Ilma Latansa / 008201400043 / Auditing 2014

River Blindness
River Blindness is Onchocerciasis, also known as Robles disease, is a
disease caused by infection with the parasitic worm Onchocerca
volvulus. Commonly happen in Africa, Uganda, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela,
Nigeria, Liberia, Tanzania, Guatemala, Ecuador, and many more. This disease
caused by parasitic worms and transmitted to humans through the bites of
black flies which are live and found in the rivers. People mostly come to this
river to simply fish, bathing, or collect water. People who frequently visit this
river are at risk of infection. People who are in this river could get bit about
20 times an hour by black flies. The effect of bitten by the black flies can be
itching that caused a skin rash, and eye lesions that could result in blindness.
120 million people at risk of contracting river blindness.
Adult Onchocerca volvulus worms can live for 15 years in human body. The
male and female worms are mated. After mating, the female worm releases
around 1000 microfilariae larvae a day. These attack the skin to the eye, and
caused blindness.
Related with Merck?
Merck is a drug store company who was purchased by Jacob F. Merck in
Germany 1668 and Emanuel Merck who took over the store over several
generations later in 1816. Emanuel and his team gradually built up a
chemical-pharmaceutical factory that produced raw materials and other
preparation. In 1891, George Merck emigrated to the US and set up Merck &
Co. in New York as the US arm of the family partnership.
Dr. William Campbell, a research scientist working for Merck & Co. discovered
that one of the companys animal drugs might eradicate the roundworm that
causes river blindness. Dr. Campbell and his team try to develop a human
version of the drug by appealed to the Mercks & Co. Chairman.
Here are the issues:
-

Research and development of the drug cost over 100 Million US Dollar
and the opportunities for profit were minim because most victims of
river blindness are too poor to afford the drug.
Distributing the drug could require investments into distribution
channels

If the drug didnt work properly, the negative publicity could hurt the
reputation of Merck.

Finally, they found Mectizan. Mectizan is the most common treatment for
river blindness. It kills the immature worms that caused itching, improve
vision and prevents blindness, also killing the larvae inside the body and
prevents them from transmission. After seven years, World Health
Organization purchased the phenomenal medication, with the help of the
WHO, Merck financed an international committee responsible for developing
the drug to villages in Africa, Latin America, and Middle East.
The main ethical issue is a conflict of values especially profitability and
ethical practices. For example, the company had to decide between profits
that are the core of the companys operations due to the shareholders
wealth maximization objectives, and the companys image from the
corporate social responsibility perspective and the welfare of the community
the external publics who are both the companys customers and community.
The company has to take care of its customers just the same way it has to
operated profitably and meet its obligations to its shareholders. The
connection between these publics makes it a difficult balance because the
company works to meets the needs of the customers. While offering the
goods free will broke its core values of maximizing shareholders wealth, the
company risks losing its key market. As an externality, the company stands
to gain from the publicity it will gain from its service to the community and
humanity as a whole. However, by providing the drugs to the community free
of charge, the company risk losing its residual profit. The goal of any
business is to maximize ethics (maximize happiness) and to maximize
profits. Therefore pursuing an option that maximizes these two proves the
most logical options. All the above options either focus on maximizing the
happiness of other parties.
Conclusion of mine: The Merck Company is one perfect example for
what a company should be. They are prioritized their objective, which is to
cure a disease also prevent them from death. They thought about humanity
first before shareholders. The idea of concerning their customers before
profit is one amazing idea. Even when nobody helps, Merck & Co. came up
with their own product and distributor to get this medicine to people without
spending their own money. This type of health care is important because it is
a team effort to help developing countries out of medical crisis.

References;
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onchocerciasis
2. https://lastfreelance.wordpress.com/2015/08/07/ethical-dilemma-andbusiness-ethics-a-case-study-of-merck-and-co-and-river-blindness/