Drug Makers Differ Strongly in Policies for Low-income Countries

Index lets investors select most socially responsible producers

HAARLEM, THE NETHERLANDS (June 16, 2008) — The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies differ strongly in their efforts to provide millions of people in low-income countries with better access to affordable drugs and vaccines.

Some major companies are making solid strides, for example by developing new medicines against previously neglected diseases, says the Access to Medicine Foundation, an independent non-profit organization that unveiled a global Access to Medicine Index today.
At the same time, other companies are lagging behind in adapting similar policies.

“Rather than looking at the pharmaceutical industry as a black box, the Access to Medicine Index finds good practices within individual companies and holds them up as shining examples to others,” said Wim Leereveld, the Index’ founder.
The Index will also give governments, researchers and NGOs that work to increase poor people’s access to healtcare the opportunity to find suitable industry partners, he added.

New tool for socially responsible investors

The Access to Medicine Index measures and rates efforts by individual drug companies to increase the number of people that have access to effective and affordable medicine. The Index ranks twenty of the world’s largest drug companies, offering investors and other stakeholders a new and powerful tool with which to take pharmaceutical companies’ social responsibility record into account.

The first Access to Medicine Index identifies GlaxoSmithKline (United Kingdom) as current industry leader when it comes to improving access to drugs and vaccines. Following in its footsteps are Novo Nordisk (Denmark), Merck & Co. (NJ, USA), Novartis (Switzerland), and Sanofi-Aventis (France).

Eight criteria

The Access to Medicine Index rates dozens of indicators grouped into eight main criteria. These include companies’ management of policies increasing access, the amount of research and development in the ‘neglected diseases’ area, patenting and licensing policies and the use of fair pricing systems. The intricate methodology was developed after extensive consultations with representatives from governments, research, NGOs and drug companies.

“For global pharma companies, managing access to medicine is a complex and daunting challenge,” commented Matthew Kiernan, CEO of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, which carried out the Index research; “We view companies who do it best as better managed and more far-sighted overall, and therefore more attractive to strategic, long-term investors.”

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About access to medicine

One out of three people on the planet lacks good access to essential, reliable and affordable medicine. According to estimates, increasing such access could save the lives of 10 million people each year. The Access to Medicine Foundation believes the responsibility to increase access is shared by all, including pharmaceutical companies, which own vital pieces of knowledge, technology and infrastructure.

About Socially Responsible Investing

The Access to Medicine Index is at present supported by twelve of the world’s leading institutional investors, together managing assets worth more than USD 1.2 trillion. They have welcomed “the project’s efforts to develop a tool which [..] may be useful to assess the long-term value of pharmaceutical companies.”

About the Access to Medicine Foundation

The Access to Medicine Foundation is a fully independent, non-profit organization based in The Netherlands. Up until now, the foundation has received funding from the European Agency for the Development and Health (Aedes), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), Rabobank, SNS Reaal, Oxfam Netherlands, Cordaid, the Interchurch organization for global development (ICCO) and the Humanist Institute for global development (HIVOS).

About Innovest Strategic Value Advisors

The Access to Medicine Index is published by the Access to Medicine Foundation. Research for the Index was carried out by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors (NY, USA), a global investment research firm specializing in sustainability indicators. Leading global health experts contributed to the development of the Index; its methodology will be reviewed each year.

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