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• Engagement on corporate responsibility

Engagement on corporate responsibility

Dialogue with stakeholders allows us to understand their concerns and ideas and helps to set the strategic corporate responsibility agenda in GSK.

In 2004 we commissioned a survey of 50 opinion leaders in Europe, the UK and US. Participants included academics, CR organisations, customers, government agencies, investors, the media, multilateral agencies and NGOs.

The survey sought their views on our performance on social and ethical issues and our CR reporting. Environmental issues were not covered because they are addressed by a separate stakeholder panel.

The survey provided in-depth qualitative feedback but was not designed to produce statistics. The responses gave us a clear indication of how GSK is perceived and the areas that stakeholders consider important.

CR survey findings
The participants were asked to identify the key CR priorities for GSK and the four considered most material for GSK were:

• Access to medicines in the developing world
• Marketing ethics
• Clinical trials (how they are conducted and transparency of results)
• Access to medicines in developed countries

Access to medicines
Access to medicines in developing countries was seen as the single most important issue. GSK was seen to be doing well in this area. Our programmes - preferential pricing, research into diseases of the developing world and community investment - were generally rated highly.

The issue of access to medicines in developed countries was a growing concern for many participants. There were positive and negative views on GSK’s performance in this area. Generally participants felt that the pharmaceutical industry should be doing more to improve access for the poor in the developed world.

Ethical issues
A number of participants raised issues about our business practices. The publicity associated with GSK’s antidepressant Paxil/Seroxat increased concerns about marketing practices and the conduct of clinical trials and disclosure of results. Respondents would like to see these issues covered in more depth and how we are addressing them.

Animal research was also raised as an important issue for GSK and our stakeholders gave a positive response to our performance and reporting on this issue. Interviewees liked the level of disclosure and the reasoning given. See Animals in research.

CR reporting
Participants were asked to comment on our 2003 CR Report. It was felt that the report covered the material issues for GSK and they were positive about GSK’s commitment to annual CR reporting.

The majority of stakeholders thought GSK’s reporting would be improved by increasing the number of performance indicators, providing information on future plans for key issues and increasing transparency by tackling controversial issues in a more direct way.

Many participants felt that our separate CR and Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) reports made it harder for them to assess our overall performance.

Several participants wanted to see more information on the impact of our access to medicine programmes, with clearer information on the scale of the health problems that our programmes are addressing.

Emerging issues Over the next 5-15 years
Participants felt that access to medicines in developing countries will continue to be the biggest issue for GSK, but drug pricing in developed countries will come under greater scrutiny. Ethical issues around clinical trials, marketing, and R&D will also be significant.

How we are responding to stakeholders
The stakeholder survey has provided us with useful feedback and we are grateful to all the opinion leaders for their views.

We have been able to respond to some feedback immediately. For example we have now fully integrated our EHS reporting into the Corporate Responsibility report. In this report we have increased the number of performance indicators. We will continue to review and add to them as appropriate in future reports, though it is important to remember that not all CR issues are amenable to numerical indicators or objectives.

We believe that our existing programmes in the two highest priority areas - access to medicines and ethics - are substantial and appropriate.

We have improved access to clinical trial results with the launch of our clinical trial register.

Sometimes we receive feedback and suggestions from stakeholders that we disagree with or are unable to accommodate without damaging the interests of the company and its shareholders. Where possible we explain the reasons for this, for example the need to use animals in research. We will continue to engage with stakeholders, particularly opinion leaders, to gauge the success of our CR programmes.

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