GSK outlines commitment to community in 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report

In its recently published Corporate Responsibility Report, research-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) reiterated its commitment to building its business on strong values and ethical standards. New measures were outlined to strengthen the company’s commitment to the environment and increase access to medicines for people living in the world's poorest countries. GSK also reported a substantive increase in its level of charitable support.

Commenting on the report, Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline said: "Our commitment to running a responsible business underpins everything we do. This means being led by our values and principles, being transparent about how we work and responding to the changing needs and expectations of our stakeholders. There is always more that can be done but I am pleased with the progress we are making. Specifically this report outlines our efforts to strengthen our commitment to the environment and continue to improve access to our medicines across the world."

Environmental sustainability

In a move to further integrate and embed sustainability into its core business, GSK announced a new environment strategy, including the objective that the company’s operations become carbon neutral by 2050. This target means there will be no net greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing, distribution, use and disposal of products and the sourcing of raw materials.

The new strategy builds on GSK’s success in becoming the first company to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard global certification in 2010. This recognizes organizations that measure, manage and reduce their carbon emissions across their operations based on rigorous independent assessment and remain committed to doing so year on year.

Access to medicines

GSK acknowledges that much still needs to be done by all stakeholders to tackle the issue of access to medicines in developing countries. Nevertheless the company continues to take substantive steps to reform its business practices, including adopting a range of flexible pricing models, to expand availability of its medicines and vaccines to as many of the people who need them as possible. In the Philippines, GSK has reduced the prices of most of its major brands by 30-50% under its ValueHealth access program.

In July 2010, GSK created a specific Developing Countries and Market Access (DCMA) business unit dedicated to increasing patient access to GSK medicines while expanding the company’s presence and helping it to build a sustainable business in developing countries.

Following GSK's commitment to reduce prices of its patented medicines in Least Developed Countries (LDC) to no more than 25% of their price in the UK (or in France for products not sold in the UK), sales volumes for the majority of products have increased significantly. For example, in East Africa the prices for GSK patented brands were reduced by an average of 69% and the number of packs sold increased more than fourfold (320%) by the end of 2010.

GSK also repeated its pledge to price its malaria candidate vaccine (RTS,S) responsibly and at a level which is affordable for African countries. The vaccine is currently in late-stage clinical development, and if approved, will be the first vaccine against malaria, with the potential to save the lives of millions of children across Africa.

Charitable support

GSK announced that global giving to charitable initiatives in 2010 totalled £222m, an increase of 36% over the previous year (on a like-for-like basis). The company’s giving was higher than in 2009 due to the expansion of key programs including donations of albendazole to the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis.

Through the Alliance, GSK has donated almost two billion tablets of albendazole and hundreds of millions of people have been treated through mass drug administrations in 54 countries including the Philippines.

The full report can be found at www.gsk.com/responsibility/cr-report-2010. It covers key responsibility issues including access to medicines, research and business ethics, environmental sustainability, employment practices, stakeholder engagement and investment in communities.