GSBS6001 Managing Under Uncertainty

Question: Provide an analysis of the case study – Vioxx: Too Risky for Merck The purpose of the assessment is to demonstrate knowledge and application of decision making theory, models and concepts in analysing a case study or series of case scenarios. An effective response would address four key issues: Identified decision making issues/problems The cause and effect of the identified problems A decision on the root cause(s) of the identified problems Recommended solutions to the identified decision-making issues/problems. Answer: Identified Decision-Making Issues/Problems The research studies showed that the Vioxx has been pulled off from the market as there has been increased in the rate of heart attack, stroke and other lungs diseases for consuming their drugs for a few days. The painkiller launched by these pharmaceuticals has been criticized by various clinics and it has been serving more than 80 countries, thus there has been a severe effect on the economic condition. It was Merck’s decision to launch and support the painkiller in the market, the outcome of this decision was not predictable and it turned out to be unlucky. In this decision, the bad outcomes are predictable by the company. There were decision-making issues as the members of the pharmaceuticals can do the proper diagnosis before launching the drugs. This has been found that several people were getting affected with the lungs disease after consuming the drugs few more times and the high doses of Vioxx cause hypertension among people (Schwartz, 2017). The decision making should be done by properly analyzing the data. Scolnick advised and warned the team who were operating the production process to further check out the side effects of the drugs produced by them as he already knew that there can be side effects of such composition. Thus, this can be stated that the outcome was predicted and can be improved on the before hands if there was proper depth analysis of the data in the trial. This is so because in many trials at the first impression of the new interpretation of the data caused various problems (Raghupathi&Raghupathi, 2014). The Cause And Effect Of The Identified Problems The targets of the drugs produced by Vioxx is mainly in response to the infection or the injury and for relieving any pain and involves the fever-inducing properties. However, after the consumption of these drugs, it stimulates the production of a protein called tissue factor that initiates the blood clotting. The heart attacks and strokes are often triggered by the blood clots and the production of the tissue factor are responsible for the side effects in the human (Thompson, Ritenbaugh&Nichter 2017). There was the problem with the functioning of the industry only as the decision need to be taken in a collaborative manner. In an interview, the chief executive of the company declared that the industry is not running in the right manner and he warned that raising the price of the drugs without the medical value are turning the clinics as well as the people against the industry. The effects of this problem are that lack of coordination and the decision-making problems have made these reputed company pulled out from the market. The proper data analysis was required during the development program. The research study Vioxx Gastrointestinal Outcomes Research (VIGOR) showed a shocking result due to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease (Raghupathi, 2016). A Decision On The Root Cause(S) Of The Identified Problems The root cause of this identified problem is that the company need to think about the side effects of the drugs by the proper diagnosing of the results before the launching of the drugs. Then there was a lack of collaboration in the company thus when Merck continued to plan for more trials and studies, this VIGOR result became well known to the financial community, the scientific community and in media. The public attention through media raised various arguments among Merck and the outside communities regarding Vioxx. This causes the main rise of the problems and Merck tried to propose the safety plans regarding the improvement of the side effects caused by the drugs and also for improvement of the drug composition. This also caused a problem in the sales of the other drugs, though Vioxx patiently waited still the withdrawal wiped out the expected profit from the market. In that time when Merck and it introduced the new drugs in the market was for reducing the pain and for treatment of the inflammation due to Arthritis (Davis et al., 2018). But there was also a big impact on the sales of the newly launched drugs and the less consumption of the Vioxx product enhance the sale of other drugs in the market. The stock of the pharmaceutical companies slipped whereas other saw the rise of their stock in the business market. This showed the withdrawn of the drugs produced by Vioxx after that Merck announced that their earnings per share had been adversely affected after this. After the withdrawal one of the biggest challenges Merck faced was the burden of the legal liabilities (Ross &Krumholz, 2018). Several lawsuits were fielded against the Merck’s executives. Though, Merck has announced that it would fight against each law on a case-by-case basis for insisting that Vioxx was not responsible for all the heart attacks, strokes, and deaths that the customers and the users of their drugs have suffered. While the firm has expected for minimizing the payouts to plaintiffs and the experts have estimated that the settlements of each lawsuit will cost Merck between $4 billion and $30 billion (Jasper, Leenders&O’Shannassy, 2017). This reflects that the negligence of the executives of the company and proper diagnosing of the data results cause such a problem. This problem can be mitigated if everybody was not being able to know the side effects of the drugs then there will be the option for the company to make improvements in the composition and found out the proper safety plan for the improvement of the situation (Petersen & Singhal, 2017). Recommended Solutions To The Identified Decision-Making Issues/Problems This wrong decision-making issue raised the huge problems and its affected the health of the users of Vioxx. This company was one of the popular brands for the pain-relieving drugs but this massacre and the blaming of the various clinics causes the withdrawn of the drugs from the market. When such a problem took place, the company required to provide more time and more patience for analyzing of all the data as the proper analyzing of the data results can identify the VIGOR research on them beforehand. There were several legal measures taken against the executives of the Vioxx, all these can be avoided beforehand. Merck was looking for the development program and Scolnick also warned the team members working on those drugs to be careful while analyzing the data. It was predictable for Scolnick that any severe problems can occur for not going through the proper data analysis. The collaboration among the members of the pharmaceuticals needs to be improved while making any decisions the members of the pharmaceuticals need to participate in making decisions. Every member needs to be aware of the decision made by the company and the side effects of that decision. References Davis, B., Kerr, D., Maguire, M., Sanders, C., Snapinn, S., &Wittes, J. (2018). University of Pennsylvania 10th annual conference on statistical issues in clinical trials: Current issues regarding data and safety monitoring committees in clinical trials (morning panel session). Clinical Trials, 15(4), 335-351. Jasper, S., Leenders, M. A., &O’Shannassy, T. (2017). The dramatic breakdown of the market orientation concept in the pharmaceutical industry: lessons from Vioxx. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 1-21. Petersen, M. A., &Singhal, R. (2017). Vioxx: Too Risky for Merck?. Kellogg School of Management Cases, 1-23. Raghupathi, W. (2016). Data mining in healthcare. Healthcare Informatics: Improving Efficiency through Technology, Analytics, and Management, 353-372. Raghupathi, W., &Raghupathi, V. (2014). Big data analytics in healthcare: promise and potential. Health information science and systems, 2(1), 3. Ross, J. S., &Krumholz, H. M. (2018). Bringing Vioxx back to market. Schwartz, M. S. (2017). Business Ethics: An Ethical Decision-making Approach (Vol. 10). John Wiley & Sons. Thompson, J. J., Ritenbaugh, C., &Nichter, M. (2017). Why women choose compounded bioidentical hormone therapy: lessons from a qualitative study of menopausal decision-making. BMC women’s health, 17(1), 97.

GSBS6001 Managing Under Uncertainty

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GSBS6001 Managing Under Uncertainty

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