One of my favorite commercials these days is for an insurance company. The commercial isn't funny, there aren't any geckos speaking with cockney accents or babies talking about the stock market. Don't get me wrong--I enjoy those commercials too. Yet every time this particular one comes on I find myself smiling because of the way it reminds me of the simple happiness a person can feel from doing the right thing.
I feel the same way whenever I speak about GSK as a responsible corporation, from the person who answers the phones and fields patients' questions about our assistance programs providing free medicines to uninsured or under-insured Americans, to the scientist who has dedicated his career to the discovery and development of a vaccine to prevent malaria in Africa, or the person who reviews the applications from amazing organizations for our IMPACT Awards.
Today, GSK published its 2008 Corporate Responsibility Report. The report provides updated details on our efforts to fight diseases of the developing world--such as the creation of a patent pool, including more than 500 of GSK's granted patents and 300 of our pending applications, and the reduction of prices on more than 110 products and formulations in the world's 50 least developed countries. We also discuss our focus on transparency, specifically related to clinical research, and announce that GSK increased its charitable support by 13 percent in 2008 through product and cash donations.
At GSK, I believe our employees have always been focused on doing the right thing. In 2008, as we have done every year since we first published our Corporate Responsibility Report, we took a long hard look at how we can ensure that we are running our business responsibly, and then we published it for the world to see. There is always room for improvement, and we refuse to be complacent, but we are extremely proud of all that we have accomplished.
Rick - Our industry is under greater scrutiny than many others, and for good reason. People take our products and rely on them to get healthier. We believe that the entire healthcare sector needs to do its part to improve healthcare and make it more available than it is. We also believe in increased transparency by big pharma. That's why we support the programs we’ve outlined in our CR Report and have committed ourselves to new policies like increased disclosure of clinical trial results and payments to healthcare professionals. By continuing to communicate about these policies, our hope is that over time, the public will begin to see us more as a partner in improving healthcare, and that we will ultimately earn back their trust.
I so appreciate GSK's efforts in this regard, Sarah. So, how do you account for the generally bad public attitude - especially in the media - toward big pharma? Where's the disconnect? Thanks and continued good works.