Socially responsible investment
Access to medicine index to be launched
An index benchmarking the performance of pharmaceutical companies in
providing access to their medicines is being developed by the investment
research firm, Innovest Strategic
Value Advisors, for institutional investors.
Innovest said that the World Health
Organisation estimates that around 30% of the world's population lack
regular access to medicine. The index was proposed by the Dutch non-governmental
organisation (NGO), the Access to
Medicine Foundation, which asked Innovest to create a framework to evaluate
global pharmaceutical companies on this issue.
Following consultation with a range of experts eight evaluation criteria have
been developed and after a benchmarking assessment the access to medicine index
will be available to investors later this year. It is planned to update
the index annually and it is hoped that it will bring improvements among
pharmaceutical companies as investors engage with them and they attempt to
improve their index ranking.
Investors and NGOs have already been targeting pharmaceutical companies this
year on the issue. Novartis has been
criticised by groups such as Oxfam for suing the Indian government
as part of a fight to obtain patent rights on its cancer drug Glivec. Currently Indian law states
that patents are not granted for medicines unless they are genuinely innovative.
The Berne Declaration, a Swiss
NGO, used the Novartis AGM to raise the issue directly
with Daniel Vasella, the company’s chief executive and lobby the company's
shareholders. Dan Rosan of the Interfaith Center on
Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a US network of socially responsible
investors, said that by continuing with this lawsuit Novartis is undermining its record in investing in neglected disease research
and stakeholder engagement.
Meanwhile, ICCR members, including
Christian Brothers Investment Services,
which invest in Abbott
Laboratories, have requested that the company immediately reverse its
decision to withdraw new drug applications from Thailand.
Abbott’s withdrawal came in response to action by the Thai government which,
in an attempt to increase access to affordable medicines, issued a compulsory
licence for non-commercial use of pharmaceuticals within its public health
system. This extends to Abbott’s HIV medicine Kaletra. However, Abbott has not
only withdrawn Kaletra, but a range of other medicines, including drugs for
arthritis, high blood pressure and kidney disease.
The investors said by denying drugs such as Kaletra to Thai patients, Abbott is threatening
the health of people who need access to these medicines for survival.
Furthermore, the organisations stated, Abbott’s actions have opened to company
to severe criticism and have the potential to damage the company’s bottom-line.
Links
Innovest Strategic
Value Advisors
World Health Organisation
Access to Medicine Foundation
Novartis
Oxfam
The Berne Declaration
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Abbott Laboratories
Christian Brothers Investment Services
April, 2007 |
