Beware of Greeks demanding gifts — VOICES for REASON

“Brutal blackmail” and “a violation of corporate social responsibility.” That’s how some diabetics in Greece are describing the recent decision by Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company, to stop selling certain insulin products in Greece.

Novo Nordisk manufactures easy-to-use insulin delivery devices that resemble fountain pens. More than 50,000 Greek diabetics use them. But not for long. The company has withdrawn the products from the market.

Why? Because the government of Greece is trying to mitigate its financial crisis at pharmaceutical companies’ expense by unilaterally ordering a 25% reduction in the price of all medicines. According to a Novo Nordisk spokesperson, “the price cut would force its business in Greece to run at a loss.” Oh yes, there’s also a little matter of $36 million that Greece already owes the company, with no certainty of payment in sight.

By any rational standard of justice, Novo Nordisk is completely in the right here. The company has done nothing to harm Greeks—on the contrary, it has offered them a positive value they didn’t have before, benefiting tens of thousands of people. By refusing to sell its products at a loss, the company is simply leaving Greek diabetics exactly as they were before it first offered those easy-to-use insulin pens for sale. Greeks who want more such devices should figure out a way to pay for them—not expect Novo Nordisk to sacrifice for the resolution of financial problems created not by them but by the Greeks themselves.

Given all this, what could possibly justify the demands for sacrifice from Novo Nordisk? Consider the complaining letter that a Greek economist sent to the company. Pavlos Panayotacos, whose 10-year-old daughter has diabetes, wrote that “you could not have acted in a more insensitive manner at a more inopportune time.” Citing Greece’s financial troubles, he said: “As an economist, I realize the importance of making a profit, but healthcare is more than just the bottom line.”

That which is “more than just the bottom line” here is diabetics’ need for Novo Nordisk’s products, considered apart from the willingness to pay for them. Serving that need is what constitutes a “corporate social responsibility.” Refusing to fulfill that need is what makes the company’s decision “blackmail.” And by acting in the company’s economic self-interest, its managers are expected to shoulder a burden of guilt for what then happens to 10-year-old diabetic girls–while parents shirk responsibility and write angry letters demanding something for nothing.

There is a moral transgression here, but it is not being committed by the company. The sin lies in demanding that Novo Nordisk sacrifice its profits on the altar of need.

[Update: Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for linking here. Instapundit readers, welcome!]

Image: WikiMedia Commons