Ethical Dilemma with Stakeholders
You're the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. Your best-selling drug ($2B annual revenue, used by 4 million patients for chronic pain) has…
As CEO, I would not wait six months and I would not let the board delay disclosure while patients remain exposed to an unreported serious risk. I would treat this as a patient-safety, regulatory, legal, and trust crisis—not merely a financial-risk issue. My guiding decisions would be: Patient safety comes first.Read the full answer
This is a crisis scenario that defines a CEO's legacy. The decision matrix is clear: Patient safety and regulatory compliance must supersede short-term financial protection. Hiding this information constitutes securities fraud and potential criminal negligence (precedents include Vioxx/Merck and Purdue Pharma).Read the full answer