Pharma companies and Corporate Social Responsibility
One
of the main challenges for pharma companies is how to balance the needs of the various stakeholders involved. Employees, shareholders and patients all have different needs. A particularly tricky problem is pricing: what we in the rich countries can afford is very often too expensive for poorer countries.
I was interested to read what Andrew Witty, the boss of GlaxoSmithKline, says in the Guardian - Glaxo offers free access to potential malaria cures. His company is is putting 13,500 compounds that might cure malaria into the public domain.
According to the article,
Andrew Witty, the British boss of Glaxo-SmithKline, will say in a major speech that multinational drug companies have to balance social responsibility alongside the need to make profits for their shareholders. There is, he will say, an “imperative to earn the trust of society, not just by meeting expectations but by exceeding them”.
This is a very welcome move. Now, it’s to be hoped that other pharma companies will follow suit. It’s also to be hoped that GSK and the other companies do even more to benefit people in poorer countries who are suffering from other illnesses.
