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Our approach

As a leading international pharmaceutical company we can make a real difference to healthcare in the developing world. We believe this is both an ethical imperative and key to business success. Companies that respond sensitively and with commitment by changing their business practices to address such challenges will be the leaders of the future.

A number of basic principles underpin our contribution to improved healthcare in the developing world.

Sustainability
Our long-term commitment is to make contributions to world health that are sustainable. This applies equally to the research & development (R&D) we carry out, the preferential pricing arrangements we make and our community based partnerships.

We must sustain our R&D investment, as it ensures the development of new products to treat diseases. Preferential prices must be set at levels that we can sustain for as long as patients need treatment. And our partnership initiatives must have long term value to the communities at which they are targeted.

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Appropriateness
We are sensitive to the diversity of countries and regions and the differing needs of populations in terms of existing healthcare infrastructure levels. In all the countries where our products are available, in both the developed and the developing world, we have a duty to do what we can to ensure they are used in a clinically appropriate way. It would be wrong to sell our products in circumstances where they cannot be used with the right clinical supervision or where they are at risk of being misused. We are therefore working with governments and other partners to ensure our products are used appropriately and effectively by the patients for whom they are intended. This is particularly important in the case of communicable diseases, where inappropriate use of products can speed the development of resistance to treatment.

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Support for innovation
More than any other group in society, the pharmaceutical industry has devoted the time and funding needed to bring new medicines and vaccines to patients. The fundamental framework on which medical advances depend, and which has led to sustained investment in research & development, requires intellectual property protection. Patents stimulate and fundamentally support the continued research and development of new and better medicines, including those for diseases prevalent in the developing world.

As Kofi Annan has said: "Intellectual property is key to bringing forward new medicines, vaccines and diagnostics urgently needed for the health of the world's poorest people." We believe that the emphasis on patents as a barrier to Access to Healthcare in developing countries is misleading and counter-productive.

Many people in the developing world do not have affordable access to any medicines, including generic drugs. Ninety-five per cent of drugs on the WHO's Essential Drugs list (EDL) are not patent protected, yet the WHO says that 30 per cent of people in developing countries do not have access to them.

The Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Agreement (Trips), supported by the United Nations, lays out minimum standards for intellectual property rights and includes safeguards that enable governments to meet the needs of their populations in certain circumstances. We believe that Trips strikes an appropriate balance, in encouraging the innovation that is essential if we are to see advances in treatments and vaccines for developing country diseases, while including safeguards that provide governments with the flexibility to address exceptional circumstances. Our support for Trips includes the recognition of these safeguards.

Decisions on whether to take action to uphold our intellectual property rights in the event of infringement, as well as the nature of that action, are taken on a case by case basis.

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Partnership
The significant barriers that stand in the way of Access to Healthcare in the developing world must be tackled as a shared responsibility by all sectors of global society. The pharmaceutical industry can play an important role, but it does not have the mandate, expertise or resources to deliver healthcare unilaterally to developing countries. Our activities are undertaken in partnership with organisations that have relevant specialised knowledge, such as governments, international agencies, charities and academic institutions.

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Reporting
We are developing performance measures that we will adopt to evaluate our contribution to improving healthcare for those most in need. These will be covered in our next report. We aim to communicate our overall intentions, activities and progress on an annual basis, as well as to provide regular updates on specific programmes and policies.

By sharing information and collaborating with partner organisations, we will also aim to build a joint understanding of the challenges of healthcare provision, as well as a spirit of positive co-operation and commitment.

Our Corporate Responsibility Committee advises the Board on issues of significance in the relationship between the company and society and will keep our policy on healthcare in the developing world under review.

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Sharing responsibilities
It is essential that our long-term commitment to a sustainable supply of products is made on a commercially viable basis. In order to offer preferential prices there must be a framework to facilitate this.

We are seeking the establishment of regulatory, legislative and other mechanisms to minimise diversion of preferentially priced products to developed markets, so that patients most in need receive the treatments intended for them and the company generates sufficient revenue to fund future R&D.

And we are seeking a commitment from developed world purchasers - governments, insurance schemes or individuals - not to use prices offered in the developing world as a benchmark for pricing in their own countries. Clearly this would undermine the economic basis of the pharmaceutical industry, which requires funding to continue our search for new and better medicines.

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