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Lesson 4.1
EXERCISE 7A (P.37)
LESSON 4.4
EXERCISE 4A (P.43)
1 The clean-desk policy
RXZ has a clean-desk policy. This means that staff must
not leave documents on their desk or on their computer
screen when they leave work at the end of the day. A
worker in the Research Department rushed away from
her desk after receiving a call that her daughter had been
taken ill at nursery. Very upset, she left immediately,
leaving highly confidential research results on her screen
overnight. She is a good researcher, very experienced at
processing and analysing data. What action should the
management take?
2 Gifts to doctors: a conflict of interest?
Up to now, RXZ has been giving expensive gifts to
doctors who prescribe the company’s brands, attend
conferences run by the company or who give talks about
RXZ’s new and current drugs. For example, doctors who
have been particularly loyal to the company’s brands are
sometimes given a week’s cruise with their family on the
Mediterranean. Many big pharmaceutical companies do
the same thing. RXZ have learned that a newspaper is
going to do an in-depth, critical article on the gifts that
pharmaceutical companies make to doctors. Should RXZ
introduce a policy of not giving gifts to doctors?
3 Negative results from trialling a new drug
RXZ’s Research Department have been developing a
promising new drug to treat obesity. But a recent series of
tests have shown that it could have dangerous side effects
for just a few patients. The company has invested millions
of euros in the product and they are confident it will be a
very profitable drug for years to come. They do not have
many exciting drugs in the pipeline at present, so this drug
is very important for the company’s future. Should they
ignore the side effects and not reveal the results of the trial?
4 Moving research overseas
RXZ have had a policy of testing new drugs and gathering
data about them in European countries. The Head of
Research and Development has proposed that, in future,
they should test new products as much as possible in
developing and emerging countries. It is easier and
cheaper to get people to trial products in these countries,
and also there is less red tape and bureaucratic obstacles.
Many people in these countries are eager to take part in
trials because this may be the only way for some of them
to get the medicine they need. Should RXZ trial most of its
drugs overseas in future?
5 Money or morality?
A group of young researchers in the company have been
working on a drug that could be effective in treating
a devastating disease that is common in some African
countries. The company will need to invest a great deal
of money to bring the drug to the market, and, when they
do, they will never get a return on their investment. They
are currently developing a new drug for diabetes which
needs a lot more investment. If they can bring it to the
market, it will have a big impact on their profits. Should
they stop developing the drug for Africa and focus on the
new drug for diabetes?
X-rays are images which are
used to diagnose disease. They
were discovered by Wilhelm
Röntgen, a German scienƟst
working in Munich, in 1895.
He was working on a cathode
ray tube* developed by one
of his colleagues, when he
noƟced that it was projecƟng a green light on
the wall. Strangely, the light was passing through
some materials, including paper, wood and books.
As he experimented by placing other materials in
the way, he noƟced that the outline of the bones
in his hand was projected onto the wall. In the
following weeks he conƟnued to invesƟgate the
new rays, which he temporarily called ‘X-rays’. Two
months later, he published his paper ‘On a new
kind of X-rays’, and in 1901 he was awarded the
first Nobel Prize in Physics. Although the new rays
would eventually be known as Röntgen rays, he
always preferred the term X-rays. Today, Röntgen
is considered the father of DiagnosƟc Radiology,
a medical speciality using images to diagnose
disease. Nowadays, radiologists can examine all
areas of the body for different types of disease.
*A cathode ray tube is a piece of equipment which
can produce an image on a screen, as in a television.
X-RAYS
This was the first effecƟve
anƟbioƟc. It was discovered
by Alexander Fleming, who
was a brilliant medical
researcher at St Mary’s
Hospital, London. He was also
careless and his laboratory
was oŌen unƟdy. In 1928,
aŌer returning from holiday, he noƟced a glass dish
that had some mould growing on it. His analysis
of this and its effect on the bacteria in the dish led
to the discovery of penicillin. This paved the way
for the treatment of infecƟous disease. Fleming
published his findings in 1929, but liƩle aƩenƟon
was paid to them. He conƟnued his research, but
found it was difficult to grow penicillin mould and
even more difficult to refine it.
Fleming shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine with Ernst Chain, who worked out
how to isolate and concentrate penicillin. Howard
Florey also shared the prize for his work on
mass producing penicillin. Fleming’s accidental
discovery marks the start of modern anƟbioƟcs.
It is esƟmated that penicillin has saved nearly 200
million lives.
PENICILLIN
