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Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Public policy and patient advocacy

The pharmaceutical industry is highly regulated. Government policy and legislation can have a significant impact on our business so it is important that we engage with governments and other stakeholders in the legislative and policy process.

Through our public policy activity we work towards legislation and policy that encourage scientific innovation and balance the interests of business with those of other stakeholders. We also work with patient groups to help give their members a voice in the healthcare debate.

We believe that we conduct our advocacy work responsibly and make a valuable contribution to the debate on public policy issues that impact our business, particularly those relating to research and development, the use of pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

We aim to increase stakeholder trust in GSK and, by being transparent about our lobbying and public policy work, to address concerns from some stakeholders that the pharmaceutical industry has too strong an influence over governments. We publish our annual public policy activity on this website and report on our memberships of trade associations, our political contributions and US lobbying expenditures. We also publish information on our work with patient groups, including details of the funding we provide.

We provide information on our approach to working with doctors and healthcare professionals in the Research practices and Ethical conduct sections of this website.

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