Mr. Yoshihide Fujii
Chairman and CEO Toshiba America Inc.
1251 Avenue of the Americas Suite 4110
New York, NY 10020
Dear Mr. Fujii:
I'm writing in reference to one of Toshiba's new television commercials in which you refer to clinical trial participants as "test monkeys" and "guinea pigs."
ACRO represents the world's leading clinical research organizations, conducting more than 11,000 clinical
trials annually on over 2 million patients in 115 countries. In our business, much like yours, reputation is everything and companies that play fast and loose with ethical standards can face severe financial consequences.
ACRO has been working with regulators globally to ensure every patient participating in clinical research, whether in India or Indiana, is treated with respect and afforded basic human rights. So when we saw your latest advertising commercial attempting to use humor by identifying clinical research participants in a
derogatory manner, we found it extremely offensive and beneath what we believed to have been Toshiba's corporate standards. It's questionable why you would run an advertising campaign such as this when one of your main corporate responsibility initiatives is protecting, maintaining and expanding human rights worldwide.
I'm sure you're aware that part of Toshiba's corporate business structure is the manufacturing of diagnostic and medical imaging equipment. Among the clients for these devices are biopharmaceutical companies and
CROs so we find it puzzling that Toshiba would disparage clinical trials, a core activity of its client base.
I view this as an opportunity to invite you on behalf of Toshiba, to join ACRO in our on-going global dialogue aimed at maintaining the high standards for global research participants and to treat them with the respect they deserve for their important contribution to medical science.
Regards,
Douglas Peddicord, Ph.D
Executive Director Association of Clinical Research Organizations
CC:
Mark Simons, President and CEO, Toshiba American Information Systems Donald Fowler, President & CEO, Toshiba American Medical Systems, Inc.
Carl Pinto, Vice President of Marketing, Toshiba American Information Systems, Digital Products Division