BioIndustry Ethics [Paperback]

David L. Finegold (Author), Cecile M Bensimon (Author), Abdallah S. Daar (Author), Margaret L. Eaton (Author), Beatrice Godard (Author), Bartha Maria Knoppers (Author), Jocelyn Mackie (Author), Peter A. Singer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0123693705 | ISBN-13: 978-0123693709 | Publication Date: June 24, 2005 | Edition: 1

This book is the first systematic, detailed treatment of the approaches to ethical issues taken by biotech and pharmaceutical companies. The application of genetic/genomic technologies raises a whole spectrum of ethical questions affecting global health that must be addressed. Topics covered in this comprehensive survey include considerations for bioprospecting in transgenics, genomics, drug discovery, and nutrigenomics, as well as how to improve stakeholder relations, design ethical clinical trials, avoid conflicts of interest, and establish ethics advisory boards. The expert authors represent multiple disciplines including law, medicine, bioinformatics, pharmaceutics, business, and ethics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are often driven by profit goals, but the case studies in Bioindustry Ethics show that this is increasingly not at the expense of ethical integrity. ...lend[s] important insights to other executives and professionals who might be developing their own practices and policies."
- GENOMICS & PROTEOMICS (August 2005)

Book Description

An introduction to the increasingly important role of ethics in bioscience companies

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 1 edition (June 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0123693705
• ISBN-13: 978-0123693709
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,724,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful case-studies, concusions too optimistic, August 5, 2006

By 

C. Macdonald "Ethics Prof" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: BioIndustry Ethics (Paperback)

This book provides a useful range of case-studies, illustrating how various biotech and companies pharmaceutical companies have dealt with ethical issues. This is useful for two reasons:
1) If you want to understand why companies do what they do, you need some insight into their internal decision-making;
2) The companies profiled in BioIndustry Ethics are not perfect, ethically, but each of them has made at least some effort to do better. So at least in THAT sense, they serve as positive examples of ways other companies can move foreward.

My main complaint is with the final chapter, which attempts to summarize the lessons learned from the book's various case-studies. Unfortunately, the result is relatively weak. The chapter adopts a rather one-sided view of the bottom-line value of ethics to a corporation, implying that adopting an explicit focus on ethics, for example, is a sure-and-easy route to profit. (There is in fact a literature debating that issue, in the field of Business Ethics.)

Still, the book is overall a very valuable contribution.