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From Bad Pharma to Good Pharma: Aligning Market Forces with Good and Trustworthy Practices through Accreditation, Certification, and Rating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Extract

Could an accreditation, certification, or rating mechanism help the pharmaceutical industry improve both its bioethical performance and its public reputation? Other industries have used such systems to assess, improve, distinguish, and demonstrate the quality of their services, processes, and products. These systems have also helped increase transparency, accountability, stakeholder confidence, and awareness of industry best practices. This article explains how market forces can be harnessed to recognize and promote better bioethical performance by pharmaceutical companies when there are good systems to accredit, certify, or rate. It concludes with a review of relevant failures of credit-rating agencies — such as conflicts of interests and revolving-door practices — to illuminate some of the pitfalls of developing a bioethics accreditation, certification, or rating system for pharmaceutical companies.

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Symposium
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2013

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References

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