Field Projects at the Dr. Werner Jackstädt Chair of Economic and Business Ethics
Pharmaceutical companies are typically confronted with high ethical expectations due to the fact that their products concern a basic need and the consumers of their products are often in existential need of support. More specifically: In many regions of the world live people with diseases that could in principle be cured with drugs but they cannot afford them.
Pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand, aren’t in a position simply to donate these drugs when they want to stay competitive. This leads to a fundamental challenge: affordability vs. profitability, with which pharmaceutical firms have to cope in order to maintain their reputation as a responsible corporation.