Catholic Social Teaching, Corporate Moral Responsibility, Disaster Capitalism, and Remdesivir Drug

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter examines disaster capitalism (DC) during COVID-19 and the corporate moral responsibility (CMR) of the top drugmakers’ in the ownership and pricing of their anti-COVID vaccines and medicines in the light of Catholic social teaching’s (CST) moral principles on capitalism, the ethical purpose of business and profit, private ownership, the common good, and the role of the State in the economy and market. Introduced by the activist journalist Naomi Klein, DC promotes the neoliberalist policies of state subsidies to private corporations and non-interference in medical markets and patents resulting in the maximization of profits by top pharmaceutical companies at the expense of the common good. Utilizing CST principles and secondary data, media reports, and scientific literature, this chapter evaluates the CMR of Big Pharma in the ownership, sale, and profit of their medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic in accordance with CST moral principles, particularly on the common good and the ethical duty of the state in the economy to protect the common good. Specifically, it presents the case of the Gilead Sciences’ business strategies and the pricing of Remdesivir drug to illustrate how DC undermines the CMR of drugmakers and CST’s moral principle on the common good in today’s pandemic.KeywordsProfitCorporate Moral ResponsibilityDisaster CapitalismCatholic Social TeachingThe Common GoodCOVID-19Remdesivir