In recent years, it has become an increasingly popular practice for drug companies to perform their clinical testing of new drugs in foreign countries that might not have the consumer protections or product liability laws present in the United States. Please answer each of the following questions using a theory studied in Module 2 specifically and thoroughly and using examples and facts from the readings and resources.
1. Are drug companies that test experimental drugs in foreign countries acting ethically? Drug companies that test experimental drugs in foreign countries are not acting ethically. Testing of experimental drugs should be done in the host country where the drugs are being manufactured. A major ethical dilemma that is being looked at with this is that the foreign countries that these clinical trials are happening in are not fully educated on the risks or fully understand what they are getting themselves into. After reading the articles many things stood out that these countries may not know what they are signing up for. Anil Netto quoted in the article titled “Health-Asia: Ethics in Outsourcing Drug Trials Questioned,” that by doing these clinical trials in foreign countries, drug companies are “exploiting the healthy who are strapped for cash and the sick who seek cheap or free remedies.” In regards to the utilitarian theory, testing drugs in foreign countries would prove to be unethical. Utilitarianism more specifically act utilitarianism tells us that we should always do an action that generates the greatest happiness for whoever is affected by the act. In act utilitarianism one must consider all consequences of a singular action, and then act if and only if that action maximizes utility for all affected. This type of utilitarianism only has us answer one specific question which is “does this specific action maximize happiness or utility