Company Analysis - GlaxoSmithKline
Charitable giving and ethical behaviour
In fact, GSK has been said to have become the global leader in charitable giving.With the concerns over Seroxat and now Avandia, GSK may have found it difficult to maintain a positive reputation. However, it appears that its many charitable and ethical initiatives are often overlooked. In fact, GSK has been said to have become the global leader in charitable giving. Corporate responsibility seems to be the phrase on everyone's lips, and with a heightened media focus on the global calamity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in developing countries, GSK has committed itself into connecting its business decisions to ethical, social and environmental concerns. It supplies HIV/AIDS medicines to the least developed countries in the world at not-forprofit prices, and also supports community-based organisations to educate about HIV/AIDS. GSK is concerned not only with pharmaceuticals, but providing personal hygiene and sanitation education (PHASE) in developing countries, and many more worthwhile endeavours. Alongside HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are other healthcare issues of the less developed countries, both of which GSK makes an active contribution toward helping with. It launched Mobilising for Malaria, a threeyear African malaria partnership initiative, and also embarked on partnerships with the Aeris Global TB Vaccine Foundation to develop a candidate vaccine, and the Global Alliance of TB Drug Development. Among the global health programmes, GSK is set on eliminating lymphatic filarisis in conjunction with the WHO and other partner organisations in countries where the disease is endemic, by donating as much albendazole, an antiparasitic drug, as is required to treat the 1billion people at risk in 80 countries.
Analysis from Swiss company Covelence has rated this pharmaceutical giant first in the Best Ethical Score category in both the pharmaceutical sector and across all sectors. This is very surprising as big pharma companies are rarely regarded as being the most ethical/ responsible in the world, but perhaps the charitable giving and amicable dealings with the public, government and health sector are paying off.
GlaxoSmithKline's success has been self evident. It has a strong R&D pipeline history, recognition as a socially responsible company and the reputation to succeed in the face of adversity. GSK had a less than pleasing year in 2006, continuing the trend that despite general overall successes, it has suffered many setbacks since its formation in 2001. The emergence of several legal and administrative proceedings including product liability suits, tax, anti-trust and government investigations seem to have clouded the more recent history of GSK, yet it has managed to out-perform its competitors, remaining at the top of the pharmaceutical industry.
With the profits from the potential blockbusters, Tykerb, Cervarix, and in the event of a positive FDA outcome, Avandia, GSK look set to generate significant revenue from some of its major contributions to global healthcare. The imminent launch of a further 4 major pharmaceuticals, and the opening of GSK's new Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery, focused on infectious diseases, indicates that, for now, 2007 is looking bright for GSK.
Sophie Green
Pharmaprojects Analysts
Image courtesy of GlaxoSmithKline
