The business world today is very competitive to say the least. Making money is the inevitable goal of the different entities throughout the world, and some will do any thing to make it.
This includes working hard, making good choices, and using resources wisely. However, some businesses will increase revenue by breaking laws and using unethical practices. The research a business relies on to further its success is sometimes performed unethically in order to make more money. Since certain actions and behaviors concerning a company’s research are illegal, unethical business research could end in a court trial.A civil court trial was the ending result of unethical business research in 2012 for a pharmaceutical company.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is a pharmaceutical company that used unethical research practices to obtain greater success. GSK produces numerous prescription drugs used for different psychological disorders. According to the official United States’ Complaint for the case, “from 1999 through 2010 in some instances, GSK engaged in fraudulent scheme to deceive and defraud physicians, patients, regulators, and federal health care programs to cause prescribing and payment for certain of GSK’s drugs” (U. S. v GlaxoSmithKline, 2011).The drugs Paxil, Wellbutrin, Advair, Imitrex, Lotronex, Flovent, Valtrex, Lamictal, and Zofran are some of the drug names involved with the trial (Belkin, 2013).
What makes the research performed by GSK unethical is the fact that results were manipulated or not reported for certain drugs they produced. GSK then promoted uses of the drugs that were “off-label,” or not intended or approved. In addition, the company would pay kickbacks to physicians for prescribing the drugs. GSK also made false and misleading statements concerning the drug Avandia and its safety risks to consumers.As if these practices were not bad enough, the company also reported false “best prices” which allowed an underpayment of rebates to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (Belkin, 2013). The trial against GSK revealed to the general public the nature of their unethical research practices.
The preceding investigation succeeded in providing prosecutors with enough evidence against GSK to persuade them to plea guilty to the charges and pay $3billion in order to reach a resolution (Belkin, 2013). According to the Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, “The resolution is the largest health care fraud settlement in U. S. history and the largest payment ever by a drug company” (Belkin, 2013).
It is not hard to see how using unethical business research practices in the pharmaceutical industry can cause a ripple effect of safety hazards to the thousands of consumers who trust the medications they have are in fact safe. It is also easy to understand the temptation of millions or billions of dollars such companies can make. Even though criminal charges and possibly billions of dollars in fines and settlements constantly remind every business why ethical business research is the best choice.
