Assignment: Pfizer's Drugs Testing Strategy in Nigeria
Read Management Focus: Pfizer's Drug-Testing Strategy in Nigeria in Chapter 4 of your text and write a three- to four-page paper, excluding the title and reference pages, that answers the following:
• Explain the different phases that a drug company goes through in order to bring a new drug product to market in the U.S. and Europe.
• Analyze whether or not Pfizer behaved unethically by rushing to take advantage of an epidemic in Nigeria to test experimental drugs on children.
• Analyze whether or not corners were cut with regard to patient consent in the rush to establish a trial.
• Determine if Pfizer should have been less opportunistic and proceeded more carefully.
• Examine whether doctors kept patients on Trovan too long or if they should have switched them to another medication. Include possible additional strategies.
• Analyze the ethical nature of testing experimental drugs on children in a crisis setting in the developing world. Keep in mind that the overall standard of health care in the developing world is significantly lower than in the developed world, and proper protocols might not be followed.