Let’s talk about consequences.
Every person that I have personally known who was involved in pharmaceutical research was a good person who genuinely wanted to help people. There are stories here and there of some individuals who have bad intentions, but for the most part, most of the people involved seem to be well-intentioned.
Also, pharmaceutical companies make many life-saving devices. Nobody is arguing about the heart monitor, the pacemaker, the IV, the sterile gloves, etc. that have saved millions of people’s lives.
Sadly, some of the largest companies in the pharmaceutical industry engaged in unethical practices surrounding some types of drugs. (One could argue this goes back as far as pharmaceutical use of cocaine in the 1800’s.) They have been thoroughly exposed and penalized for this behavior, including some of the largest lawsuits in the history of the USA. They continue to be attacked for this behavior–rightfully so, I believe.
This behavior, driven (as far as I can tell) by short-sightedness, greed, and sometimes political motives, led to a distrust of the entire pharmaceutical industry over time by a large percentage of the general population. (Another significant contributor was the behavior of the American Medical Association, which I believe may have had similar motives of power and greed at one time, even when most medical doctors were themselves fantastic people who wanted to help others.)
What this means is: now, even if the pharmaceutical industry was to develop a safe, effective, and live-saving treatment for a widespread illness–one that was truly intended to help people–there are some people who would always doubt them. And those people would be hesitant to receive this treatment, even if it was fully safe.
The point here is that the stupidity and greed of a small number of executives is not just a matter of “this hurts the company” or “this helps the company.” If you as a company take responsibility for some part of the entire civilization (like its health) and then you destroy your credibility with the public, you’re actually harming any future ability you have to solve massive, world-wide problems, simply because people will no longer trust you as a source of help. And if enough executives at enough companies display enough bad behavior, you’ll destroy the reputation of your entire industry.
Max Kanat-Alexander 