The pharmaceutical industry is particularly challenged in the Corona crisis – also in ethical terms. In order to meet its responsibility, cooperation and self-control are needed. Prof. Dr. Markus Scholz (Head of Center for Corporate Governance & Business Ethics at WKW’s Vienna University of Applied Sciences) and N. Craig Smith (INSEAD Chair in Ethics and Social Responsibility at INSEAD, Academic Director ESRI) outline a path in this direction in their current MIT Sloan Management Review article “In the Face of a Pandemic, Can Pharma Shift Gears?”.
It’s not easy to teach old dogs new tricks. For pharma the COVID-19 pandemic is a moment great responsibility. Prof. Scholz and Prof. Smith analyze if and how pharma lives up to this responsibility.
They argue that the pharmaceutical industry’s competition-based model could be a real liability in the race to develop drugs and vaccines to combat COVID-19. A better approach would be for pharma companies and partners outside the industry to temporarily hit the pause button on their traditional ways of doing business and find new ways to work together.
Find the contribution of Markus Scholz and N. Craig Smith here.