Illustration by Joelle Bolt
Global Health and the Pharmaceutical Industry
Earning profits is not incompatible with being a force for goodAround 2.5 billion people subsist on $2 a day or less. That’s $2 to cover food, shelter, safe water, sanitation, basic education and other essentials. Almost by definition, this “system of poverty” leads to sickness, and it prevents patients from getting medical care.
There will be no solution to the problems of poverty, sickness, and despair without the active engagement of the private sector, especially the involvement of large companies. Here, I describe my views on the role of the pharmaceutical industry.
The primary responsibility of pharmaceutical companies is tied to their core competence, namely bringing innovative and effective products to the market at competitive prices. But corporate responsibility goes beyond this, to embrace access to medicines.
Currently available essential medicines and vaccines, if used properly, could save up to 10.5 million lives each year and reduce untold suffering. There are, however, appalling shortfalls in access. Among these:
• A third of the world cannot get the medicines they need, rising to 50% in parts of Asia and Africa.
• There is wide variation in the availability of medicines but on average just 20% of patients in the public sector and 56% in the private sector receive the drugs that they need.
• Almost half of all medicines are inappropriately prescribed, dispensed or sold, leading to wasted resources and potentially harming patients.
• Patients often do not follow prescribed regimens, taking perhaps half of the medicine given to them. This reduces treatment efficacy and could lead to resistance.
How can we bridge these shortfalls?
Governments continue to be primarily responsible for ensuring access to healthcare and thus to essential medicines, but pharmaceutical companies are rightly expected to assume a share of the burden.
Good practices by responsible companies include the following measures for the benefit of patients living in poverty:
- Differential pricing: Companies should offer reduced tenders for selected drugs for poverty-related and tropical diseases for patients who lack purchasing power.
- Donations to disease eradication programs, such as the Novartis leprosy program, and for emergencies such as in Haiti.
- R&D investments for “neglected” diseases that mainly affect poor people in low-income countries.
- Support for broader health and development goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals.
No single actor—and certainly no corporate initiative—can unilaterally solve the health problems facing impoverished people. National as well as international political institutions, NGOs and churches, business corporations, academic institutions, and others must find a way to agree on a “corridor of legitimate action.” The common good is best served when all actors do their best in the area of their particular responsibility, without losing sight of the ties that bind them.
The legitimacy of pharmaceutical companies will increasingly depend on being perceived as a force for good and part of the solution in the fight against poverty-related illnesses and premature mortality. Indeed, successful endeavors in this respect will be a determining factor for the pride and motivation of employees, investment allocations of ethical investment funds and the support of critical constituencies in civil society.
Author Bio:
Klaus M. Leisinger is President and CEO of the Novartis Foundation and Professor of Sociology at the University of Basel.
Photo: Illustration by Joelle Bolt
