Philosophical Issues in Pharmaceutics: Development, Dispensing, and Use (Philosophy and Medicine)

This anthology provides a collection of new essays on ethical and philosophical issues that concern the development, dispensing, and use of pharmaceuticals. It brings together critical ethical issues in pharmaceutics that have not been included in any collection (e.g., the ethics of patients as researchers). In addition, it includes philosophical issues that are not within the traditional domain of applied ethics. For example, a game-theoretic approach to combating the emergence of antibiotic-resistent pathogens by spreading altruism. A tripartite distinction provides an organized series of discussions that shows the interrelatedness of philosophical issues from the creation of pharmaceuticals, the creation of demand for them, through their delivery to their ultimate consumption.

Dien Ho is an associate professor of philosophy and healthcare ethics at MCPHS University. His research and teaching primarily focus on bioethics, reproductive ethics, clinical ethics, philosophy of science, and logic. He received his PhD from The Graduate Center at the City University of New York, his MA from Tufts University, and his BA from Brandeis University. Prior to joining MCPHS University, he taught at University of Kentucky, Yale University, and Brooklyn College. He was also the founding member of the University of Kentucky’s Hospital Ethics Committee and he continues to provide ethics consultations for clinics and hospitals. His publications appear in both professional and popular outlets including Bioethics, American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, American Journal of Bioethics, Analysis, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Philosophy NOW, The Boston Globe, and Newsweek.