Most of us don't think twice about where we get our medicine from – the nearest pharmacy is bound to be close by, affordable and well stocked. Unfortunately, that's not the case for the many of the world’s poorest people. Big pharmaceutical companies are often targeted as a part of the problem – they have enormous control over which drugs are available and affordable and this can also make them a part of the solution. However, without some prompting from the public big pharma companies are unlikely to forego profit for the benefit of their potential, poorer clients in the developing world.
This is where the Access to Medicine Index steps in, which just published its second biannual report. The Index is a comprehensive database of major pharmaceutical companies which tracks their efforts to help improve access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
The Index looks at how much companies' spend on research and development, their management and patenting policies, as well as philanthropic activities. Research for the index draws on numerous sources and companies themselves are invited to verify the data while independent world experts review drafts of the report.
By bringing much needed transparency to the pharmaceutical industry, the index aims to engage private investors and pharmaceutical companies and to encourage collaborations.
Here's a story of how people's lives can be changed, when pharmaceutical companies do the right thing:
Every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria - even though there are drugs that could save their lives for less than a dollar. This movie shows how making these drugs available to those who need them most is possible and happening around the world. The public-private partnership between the government of Côte d'Ivoire and Sanofi-Aventis to provide a new, cheap and effective anti-malarial treatment is just one example of how governments are collaborating with the pharmaceutical industry in a bid to increase access to effective treatment.
Last year the head of GlaxoSmithKline made a pledge to drastically cut the prices of drugs in the developing world, reinvest profits into local hospitals and, importantly, share knowledge about potential drugs that are still patent-protected. Following through on that pledge has allowed GlaxoSmithKline to retain its top position in this year's Access to Medicine Index and gain wide approval from governments and non-governmental organisations alike. At the same time the value of GSK stocks went up by almost 7% in a year. This demonstrates that running your business more ethically obviously does not mean you'll need to give up on the idea of making a profit.
Much still needs to be done to ensure that people in the developing world can have easy access to the right drugs, at the right time and at an affordable price. It's comforting however to see we are making progress and the Access to Medicine Index is just one of the great new tools which are allowing decision-makers and consumers, around the world to make informed choices about which products they buy and what companies they invest in.
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