Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

The role of others

Improving access to healthcare in developing countries is a complex challenge.

We believe that only a holistic approach embracing prevention and treatment as well as fundamentally strengthening health systems will work. This will require all stakeholders, including the pharmaceutical industry, to work together to increase the resources dedicated to improving healthcare systems.

Pharmaceutical companies, including GSK, must make their medicines as affordable as possible to people in the world’s poorest countries, in a sustainable manner. We must invest in research into diseases of the developing world because new prevention tools and treatments are urgently needed. Companies must look for ways to use intellectual property rights flexibly to maximise R&D resources for neglected diseases. Rather than just being suppliers of medicines, we must also support governments in their efforts to strengthen health systems, developing innovative ways to deliver our medicines to the people who need them most.

Wealthy nations must give more. New funding is coming from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PEPFAR (The US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief), UNITAID and others, but funds are still inadequate and need to be more predictable and sustainable.

Resources are needed to fund research, strengthen health systems, purchase medicines, support disease prevention and discourage the migration of trained healthcare workers from developing countries. The current global financial crisis must not divert resources away from assisting developing countries.

Developing countries themselves must show genuine political commitment to prioritising healthcare in national budgets, addressing stigma and improving affordability by removing import tariffs on medicines.

As part of this approach, middle-income countries must accept their responsibilities and not seek the lowest prices that are offered to the world’s poorest countries.

All countries should provide an environment that encourages innovation through support for intellectual property (IP) rights, and should avoid measures such as widespread compulsory licensing which may negatively impact on investment in R&D and innovation. A more supportive environment for IP generally will encourage companies to be more flexible with their IP and less defensive. Countries should also address the risk of product diversion from patients in poor countries to those in wealthier ones.

We lobby governments and policy makers to advocate a sustainable approach to improving healthcare in the developing world. Such an approach must support innovation, which is critical to improving access in the longer term. In 2008 our work in this area included:

Urging the G8 to continue making healthcare in the developing world a major agenda item
Supporting the development of a pilot Advance Market Commitment for a pneumococcal vaccine
Engaging in the work of the WHO’s Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property
Working with the UK government on global health issues and in the development of the Department for International Development’s (DFID’s) Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) and the review of its Good Practice Framework for pharmaceutical companies
Playing a leading role in Pharma Futures 3, an industry dialogue exploring the links between sustainable pharmaceutical business models and improved health outcomes in middle-income markets, including China, India and Brazil
Discussing IP, innovation and funding with NGOs, foundations and other stakeholders
Attending WHO Executive Board Meetings and the World Health Assembly
Meeting with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, to discuss priorities in addressing HIV/AIDS
Contributing to the design of an Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria
Playing a leading role in major global health initiatives. For example GSK sits on the Boards of the GAVI Alliance and Roll Back Malaria
Participating in Board meetings of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and supporting the development of its Quality Assurance standards
Contributing to development of UN Human Rights Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Companies in relation to access to medicines
Engaging in the negotiations on the WTO Doha Round to seek sustainable pro-innovation outcomes
Addressing HIV/AIDS in the EU and neighbouring countries through the European Commission’s Bremen Process
Engaging with the Intergovernmental Meeting on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness
Contributed to a report being prepared by Paul Hunt, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. The report is on GSK’s approach to access to medicines. A number of senior executives, including our former CEO, Dr JP Garnier, and our Chairman Sir Christopher Gent, were interviewed. We expect the report to be published in the first half of 2009.