Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg

Discussions with Vinnova

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Together with a number of colleagues from the pharmaceutical industry, I yesterday met Vinnova, the Swedish governmental innovation agency - “Research and Innovation for Sustainable Growth”. A very inspiring meeting where we among other things looked into the areas identified by Vinnova where innovations are needed to cope with challenges facing society:

- Attractive and sustainable cities

- Health and healthcare in the future

- Competitive manufacturing

- Information society 3.0

All of these areas have CSR-aspects connected to them. When “attractive and sustainable cities” are concerned it is quite clear that both environmental and social sustainability issues are crucial. When it comes to “health and healthcare in the future” you know that I feel strongly about issues such as healthy ageing and the development of services and patient support programs (see for instance my blog posts from April 8, and Feb 8). Competitive manufacturing has a very obvious connection to green chemistry. The better we become on LEAN-aspects of manufacturing and on green chemistry, the better our competitiveness. Read about green chemistry and green manufacturing via these blog posts for instance: Sept 30 this year, and Nov 18, 2010. And finally “the information society 3.0″, well you know my strong beliefs in social media and similar aspects of a modern society. Read about social media use in these blog posts: Oct 6, and Aug 24.

Looking forward to continuing discussions with Vinnova on these issues. I think the pharmaceuticals industry could contribute greatly to innovations in these areas. And I find it satisfying that several of those innovations will be CSR-related.

CSR-initiatives by our suppliers

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I have previously here at the blog discussed supplier screening programs and good CSR-initiatives by suppliers. See for instance my blog post from Jan 22, 2010, about efforts taken by our restaurateur Sodexo. Today, I would once again like to highlight an initiative taken by Sodexo. It is a good example on initiatives from our partners that our employees get in direct contact with - “lunch break CSR initiatives” mean high visualization.

Fish-for-life weeks

Sodexo will for the coming weeks put extra focus on “sustainable fishing”. They will serve only fishes qualified according to Findus’ Fish for Life program (”Omsorgsfullt fiske” in Swedish). I like the initiative, it brings CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and environmental issues into something very real for our employees, and it triggers discussions about other CSR and environmental aspects. Very valuable for our own programs as well!

Yesterday I had a very tasty shallow water cape hake (”kapkummel” in Swedish, and “Merluccius capensis” in Latin) which has been taken from MSC certified fishing outside Africa’s coast in the south-east Atlantic Ocean. I hope to find something as tasty today!

Sustainability and the Pharmaceutical Sector

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PharmaPortalen and Pharma Online arranged the seminar “Läkemedelsmarknadsdagen 2011” today, focusing sustainable development in the pharmaceutical sector. They had invited a number of speakers representing the industry as well as agencies, but also academia and journalists. A good mixture of perspectives. Jonny Sågänger, Pharma Online’s Editor, introduced the day by giving definitions of sustainability and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), and by spelling out the main questions for the day: What are the drivers for CSR-initiatives? Does CSR provide business opportunities and/or risk minimization? How strong are the demands from internal and external stakeholders?

Jonny Sågänger gives an introduction

First speaker was Magnus Thyberg from TLV (the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency). TLV has been in focus for, and they have participated in, several discussions lately regarding green pharmaceuticals and green incentives, e.g. yesterday’s round-table meeting at LIF. See also my blog posts from Sept 20 regarding TLV and green incentives in the reimbursement system. As is obvious in the Sept 20-blog post, TLV does not seem to have green incentives as their top proposal for addressing potential environmental impacts from pharmaceuticals. The rather tend to promote MPA’s GMP-proposal. TLV’s objections to introducing green incentives in the pricing and reimbursement system is that the Swedish market is too small. I would rather say that it is “small or big enough to be used as a perfect case study”.

Magnus Thyberg and the pharma strategy

And Magnus gave of course also some insight into the possibilities that TLV does see of introducing green incentives. What will happen is hard to tell, but we will for sure follow Stina Wallström’s review of green incentives and the reimbursement system with great interest. Magnus gave a brief description of the work task Sofia W has in front of her.

Charlotte Unger

Charlotte Unger from MPA entered the stage after Magnus. Charlotte discussed the three main proposals from MPA’s report in Dec 2009:

- Environmental requirements in GMP (Good Manufaturing Practice)

- The ERA (Environmental Risk Assessment) as a part of the risk/benefit analysis when making decisions on market authorization

- A review of the pricing and reimbursement system to allow for green incentives

You already know my preference here. I strongly believe that green incentives is a much faster, and a more efficient way, to “greening the sector”.

Charlotte also gave brief comments to the work on pharmaceuticals and the environment in the work process of the All Party Committee on Environemntal Objectives.

Anita Finne-Grahnén from LIF (the Association of the Research Based Industry in Sweden) then gave us a short descriptions on CSR initiatives at the industry association level. She focused the LIF initiative to environmentally classifying active pharmaceutical ingridients, and publish the information on fass.se, and the very developed ethical regulations which governs all our business operations.

Anita Finne-Grahnen from LIF

I think the ethical rules are a very good example of very valuable CSR-efforts. We should as an industry be very proud of these rules. It secures that our business are conducted properly, without any “corruptive” ingridients. We should however be much better to communicate on this. I think large parts of the public still believe that business are done as incorrectly shown in the Hollywood movie “Love and other drugs”… Not strange then, that our reputation in not the best…

Christina Ruden from MistraPharma

Christina Rudén provided us with the perspective from academia. She presented results from the first phase of MistraPharma and also gave some insigths what will come during Phase 2 of MistraPharma, which has recently been granted by Mistra.

Mikael Salo, MiljöAktuellt

After a lunch break we got the opportunity to listen to Mikael Salo’s (editor MiljöAktuellt) perspectives on sustainability and the pharmaceutical sector. Mikael used the results from the Sustainable Brands 2011 investigation to elaborate on the issue. I have discussed those results before (see my blog post from March 22), but although there might be “good explanations” or “good excuses” for the extremely poor result for the pharma industry (at the bottom when it comes to the public’s rating of sustainbility performance), it definitely tells us something…

Sustainable Brands results

We are not good on communication. We need to better “tell our stories”. How should we do to spread information like the one published on pfizer.se regarding CSR and sustainability (a brief introduction, information in somewhat more detail, or detailed information on our sustainability initiatives), or the information on Pfizer’s global webpage regarding sustainability and Corporate Responsibility.

After Mikaels presentation we received two lectures on industry case studies when it comes to sustainability programs.

Zeljko Tucak and APL

First a presentation on APL given by Zeljko Tucak and then about AstraZeneca’s programs (presented by Tove Engström).

Tove Engström and AZ

Two impressive presentations and a number of good examples of industry initiatives. Listening to these examples, it becomes very clear that this industry’s sustainability reputation should be better… Then why isn’t it? I personally believe that we need to communicate more widely, more frequently, more interactively and more transparently. We need to interact with all different stakeholders, through all different types of communication channels. But we also need to decide whether or not we actually want to build our corporate brand or if we will continue to focus upon our product brands. To me there is a very important difference here to bear in mind - when we discuss product brands, we are to a large extent forbidden to communicate with the public, hence very difficult to build a reputation… Corporate brand communication - about our values and non-product related information, can be shared much more freely.

This take us to the last speaker of the day, Tomas Brytting. Tomas also represents academia (from Ersta Sköndal Högskola), and he gave a though provoking lecture on CSR, on stakeholder engagement and dialogue, and what actually drives CSR-initiatives. He was very clear that he doubted that “economic profitability” was the only reason to work with social responsibility issues such as human rights. And of course he is right. The values embedded in our corporations do play a significant role in these programs!

Tomas Brytting

The seminar ended with a panel discussion where I and some of the speakers of the day discussed and further elborated on CSR inititives, CSR drivers, and what will happen in the coming years. I think I can say that everyone agreed that CSR (both social and environmental sustainability) is a key to success, and that it will grow more and more important over the coming years. To some extent of course it is embedded in the values of the corporations, and should of course definitely be so in an industry working for a healthier world. But financial opportunities are also important. This takes me back to the issue of green incentives… I really hope to see green incentives in the reimbursement system. That would help to further develop the sustainability programs in the industry!

This was a good and interesting seminar. I should probably give you more details from the discussions, but I am rather tired now. Time to go to bed and get some sleep. There is another work-day coming up tomorrow. I’ll be on a train to Gothenburg discussing environmental sustainability with some stakeholders, but more on that later…

Pharma Business Stategies for Developing Countries

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You may have read about my thoughts on CSR-strategies for Business Development in developing countries before (see for instance my blog posts from March 29 2010, May 2 2011). In those discussions I have used the so-called Walderik-Mattson pyramid to visualize the different CSR- and business strategies needed on different markets:

The Walderik-Mattson pyramid

CSR-i-praktiken.se, one of my favourite CSR-newsletters, has published a very interesting article on GSK’s newly implemented business model for developing markets such as Kenya and Uganda. Very interesting reading, and I have been waiting for the article to be published since I knew it was scheduled to come (there is a very brief quote in the end of the article by myself…)

There are some things worth commenting: First of all of course - I really like to approach taken by GSK. They try to develop a business model that works in poor countries with huge medical needs. It is of great necessity for the suffering patients and it is of course also good for our business. There has always been a discussion whether the best chances for developing countries to grow and prosper comes from “philanthropic initiatives” or “business driven initiatives”. If you have followed my blog posts of the years you will know that I have strong beliefs in “business and market driven initiatives”. If we can find business models that work, we clearly help the societies to develop and grow, and utilizes strong and positive driving forces among the citizens. If everything is based on charity-driven solutions there is a risk that the receiving countries remain being dependent on future aid.

I also like GSK’s approach that their initiatives are a combination of pharmaceutical supply and building health care infrastructure. My opinion is that only focusing avilability of medicines would not dramatically change the situation in many poor countries around the globe. It is extremely important that a well-functioning health care infrastructure is built. Physicians and nurses must be educated, hospitals must be built, centers for treatment and capacity building needs to be constructed, and of course there is also a huge demand for clean water, different types of sanitary and hygienic articles, and health literacy.

In a school in Uganda...

Last year in October I had the opportunity to follow some of Pfizer’s initiatives in Africa closely. Please read about Pfizer’s “Global Health Program” on our global webpage. But take your time also to read by reflections “on site in Uganda” last October:

- A day at the Infectious Diseases Institute

- A day with the International Trachome Initiative

- A day with the Diflucan Partnership Program

There is so much that needs to be done, in Africa and elsewhere, to really provide patients in need with adequate health care. I am however very happy to see all different initiatives that are being, and already have been, launched. Personally I feel strongly for integrating the CSR-perspectives with the business strategies. I am convinced that it is a key if we want to see sustainable change! And if GSK’s new business model helps pave the way for other initiatives I couldn’t be happier. It would help patients in need, provide sustainable growth opportunities for developing countries, and it would be good for our business:

“Långt borta från både Nairobi och Pennsylvania, deltar svenske Bengt Mattson, CSR-chef på Pfizer, under Almedalsveckan i Visby. Han vidmakthåller att läkemedelsbolagens nuvarande portföljer generellt inte matchar behoven i många utvecklingsländer, vilket är en risk på lång sikt eftersom tillväxten finns där. Men låg betalningsförmåga och bristande infrastruktur gör att företagen tvekar. Han tycker det är upplyftande att GSK vågar satsa långsiktigt och testa en ny modell som inte är kopplad till välgörenhet.
– Vi pratar om framtida marknader och GSK:s investeringar snabbar på utvecklingen och drar upp spåren för oss andra, säger Mattsson.
Samhällseffekten, såväl som marknadens värdering, av GSK:s satsning kan bedömas först om några år. Men jakten på nya kunder måste ändå ses som en viss garant för att läkemedelsbranschen kommer att hitta nya vägar att nå ut till fler patienter, oavsett inkomst och födelseland.”

(The final paragraph in CSR-i-praktikens article, including a quote from myself)

CSR as a management tool

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I saw today in MiljöRapporten Direkt (the daily news letter from MiljöRapporten) that a book called “Företagsansvar: CSR som managementidé” (in English roughly “Corporate Responsibility: CSR as a management tool”) has been released from the Stockholm School of Economics. I really like the concept of looking on Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability initiatives as a management tool, a route to operational excellence.

It is evident by the book that finance departments and departments for investor relations in corporations often are sceptical to CSR initiatives, although the initiatives clearly represent great potential for company efficiency improvements:

“Vi märker att det är mer konflikt kring CSR än andra managementverktyg, som lean production och outsourcing, samtidigt som CSR har större potential att spara pengar än många andra verktyg för verksamhetsstyrning, säger Mats Jutterström, delförfattare till boken ”Företagsansvar: CSR som managementidé”, till MiljöRapporten Direkt.”

(A quote from MiljöRapporten Direkt where Mats Jutterström, one of the authors, compare CSR with other management tools such as lean production and outsourcing. Mats Jutterström’s opinion is that CSR actually has shows opportunities to save money than the other management tools discussed.)

I feel that this book is a “must read”! It will be interesting!