Corporate Responsibility

Big Pharma

In conjunction with our work to increase corporate social responsibility in the healthcare industry, we focus on working with other community organizations and industry for pharmaceutical companies to achieve:

Affordable drug prices;

• Fair marketing and pricing practices;
• Better consumer information; and
• Improved, accountable industry practices.

As part of increasing accountable industry practices, we have begun to focus on increasing pharmaceutical and biotech companies community investment and corporate social responsibility, we have begun to engage companies in a dialogue around these issues.  While these conversations are in the beginning stages, we see our advocacy efforts as the stepping stones towards industry wide discussion and change.

Why Pharma?

• Through these discussions with companies, and our own organizational research on the industry, we have discovered that a lack of accountability and transparency exists within the pharmaceutical and biotech industry because requirements for reporting of tax credits/benefits and corporate philanthropy do not exist. 
• The pharmaceutical and biotech industries do not employ the same corporate social responsibility standards as other industries (i.e. regulated utilities). 
• Amgen, Inc currently leads the industry in philanthropic donations.  However, their 2008 revenues equaled more than $15 billion and gave $18.07 million in philanthropy, therefore only 0.12% of their profits went towards philanthropic donations.  Amgen is considered an industry leader, yet even Amgen would fail to meet CRA benchmarks of 2% of profits.  .
• Of the Top 20 pharmaceutical companies, based on revenue, the average amount of philanthropic donations companies give equals 0.0014%.