Ru 486 Product Launch

Team Case Analysis

RU 486

Name(s): Abdullah Alshriden, Abdullah Almoqren, Fatos Berisha

|Situation analysis: |

|Roussel – Uclaf is a global pharmaceutical company based in France and owned by German chemical company Hoechst. RU is the |

|pharmaceutical market leader in France and has a strong presence worldwide with two thirds of all revenue originating from |

|international sales. |

|They are renowned world over for the importance they attach to Research and Development. |

|Roussel - Uclaf have synthesized a safe for use abortion drug (RU 486) that is causing controversy within societal groups. |

|The French government authorized the drug within the same legal limitations as surgical abortion (Abortion is Legal in France |

|before the 10th week of pregnancy). |

|Extensive clinical tests have confirmed the safety of the drug. RU and WHO carried out tests in France, England, and developing |

|countries as well. |

|Abortion with RU 486 as opposed to surgical abortion has several medical advantages. There is no need for anesthesia, it eliminates|

|the risk of uterus complications and it costs are lower. |

|RU faced internal and external pressure from its parent company, employees and society not to proceed with marketing RU 486 because|

|of their moral beliefs. This was especially true in France and the United States where sales were not expected to be high. On the |

|other hand...