In this essay I am going to look at AstraZeneca PLC one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies. By describing several relevant cases and commenting on them I will try to evaluate the extent to which the Company acts under the principles framing its corporate governance and corporate social responsibility policies.
To give brief overview, AstraZeneca PLC, formed on April 6, 1999, by the merger of British Zeneca Group PLC and Swedish Astra AB, is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It is well illustrated by some key facts listed on the Company’s website:
“Our products are available in over 100 countries; sales in 2005 totalled $24 billion, with an operating profit of $6.5 billion; we spend over $14 million every working day on the research and development of new medicines that meet patient needs (total R&D spend in 2005: $3.4 billion); we employ around 12,000 people in research and development at 11 R&D centres in seven countries: Sweden, the UK, the US, Canada, France, India and Japan; we have some 14,000 people at 27 manufacturing sites in 19 countries, in total, we employ over 65,000 people worldwide: 58% in Europe, 28% in the Americas and 14% in the rest of the world” (AstraZeneca, 2006).
As AstraZeneca make more than 97% of its sales in prescription pharmaceutical sector, naturally, the Company’s main activities are discovering, developing, manufacturing and marketing those medicines for various areas of healthcare; to cite several examples, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, neuroscience, oncology, infection, respiratory and inflammation. The best-selling AstraZeneca’s products include Arimidex, Crestor, Nexium, Seroquel and Symbicort. Due to the Company’s specialisation in prescription pha...
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Aspirin has grown so much in popularity that about 35,000 metric tons of it is produced and consumed each year to meet the consumer’s demand. 35,000 metric tons is equivalent to 100 billion standard aspirin tablets (10). That many tablets means that the market for aspirin is very good. Today, Aspirin is known as the leading non-prescription medicine of all time. It is the most common pill taken for pain, inflammation and fever. It has grown all over the world, being made available in eighty countries (9). It would not be surprising if one day, all the countries would have aspirin available to them.
When people think of pharmaceutical companies, they instantly associate the word pharmaceutical with medicine. There are scientists solely dedicated to find the remedy to cancer and incurable diseases. These professionals have devoted their educated lives to help the ailing human population recover.
...ll help the company in selling generic drugs and provide affordable medications to its customer base.
In the business of drug production over the years, there have been astronomical gains in the technology of pharmaceutical drugs. More and more drugs are being made for diseases and viruses each day, and there are many more drugs still undergoing research and testing. These "miracle" drugs are expensive, however, and many Americans cannot afford these prices.
Threat of new entrants is relatively high. Companies forming alliances are potential rivals. Even if earlier such company was not considered to be a threat, after merging with some research and development company or forming alliance with another pharmaceutical company it would become a rival to Eli Lilly. The threat is however weakened by significant research and development costs necessary to successfully enter the business. Eli Lilly’s focus on a relatively narrow market of sedatives and antidepressants weakens the threat of new entrants, but other products that form lesser part of company’s sales such as insulin and others are exposed to high threat of new entrants. The need of obtaining certificates and licenses also weakens the threat of new entrants. Discussed above leads to the conclusion that threat of new entrants is medium.
Martinez, Barbara “Firms Paid to Trim Drug Costs Also Toil for Drug Makers” The Wall Street
For a drug to get to market it must go through several stages of research and development (Abbott and Vernon). Starting with discovery research, preclinical testing on animals, three phases of clinical trials on humans, and finally FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval (Abbott and Vernon). Out of several thousands of drugs only a few will make it to the FDA approval stage (Abbott and Vernon). Testing is a highly regulated, time consuming, and expensive process. From beginning to end the process can take fifteen years and less than one of five compounds will make it to market where it is still not guaranteed to succeed (Abbott and
Pfizer is the largest American pharmaceutical company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It competes with Merck and Glaxo, and markets such well-known medications as Celebrex and Viagra. However, the pharmaceutical industry as a whole has undergone changes in recent years with significant consolidation taking place and with increased scrutiny regarding the ways in which drugs are developed, tested and marketed. In addition, recent controversies have erupted regarding Merck's drug Vioxx, and Pfizer has been the target of unwanted publicity regarding its painkiller Celebrex. This research considers the strategic position of Pfizer, including its strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats that it faces, its strategic priorities and the acquisition strategy that it might follow.
...f ivermectin in the first place. Furthermore, we wouldn’t want to risk Merck going out of business, as it seems they had the capability to produce many useful medications. They’d already proved to make six useful, safe, and powerful drugs—the medical world wouldn’t want to lose such able creators. The best choice, therefore, would have Merck contributing to the research, but include other pharmaceutical companies and private donors to help with the financial and personnel costs. This funding would allow Merck and the other companies to sell at low costs, or even give, the medication to those who desperately need it. In order to implement such this type of plan, Merck would have to take the lead. They would have to actively seek out organizations, companies and private donors and explain the wonderful consequences for huge populations with the success of ivermectin.
Merck had a reputation of providing the best research in order to find the cure for diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, hypertension. They spend on average around $3 billion dollars on research on a yearly basis. However, they needed to produce a drug that would take Merck to the next level. Merck created Vioxx which was designed to treat osteoarthritis and in May 1999, the FDA approved Vioxx making it available with a medical prescription (Snigdha., 2007).
Since its humble beginning as a small drugstore, Merck has placed a large amount of importance on improving the health and well-being of its customers. As drug patents expire and genetic forms of their top products become available, Merck’s strategy is to do the unexpected; instead of raising the price of their older products in favor of patent protected new drugs, Merck focuses on reducing their cost in order to better compete with their generic counterparts. Additionally, Merck’s plan for growth now encompasses a much more aggressive pursuit of new drugs in their pipeline through extensive research. Merck became the second largest health care company in the world after the merger with Schering-Plough in 2009 and has contributed great discoveries like the first cervical cancer vaccine and great resources like the Merck Manuals which are utilized as a source of information to doctors, scientists and consumers worldwide .
Johnson & Johnson is a successful company in the health industry : Johnson & Johnson a company that, through the years, has been diversifying and expanding worldwide as leader in the market for health products , consumer, professional , ethical pharmaceuticals and industrial . The vision is "To be the world's most successful company in the healthcare , prioritizing the needs of the people " their corporate philosophy is having Responsibility for internal, external customers and Justice for Suppliers and distributors, with a Commitment to the shareholders and Respect for environmental protection and natural resources
Novartis is currently one of the largest companies in the pharmaceutical industry, for both generic and brand name medication. One of components that led to Novartis becoming such a large company is their presence in a worldwide geographic market. Novartis is currently in the growth phase of the industry life cycle, and it is expected to be there for the foreseeable future. Novartis will continue to be a threat to its rivals in the industry, which include companies such as Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
This week’s case study concerning Genzyme’s strategic direction was very interesting in that they essentially pursued a strategy that seemingly was purposely avoided by other players in the pharmaceutical industry (Schilling, N.D.). Their strategy centered on developing prescriptions for rare diseases. Typically “developing a drug takes 10 to 14 years and costs an average of $800 million to perform the research, run the clinical trials, get FDA approval, and bring a drug to market,” and in turn it is normally intuitive, from an economic standpoint, to attempt to develop drugs that will have a substantial market so to be able to assure enough revenue is generated to produce a significant profit. In turn, drugs marketed towards treating
This research paper will try to investigate areas in which companies have struggled to uphold their responsibilities and develop ideas on how management can successfully implement a more effective model of social responsibility and ethical code. Social Responsibility has become an important part of any business. Almost every business or corporation has