Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg

The Swedish National Pharmaceutical Strategy

Kategorier:

I have written about the work to develop a Swedish National Pharmaceutical Strategy here at the blog several times during the last year. See for instance the blog post from Jan 20, 2011. And this Friday, August 26, the strategy was finally published by the Government Offices of Sweden. You can read about the Strategy via this link, and have it down-loaded via this link. 

As you probably know, the strategy contains five goals specified in order to reach the vision “Rätt läkemedelsanvändning till nytta för patient och samhälle” (in English roughly “Right use of pharmaceuticals benefiting patients and society”). The goals are the following:

- Medicinska resultat och patientsäkerhet i världsklass (in English roughly “World-class medical and patient safety performance”)

- Jämlik vård (in English roughly ”Equal healthcare”)

- Kostnadseffektiv läkemedelsanvändning (in Englsih roughly “Cost efficient use of pharmaceuticals”)

- Attraktivitet för innovation av produkter och tjänster (in English roughly “Attractiveness for products and services innovation”)

- Minimal miljöpåverkan (in Englsih roughly “Minimal environmental impact”)

Below I summarize the environmentally related parts of the Strategy. The quotes from the Strategy is in Swedish, but I hope to be able to come back with more details in English when I get hold of a official translation.

In order to be able to reach the goals, they have been broken down into seven areas of intervention:

1. Skapa en bättre och säkrare ordinationsprocess och lägg grunden för generisk förskrivning genom nationellt samordnade IT-stöd

2. Öka samsyn och förståelse för ordinerad behandling

3. Utveckla kunskap om och riktlinjer för läkemedel och läkemedelsanvändning för de patientgrupper där detta är mest eftersatt

4. Minska utveckling och spridning av antibiotikaresistens genom en kombination av lokala och globala insatser

5. Utveckla långsiktigt hållbar prissättnings-, prioriteringsoch finansieringsmodell för samtliga läkemedel

6. Upprätta en process för ordnat och effektivt införande samt utöka uppföljning av läkemedels användning och effekter

7. Minska läkemedels påverkan på miljön lokalt och globalt

Area 7 is directly connected to the goal about “Minimal environmental impact”, but also area number 4 has links to environmental issues, i.e. releases of antibiotic substances to the environment.

The Strategy describes the intervention area number 7 in the following way:

“Minska läkemedelspåverkan på miljön lokalt och globalt:
Läkemedel och dess tillverkning belastar miljön, men mer exakt kunskap om i vilken utsträckning är idag bristfällig. Läkemedelsproduktion är en stor miljöutmaning för de tillväxtländer där en betydande del av produktionen sker. Sverige har i dag en begränsad produktion av läkemedel varför den huvudsakliga utmaningen för vår närmiljö på kort sikt utgörs av konsekvenser av läkemedelskonsumtion.
Frågan om läkemedels påverkan på miljön behöver hanteras även på internationell nivå för att nå önskvärd effekt. Regeringen har tillsatt Miljömålsberedningen för att utarbeta en strategi om Sveriges arbete internationellt för en giftfri miljö. I den strategin ska även läkemedels påverkan på miljö behandlas.”

As you see in the quote above, the Strategy points to the All Party Commission on Environmnetal Objectives which I have discussed here at the blog previously, e.g. in the blog post from June 15. The work to include issues on “Pharmaceuticals and the Environment” in the Environmental Goal on ”A Non-Toxic Environment” will continue over the coming months. Next meeting where I will participate takes place already tomorrow - so I’ll come back to that topic in the coming week.

The Stratgey contains an Action Plan, with action items structured according to the areas on intervention. The action items belonging to area number 7 are the following:

7.1. Utreda om miljöaspekter bör beaktas vid subvention av läkemedel (Huvudansvarig: Socialdepartementet)
Översyn av förutsättningarna att inom ramen för nationella förmånssystemet i ökad utsträckning ta miljöhänsyn.
7.2. Uppmuntra frivillig kontroll av utsläpp från läkemedelsfabriker (Huvudansvarig: Läkemedelsindustriföreningen)
Införande av en frivillig miljömärkning av läkemedelsprodukter.
7.3. Utreda vilka ytterligare åtgärder som kan vidtas på nationell nivå för att minska kassationen av läkemedel eller på annat sätt begränsa miljöpåverkan av läkemedelsanvändning (Huvudansvarig: Läkemedelsverket)
Utredning av orsakerna till kassation samt förslag till åtgärder för att minska kassation av läkemedel. Genom förande av gemensamma informationsinsatser för att uppmuntra patienter att lämna tillbaka
överblivna läkemedel.
7.4. Verka för möjliggörande av miljöhänsyn vid produktion och användning av läkemedel (Huvudansvarig: Regeringskansliet)
Regeringen fattade den 9 juni 2011 beslut om att ge miljömålsberedningen (M 2010:04) tilläggsuppdrag att ta fram en strategi för Sveriges arbete inom EU och internationell för en giftfri miljö. I strategin ska även läkemedels påverkan på miljö behandlas. 

It makes me very satisfied to see that the government has, as action item number 7.1, appointed the Ministry for Health and Social Affairs to be responsible evaluating a change of the pricing and re-imursement system to incorporate environmental issues. If you have followed my blog over the last months you know that I am a big fan of the idea of a pricing and re-imbursement system that awards “greenness”. Read my thoughts on a “green pricing and re-imbursement system” in the blog posts from e.g. March 28, May 11, and May 17. The discussions about a environmental criteria and environmental incentives will continue over the coming months. There will actually be a meeting with LIF (The Association of the Research Based Pharmaceutical Industry in Sweden) and all relevant stakeholders already on Wednesday Aug 30, so I will come back with more on this issue already in a few days.

Hence, stay tuned - more to come on this in the near future!

Use of Social Media in Health Care

Kategorier:

I participated in the conference “Sociala Medier i sjukvården - så funkar det!” (in English: “Use of Social Media in Health Care - this is how it works!”) today in Malmö. The conference was arranged by Dagens Medicin (a news magazine in the health care sector, roughly translated into “Today’s Medicine” in Englsih) and K-Street Advisors.

A very interesting, and hot, topic. I still find it somewhat funny that I get invited as a speaker to conferences on Social Media. I often declare that “I do not know anything about Social Media actually, I am just a very happy user of these new opportunities!”. But I take it as a strong sign of the lack of experience regarding social media in the health care sector, and the opportunities for great improvements, that I am being viewed as an expert… I have written about social media usage here at the blog previously, see for instance the blog post from Nov 24 last year.

So what did we talk about today? Theo Martins and Pelle Sjöqvist, both from K-Street Advisors, started in the morning as well as closed the conference in the afternoon talking about general aspects around the use of social media.

Theo Martins, K-Street Advisors

Pelle Sjöqvist, K-Street Advisors

Topics discussed were e.g. what social media is, how it works, how to get started, the difference between social media and other types of communication channels, and how social media could cause a crises or be used to manage a crisis. Pelle gave us also examples of usage of social media in the health care sector, or usages that affects us working in the sector, that he feels are worth exploring, e.g.

- Vårdguiden on Facebook

- Säkraresex.se by SLL (Stockholm County Council)

- Luskartan by Kronans Droghandel

- Flashback.org (where a lot of very strange, scary, and probably false discussions also about the health care sector can be found)

- Mayo Clinic

- Patients-like-me

I would of course also add More-than-medication and Can-You-Feel-My-Pain, but more on that later…

Presentations on use of social media ”from inside the health care sector” were given by

- Sara Natt och Dag who have met several patients telling about their diseases in the blogosphere in her profession as counselor. Very often these blogs are very open and honest. She has written several books about the phenomenon as such, and about the people she has met.

- Anna Jerdén, head of communication, Sörmland County Coucil, on their use of social media “for defence purposes” during a media crisis.

- Jens Larsson, General Counsel at the Uppsala County Council, about the legal issues around social media use, especially if you are a governmental official. My conclusion from his presentation would be that it is still a tricky area, still a lot of unanswered questions. But a guiding principle is of course that “use your common sense”. All the old privacy rules etc do of course apply also in these new communication channels!

- Mats Reimer, pediatrician from Mölnlycke, shared his experiences from being one of our most famous “blog doctors” in Sweden. Follow his blog on the webpage of Dagens Medicin.

Mats Reimer, pediatrician

- And then finally me talking about this blog (Ansvarsblogg.se), about the Dizza Tobak platform, and the Can-You-Feel-My-Pain initiative.

I talk about social media

As you probably understand I do not think social media is something “completely new and different”. To me it is just a new communication tool. Much faster and more powerful than anything we have seen before, but still something where a lot of our old rules and strategies still apply. You have to know what you want to do, you have to understand your target group, you need to carefully plan your launch of a new site or platform, you have to do a risk assessment before launch etc. etc. Just remember that everything goes faster and that you will not have full control of how things develop and evolve on the Internet… But the opportunities are so great that those risks are worth taking.

I used Dizza Tobak as an example of the possibilities to share information and experiences, or in this case uploaded anti-tobacco contributions, with the entire world in a rapid and almost for free. If you have followed me on the blog previously you know that Dizza Tobak is a project that we run together with SAMBA and A Non Smoking Generation with the purpose of eliminating tobacco usage. Some of my favourite contributions this year are:

- Love this way to die?

- Svart sot och död

- Kriget mot tobak

and of course still the Flash Mob at the Central Station last year protesting to the fact that 18 people die from tobacco each and every day in Sweden…

I also presented the Can-You-Feel-My-Pain (CYFMP) initiative where we in collaboration with, among others, Patient Advocacy Groups from all over Europe have utilized a number of different social media platforms in order to raise public awareness of chronic pain. Take part of the initiative through the following links:

- CYFMP on Facebook

- CYFMP on Twitter

- CYFMP on Flickr

- CYFMP on Twibbon

A good conference with interesting discussions on a hot topic. I am sure the use of social media in health care (and elsewhere of course) will explode for the simple reason that the opportunities are so great. But just remember that there are risks of course - but in my opinion those risks are definitely manageable.

Opportunities...

Risks...

An Enterprise 2020 Company - what is that?

Kategorier:

CSR Sweden arranged a breakfast seminar today where CSR Europe’s Executive President Stefan Crets presented the “Enterprise 2020 Initiative“.

Stefan Crets, CSR Europe

In Stefan Crets’ words, “CSR Europe is not a lobbying organization, and it is not a think tank. It is a platform for a change of society and business practices based on sharing and further development of CSR best practices and knowledge with peers and stakeholders”. And for sure, such a platform is really needed. A focus on sharing practical experiences, rather than just theroretical and sometimes even just semantic issues, is definitely welcome. 

And I have to say, that I really like the initiative taken by CSR Europe on building “Enterprise 2020 Companies”. So what is an Enterprise 2020 Company?

A company must develop its business strategies based on an understanding on how the world will look like in the future. Let’s say 2020. How will trends such as increasing globalisation, demographic change, natural resource scarcity, technology acceleration, global health challenges and social divisions shape business and society? How will the trends influence the capacity of the company and the organisation to create value that contributes to economic, societal and environmental progress?

Global Policy Development

In order to fully understand how these global challenges affect business strategies companies also need to understand how those trends affect Global Policy Developments, e.g. ISO 26000, UN Global Compact, GRI on the international level and on a European level e.g. the Europe 2020 Strategy, New EU Communication on CSR (due October 2011), and a legislative proposal on CSR Reporting (due 2012).

EU Policy Development

Stefan Crets describes an Enterprise 2020 company as a company that has fully integrated CSR into its business strategies, so business contributes to a SMART, SUSTAINABLE, and INCLUSIVE growth. In order to be successful, social innovation is a key. Social innovation means new ideas, business models, and products and services resolving existing sustainable challenges such as demographic change, human rights violations, finacial crise, environmental degradation, and poverty.

These ideas is nicely aligned with the “more-than-medication”-strategy for the pharmaceutical industry that I have elaborated upon previously here at the blog:

- The need to fully integrate the CSR startegies into the business strategies of the company (see e.g. blog post from March 29, 2010 (it is in Swedish, sorry for that!))

- 4 steps to a sustainable use of pharmaceuticals (see e.g. blog post from Feb 8, 2011)

- The need for, and opportunities with, social innovation (see e.g. blog post from April 8, 2011)

Enterprise 2020 Company - well, we are not there yet, but we are moving in the right direction…

Charity or a Social Investment?

Kategorier:

Petra Wahlström has published an interesting article on csr-i-praktiken.se regarding the different views on charity or corporate donations in US and in Sweden. I have discussed the same topic quite often myself, based upon Pfizer’s philanthropic programs. Our so called Global Health programs include initiatives such as Infectious Diseases Institute, Diflucan Partnership Program, and International Trachoma Initiative, and have a magnitude of approximately 2,4 billion US dollars per year. I had the privilege in October last year to review these programs on-site in Africa, and I was heavily impressed. Read about my thoughts via e.g. these links:

- A day at the Infectious Diseases Institute

- A day with the International Trachoma Initiative

- A day with the Diflucan Partnership Program

What puzzles me is the different reactions I receive when I present these kind of programs for stakeholders in for instance the US and here in Sweden. As Petra Wahlström points out in her article, these initiatives are something looked upon as very positive, and to be honest almost expected from a large corporation such as Pfizer Inc., in the United States. However, here in Sweden stakeholders are “suspicious” - does Pfizer have a “hidden agenda” or something like that? Hence, I actually here in Sweden very often talk about these philanthropic or charity programs as longterm social investments. If we as a corporation help to build the needed healthcare infrastructure (e.g. via Infectious Diseases Institute), these countries have a better ability to fully utilize the large pharmaceutical product donations (in programs such as Diflucan Parnership and International Trachoma Initiative). Through this work we save lifes, we help to build these countries, and from a longterm commercial perspective build future markets for our products and services. Today we cannot charge for the products and services, but as the prosperity grow in those countries, we eventually will have that possibility. And it is so interesting to see that when people here in Sweden receive that perspective of the philanthropic programs they somehow loose their “suspicious mindset”. It is strange, but as Petra Wahlström says:

“I USA är välgörenhet en självklarhet. Men i Sverige är synen på att skänka pengar en annan.”

(In English: In the US charity is something taken for granted. But in Sweden, the view on money donations is different.”)

Sharing our CSR programs with colleagues

Kategorier:

Our best Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ambassadors are of course our own colleagues. They meet customers and other stakeholders, including their own friends and families, on a daily basis. Their knowledge and participation is crucial for our success in interactively spreading the information about our environmental and social sustainability programs. It is also obvious that lack of knowledge, understanding and information among our collegues about those programs would make all CSR communication via web-pages etc look like a “fake facade without any content”…

Hence, I am happy to see, and participate myself of course, that our CSR programs are being shared with our colleagues. During this week at the “kick-off autumn conference” at Hasseludden outside Stockholm. There has been e.g. good opportunities for our collegues to visit a booth where Kristina Sandberg and others have shown Pfizer’s different products and services in addition to the medicines themselves. In the picture below, you’ll see Kristina presenting a brochure called “Pfizer och Ansvarsfullt Företagande - en introduktion till Pfizers hållbarhetsarbete” (in English roughly “Pfizer and Corporate Responsibility - an introduction to Pfizer’s Sustainability Programs).

Discussions about CSR-programs

The broschure is a very brief introduction which is intended to guide the reader to the CSR and sustainability information on pfizer.se. There you will find information in three levels - an introduction on Level 1, some more information about the programs on Level 2, and details on Level 3.

The CSR brochure

Visitors to the “more than medication-booth” were guided by a sign proclaiming “The grass is really greener here”. A funny and smart sign in my opinion!

The grass is greener here

I have given presentations in some more depth to colleagues. Important slides in those presentations are some of my old favourites that you will know if you have read my blog previosuly.

Giving a lecture on CSR

There was of course the slide about the “Sustainable Quadrant” that I have borrowed from Stina Billinger from SPP:

The Sustainable Quadrant

There was of course also the Walderik-Mattson pyramid:

Walderik-Mattson pyramid

These days have been fun and as I said in the beginning of the blog post, very important. Our colleagues are our strongest and most crucial ambassadors!