Are Drug Companies Living Up to Their Human Rights Responsibilities? Moving Toward Assessment

Gruskin, Sofia; Raad, Zyde

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000310

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…While there is extensive published literature on CSR and international development the literature on CSR and global health is limited [ 4 , 5 ]. A number of papers have explored whether pharmaceutical companies are living up to their human rights obligations [ 6 - 9 ], however, this literature falls short in considering CSR comprehensively, instead focusing narrowly on drug pricing or product licensing. Other papers on CSR in multinational pharmaceutical companies have evaluated specific CSR activities [ 10 ], focused on the creation of economic opportunity [ 11 ], or presented more of an industry perspective [ 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate social responsibility in global health: an exploratory study of multinational pharmaceutical firms

Droppert

Bennett

2015

Global Health

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BackgroundAs pharmaceutical firms experience increasing civil society pressure to act responsibly in a changing globalized world, many are expanding and/or reforming their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. We sought to understand how multinational pharmaceutical companies currently engage in CSR activities in the developing world aimed at global health impact, their motivations for doing so and how their CSR strategies are evolving.MethodsWe conducted a small-scale, exploratory study combining (i) an in-depth review of publicly available data on pharmaceutical firms’ CSR with (ii) interviews of representatives from 6 firms, purposively selected, from the highest earning pharmaceutical firms worldwide.ResultsCorporate social responsibility differed for each firm particularly with respect to how CSR is defined, organizational structures for managing CSR, current CSR activities, and motivations for CSR. Across the firms studied, the common CSR activities were: differential pharmaceutical pricing, strengthening developing country drug distribution infrastructure, mHealth initiatives, and targeted research and development. Primary factors that motivated CSR engagement were: reputational benefits, recruitment and employee satisfaction, better rankings in sustainability indices, entrance into new markets, long-term economic returns, and improved population health. In terms of CSR strategy, firms were at different points on a spectrum ranging from philanthropic donations to integrated systemic shared value business models.ConclusionsCSR is of increasing importance for multinational pharmaceutical firms yet understanding of the array of CSR strategies employed and their effects is nascent. Our study points to the need to (i) develop clearer and more standardized definitions of CSR in global health (2) strengthen indices to track CSR strategies and their public health effects in developing countries and (iii) undertake more country level studies that investigate how CSR engages with national health systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate social responsibility in global health: an exploratory study of multinational pharmaceutical firms

Droppert

Bennett

2015

Global Health

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“…2016Vian, McCoy, Richards, Connelly & Feeley, 2007. Por tanto, pocos autores han analizado las obligaciones sobre derechos humanos que tienen las compañías farmacéuticas (Gruskin & Raad, 2010;The PLoS Medicine Editors, 2010).…”

Section: La Rsc Y El Sector Farmacéuticounclassified

La industria farmacéutica ante la demanda de responsabilidad social corporativa

Pérez

Rosario

Saraite

et al. 2016

REVISTA PERSPECT. EMPRESARIAL

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En los últimos años ha aumentado el interés por la responsabilidad social corporativa (RSC) en la industria farmacéutica. Esto se debe a su impacto en la calidad de vida de la sociedad, junto con las críticas recibidas en relación con los intereses económicos de la industria.Desde un contexto español, este artículo tiene un doble objetivo. En primer lugar, analizar la información que publican las empresas farmacéuticas en sus informes de sostenibilidad. En segundo lugar, examinar factores determinantes de la divulgación de información sobre RSC que realizan estas empresas. Los resultados obtenidos indican que, en España, las empresas farmacéuticas se muestran muy comprometidas con el desarrollo económico sostenible, especialmente en el caso de las farmacéuticas más rentables, con más experiencia, y que elaboran sus informes de sostenibilidad conforme a la Global Reporting Initiative.

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Section: Rights and Dutiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gruskin and Raad (2010) assert that access to essential medicines is a legally established human right. More specifically, it is argued that governments have a legal obligation to ensure access in part by partnering and regulating non-state actors, such as pharmaceutical firms (Gruskin and Raad 2010). Moving beyond legal rights which pharmaceutical firms clearly hold particularly as it relates to IPR, Hunt and Khosla (2010) argue, ''…phar-maceutical companies have human rights responsibilities (p.…”

Section: Rights and Dutiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework for Understanding Ethical and Efficiency Issues in Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property Litigation

2014

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Are Drug Companies Living Up to Their Human Rights Responsibilities? Moving Toward Assessment

Cited by 19 publications

References 17 publications

Corporate social responsibility in global health: an exploratory study of multinational pharmaceutical firms

Corporate social responsibility in global health: an exploratory study of multinational pharmaceutical firms

La industria farmacéutica ante la demanda de responsabilidad social corporativa

A Framework for Understanding Ethical and Efficiency Issues in Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property Litigation

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