• Home
• Responsibility
• CR Review 2006
• Access to medicines

Access to medicines

Access to medicines is considered one of the most pressing corporate responsibility issues for the pharmaceutical industry.

Millions of poor people around the world struggle to get the medicines they need, which can have devastating consequences for the individual and their family, as well as hindering economic and social development. Tackling the AIDS pandemic is one of the greatest challenges the world faces.

We are in a position to make a major contribution to the world’s health – but we have to do this in a sustainable manner to reflect the long-term nature of the challenge and without undermining our ability to generate returns for our shareholders.

We look for innovative ways to increase access to medicines. For the developing world this includes dedicated research, special prices, licensing generic manufacturers, and community investment. We also operate Patient Assistance Programs to help uninsured patients in the US.

Here we outline just two elements of our programme. Much more detail is provided in our full CR Report.

Research into neglected diseases
R&D is critically important for reducing the impact of disease in developing countries. A few widespread and life-threatening diseases lack effective treatments, while for many others (such as malaria) existing treatments are becoming less effective due to drug resistance.

In the past, many infectious tropical diseases have not been a priority for the pharmaceutical industry because widespread poverty means there is no viable commercial market for new treatments. Public private partnerships (PPPs) are now helping to overcome this obstacle – and GSK is playing a key role.

One example is our malaria vaccine for children – currently undergoing clinical trials in Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Gabon and Ghana. This research is supported by a $21.4 million grant from the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. GSK has been working on a malaria vaccine for over two decades and the additional resource provided through PPPs is having a catalytic effect. If the results continue to be positive the vaccine could be submitted for regulatory approval as early as 2010.

In 2006 we also identified a new compound for development that may be effective against drug-resistant strains of malaria. Critically, this potential medicine does not show the toxicity that affected a previous candidate and we expect to begin trials in late 2007.

In TB research we are working with the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation and have launched a joint drug discovery partnership with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance). The TB Alliance is supporting 25 full-time scientists at our Tres Cantos drug discovery site in Spain which is dedicated to diseases of the developing world. GSK is contributing a matching number of staff and all remaining overhead costs. Around 1.5 million compounds have now been tested for anti-TB activity and we have four pre-clinical TB projects underway. No new treatments have been discovered for TB in the last 40 years, which emphasises the importance of these partnerships.

All new medicines developed through PPPs are made available to the developing world at reduced prices.

Making our HIV medicines more affordable
In total, including eligible Global Fund and PEPFAR projects, our HIV/AIDS and malaria treatments are offered at not-for-profit prices to eligible customers in over 100 countries.

This year we supplied 86 million Combivir and Epivir tablets at not-for-profit prices to developing countries. This is 40 million less than in 2005 but there is a good reason for that. Over the last six years, GSK has negotiated eight voluntary licences so that other companies can produce generic versions of our ARVs for sale in sub-Saharan Africa. The decrease in our shipments was expected and is a positive indication that our licensing policy is working, as it is primarily due to more customers purchasing ARVs from generic manufacturers, inlcuding those licensed by GSK.

In 2006 our licensees supplied over 120 million tablets of generic GSK/ARVs – bringing the total number (both GSK produced and generic versions from our licensees) to over 206 million. 

Shipments of preferentially priced Combivir and Epivir (millions)

Looking forward