Access to medicine is one of the main challenges of current development policies. Although it is primarily the responsibility of governments to facilitate access to medicine, pharmaceutical companies nevertheless bear a special responsibility. Aware of the problem, Ethos, together with several institutional investors, supports the «Access to Medicine Index» project in a joint statement. This international initiative aims to assess the approach of the different pharmaceutical companies in relation to the access to medicine issue.
The decision of the Chennai High Court (India) to dismiss the legal challenge to the country’s patent laws, filed by Novartis, is striking evidence of the escalating conflict opposing pharmaceutical multinationals and civil society requesting generalised access to medicine for everyone.
The pharmaceutical industry has an important role to play to guarantee access to medicine on a global scale. The managers of the pharmaceutical industry are in the midst of two apparently contradictory demands. On one hand, they try to improve margins by opting for an economic model based on intensive research protected by patents, thereby exerting influence over drug prices. On the other hand, access to medical care should be improved to eradicate the public health crisis, in particular in the developing world.
The «Access to Medicine Index» project was launched in this context. Among several other institutional investors, Ethos supports this initiative. The aim is to provide key stakeholders, such as the investment community, with a data base specific to the access to medicine issue. This data base shall allow the creation of an index for benchmarking companies on their policy of the access to medicine issue.
The analytical framework for the creation of the Index is at the consultation stage and can be viewed on www.atmindex.org. The rating of pharmaceutical companies will start this autumn and the results will be published in spring 2008.
Facts of the «Access to Medicine Index» Project:
- Investor statement
- Signatories: CIS Cooperative Insurance, Ethos, F&C, Henderson Global Investors, ICCR Access to Health Care Working Group, Schroders, SNS Asset Management
- Total asset under management EUR 575 Billion
For more information please contact:
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Access to Medicine Index |
Ethos |
