. PharmaCARE’s executives, however, live in a luxury compound, complete
with a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a golf course. PharmaCARE’s extensive activities in Colberia
have destroyed habitat and endangered native species.
Two (2) years ago, after PharmaCARE’s research indicated that one of its top-selling diabetes drugs
might slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, its pharmacists began reformulating that drug to
maximize the effect. In order to avoid FDA scrutiny, PharmaCARE established a wholly-owned
subsidiary, CompCARE, to operate as a compounding pharmacy to sell the new formulation to individuals
on a prescription basis. CompCARE set up shop in a suburban office park near its parent’s headquarters,
and to conserve money and time, did a quick, low-cost renovation and designated Allen Jones to run the
operation’s “clean room.”
CompCARE benefited from PharmaCARE’s reputation, databases, networks, and sales and marketing
expertise, and within six (6) months had the medical community buzzing about AD23. Demand soared,
particularly among Medicare, Medicaid, and VA patients. Seeing the opportunity to realize even more
profit, CompCARE began advertising its services and the availability of AD23 to consumers and
marketing the drug directly to hospitals, clinics, and physician offices, even though compounding
pharmacies are not supposed to sell drugs in bulk for general use. To get around this technicality,
CompCARE encouraged doctors to fax in lists of bogus patient names.
As production increased and hours were extended, one of Allen’s techs pointed out what appeared to be
mold around the air vents. Allen immediately contacted the facilities’ supervisor, who came over to
inspect the lab. As time went on, workers began coughing, sneezing, and getting headaches at work, and
one employee, Donna, who had a perfect attendance record, got so sick she could no longer come to
work due to chronic bronchial problems. Eventually, she filed for worker’s compensation. Allen’s best
supervisor, Tom, threatened to complain to OSHA about the air quality in the lab, and one of the techs,
Ayesha, filed an EEOC complaint alleging she had not been promoted to supervisor because she was a
Muslim; in fact, although Ayesha was a very good worker, Allen did not believe she had the management
or people skills necessary to be a good supervisor. Allen discussed these issues with his boss, the
Director of Operations, who told Allen that if he wants to keep his job and receive his promised bonus, he
needs to fire Donna, Tom, and Ayesha, and keep his own mouth shut about the mold and the bogus
prescriptions.
As CompCARE and its parent company enjoyed record profits and PharmaCARE’s stock price
approached $300 per share, reports started filtering in that people who received AD23 seemed to besuffering heart attacks at an alarming rate. The company ignored this data and continued filling large
orders and paid huge bonuses to all the executives and managers, including Allen, who, after being
named “Employee of the Year,” was beginning to miss production schedules due not only to his staff’s
increasing use of sick leave, but also his own health issues.
PharmaCARE sold CompCARE to WellCo, a large drugstore chain, just weeks before AD23 was publicly
linked to over 200 cardiac deaths. Both PharmaCARE and WellCo saw their stock price plummet.
Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:
- Determine all the stakeholders in this scenario.
- Analyze the ethics of PharmaCARE’s treatment of the Colberia’s indigenous population and its
rank-and-file workers versus that of its executives.
- Determine whether Allen could legally fire each of the three (3) workers—Donna, Tom, and
Ayesha. Suggest steps he should take to minimize the risks to his department and the company.
- Determine the whistleblowing opportunities, obligations, and protections that could benefit Allen.
Explain why and how Allen would benefit.
- Assess PharmaCARE’s environmental initiative against the backdrop of its anti-environmental
lobbying efforts and Colberian activities. Examine if this renders the company’s purported
environmental stewardship better or worse and if the company’s public stance should carry an
obligation to be a leader in environmental matters. Support the position.
- Analyze the original purposes of and the changes to Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Determine which provision(s) of CERCLA apply to
PharmaCARE in the scenario provided. Support the response.
- Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable
reference and proprietary Websites do not
