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Legal and Ethical Considerations in Marketing

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Legal and Ethical Considerations in Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual Property
Amanda Terry
Professor: Dr. Michael Hanners
LEG 500- Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance
March 12, 2015

Introduction John, a former research employee at PharmaCare pharmaceuticals, asked my law firm to represent him as a client. He expressed his concerns about his involvement with PharmaCare’s top-selling drug AD23. John and his team of pharmacists discovered that the drug could slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s. Therefore, his team reformulating the drug to maximize the effect of the drug without the approval from Federal and Drug Administration. In this paper, I will evaluate three ethical issues relating to marketing and advertising, intellectual property, and regulation of product safety, as well as, analyze whether PharmaCare violated any of the issues in questions. I will argue the pros and cons of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Marketing by drug companies. I will determine which parties were responsible for regulating compounding pharmacies under the current regulatory scheme. Also, the actions that either party, or the FDA could/ should have taken in this scenario; whether PharmaCare could face legal exposure surrounding its practices. I will analyze whether or not the PharmaCare used U.S. Law to protect its own intellectual property, and if John (the client) has any claim of being the true “inventor” of AD23. I will present at least three ways the company could compensate John for the use of his intellectual property if he had followed proper protocol. I will summarize one example of intellectual theft, as well as, examine the effect on that company’s brand. Next, I will analyze the potential issues surrounding the death of John’s wife and other potential litigants against PharmaCare resulted to AD23. Last, I will specify and justify the major

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