December 2009 Archives

We're in wind-down mode now, as GSK shuts down for the last week.  I am actually writing this from my house in Philadelphia because there is still 2 feet of snow on my street, and I figured I'd be more productive here rather than trying to make it around town on foot, Philadelphians being notoriously inconsistent sidewalk shovelers. (Thanks, GSK, for being a flexible employer!)

Anyway, there won't be much activity on the blog after this point until the new year.  As we approach our first anniversary, we'd like to know what you think has worked, what could use a bit of improvement, and whatever else you'd like to tell us. 

Don't worry, we can take it.  Thanks for your support.  See you in January!

We've never been a huge 'cereal' family--and that's probably my fault.  Because the cereal aisle is overwhelming in its variety--good and bad--and because of the cost, you need to do some homework before making a selection.  Don't get me wrong, we do have some favorites,  but breakfast for the kids usually means toasting a waffle or heating up some oatmeal.

Occasionally they will ask for a bite of mom's standard:  toast, peanut butter and banana--but usually the waffle with a bit of butter (no syrup) wins.

That said, maybe next time I will venture down the cereal aisle just to do some research.  I recently read how General Mills is planning to reduce the sugar content in cereals marketed towards kids.  I think this is a good step and at least for me, lowering the sugar content and knowing the nutritional information will provide me the information I need to select better and healthier options.

I'm hoping I have a bit more time before my kids start asking (begging?) for these cereals--but by then maybe the cereal aisle won't be so bad.

This week I learned that GSK's United Way employee campaign was a big success.  We increased participation this year, and for the 2009 GSK United Way Campaign, employee giving totaled $1.16 million!  Even better is that GSK matches these employee donations 100%, bringing the total to over $2.3 million!

With GSK's support, hundreds of health and human services organizations across the country will be able to feed, clothe, house, educate and care for those in need.

I serve on the board of a nonprofit here in Philadelphia, and I can tell you that it has been a really tough year for fundraising.  I personally would like to thank my fellow employees for their extraordinary support and selfless generosity, and to GSK for the matching donations.

I really enjoy working at GSK.  I find it inspiring to know the work we do helps patients, and the medicines we produce are fascinating to me.  Nonetheless, I am sometimes surprised by how people react when they learn where I work.

A few years ago I was celebrating the holidays with my wife and kids at my in-laws' home.  Amid the warm and friendly chatter that you would expect from having about 20 family members gathered together for the holidays--many of whom had travelled quite a bit--I was greeted by my wife's new uncle.  He is a cardiologist who had recently married into the family.  He's also typically an extremely nice and laid back guy.

But on this particular day, when he asked me where I worked, I was stunned to hear his reaction.  "Well what do YOU think about how these pharmaceutical companies place ads on TV telling MY patients what medicines they should take and giving out health information!?"     

I did not expect this reaction at a family gathering and said something along the lines of, "Getting useful health information out to people helps raise awareness regarding treatments, and can help patients have better conversations with their doctors." 

But the bottom line is that the answers to questions such as these are very involved and hard to discuss without becoming emotionally worked up. 

And from a few anecdotes I've heard from other GSK employees, I know I'm not alone in this experience, as friends, family and neighbors often ask us hard questions because of where we work. 

GSK supports enacting comprehensive healthcare reform that improves quality of care and patient outcomes, helps control overall healthcare spending, and encourages innovative medical practices.

We want what most people want: to ensure all Americans have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare coverage.  Our hope is that ultimately, healthcare reform will be about the patients and the doctors, not politics.   

Much of the healthcare reform debate in the Senate over the last week has focused on the possibility of importing pharmaceutical products into the United States from other countries. Both the FDA and Secretaries of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Democratic and Republican administrations have warned that allowing importation could open our borders to counterfeit drugs, cheap foreign copies of FDA-approved medicines, expired and contaminated drugs, and drugs stored under inappropriate or unsafe conditions. If these drugs are allowed to enter the American medical supply stream, patients could be given medicines that at best are ineffective and at worst are harmful or even deadly. 

A recent Washington Post story highlighted these risks. A worldwide raid involving Interpol officers in Europe and drug agents in the US uncovered almost 800 alleged packages of fake or suspicious prescription drugs and shut down 68 alleged rogue online pharmacies.  The Post story noted, "[d]rywall material, antifreeze and yellow highway paint have been found in counterfeit pills."

If the safety risks were not enough, there is no guarantee that importing medicines will actually save consumers money. There is nothing in any piece of importation legislation that guarantees or requires that any potential cost savings from importation will actually be passed onto consumers. Experience with "parallel trading" of pharmaceuticals within the European Union suggests that profit- taking by middlemen (importing and exporting wholesalers and retail pharmacies) will substantially erode any savings potentially available to patients.

Given the increased safety risks and small potential for consumer cost savings, importation of pharmaceuticals is a risk we cannot afford to take.

A fairly regular post from a busy mom concerned about raising healthy children.

It's the holiday season and I've been indulging.   Ever since finishing the Philadelphia Half Marathon (yes I did it!) I've convinced myself a little holiday indulgence wouldn't be so bad.  Well, the run was three weeks ago and this lovely, yummy season lasts another four weeks--so I better get this under control.

I'm not alone though, many of us believe that we can 'reward' ourselves after exercising, figuring that we should be 'allowed' to eat handfuls of chips (chocolate, semi-sweet in my case) after the daily exercise routine. 

What am I teaching my kids, if, after my nightly run I grab the crumb cake instead of the carrots?  I'm sending the wrong message and I'm going backwards in my goal to be healthier and raise (somewhat) health-conscious kids. 

We all know this time of year is especially hard to be 'good.'  I want to bake cookies with my kids and reap the rewards of our work; not have to do it late at night when they are sleeping so they don't get sick from eating the cookie dough (yawn).   I want to enjoy with them a steamy cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows on snow days and not feel guilty about it.   I also want to enjoy with friends and family some holiday cheer without thinking about how many miles I will need to log to pay for it.

Like everything else in our lives it all comes down to finding the balance and making the right choices. I'm not perfect and I love chocolate chips, I just to keep things in check so I can continue putting in the miles and setting a good example and maybe when they are older the kids will be running right there with me.

Two years ago I learned that a very good friend was dying of AIDS. He had been HIV+ for almost 20 years and the virus had developed resistance to all the drugs available. However, he was lucky to be eligible for a clinical trial for a new drug, which quickly reduced his viral titers and increased his T cell count, giving him hope for another chance at life. I remember two years ago when he called to say goodbye.  Now he calls to say how happy he is to still be alive.

The experience prompted me to learn more about the renowned AIDS Memorial Quilt, which memorializes the lives of those lost to AIDS. I realized that bringing in panels from the quilt to GSK and hosting an awareness event here was something that we could do--and should do.

When I brought my idea forward to my colleagues in GSK and Viiv Healthcare--the company launched earlier this year by GSK and Pfizer to focus 100% on HIV--they not only immediately endorsed it, but jumped into provide hands-on support. This event would have not been possible without the contributions made by GSK's "Team LLAMA" (a volunteer group supporting HIV/AIDS) who put the manpower behind the organizing the event, contributions from the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina who brought in educational material and a speaker, and the contributions made by the GSK community who brought in donations such as food and personal hygiene products for the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina pantry.

So if you ask what motivates me most regarding our fight against HIV/AIDS, I would tell you it's the devastating effects that AIDS had on my friend, but also the love and compassion I have found in my colleagues from GSK and ViiV Healthcare.  They are so passionate about what they do.

The AIDS quilt is the largest ongoing community arts project in the world and when I saw the panels on display here at GSK, I felt a sense of "connectedness" that was much bigger than I had ever expected, and which is hard to describe. These panels breathe a life of their own into the struggle against HIV/AIDS, and have a power over you that you cannot deny. Tears came to my eyes, and a feeling of "I must do everything I can to help," pervaded my entire being. I know I wasn't the only one here who was reacting this way.

As part of our activities to raise awareness, we also invited two leading HIV physicians to present on the latest advances being made in their field. As a scientist, I was immediately aware of how much MORE I can learn about HIV/AIDS, as the body of knowledge is so large, and continues to rapidly grow.

It inspires me that we know so much more about HIV/AIDS now than we did even a few years ago. And it's up to all of us to help spread the word, to talk openly about HIV/AIDS so we can continue to educate people about how to prevent infections, and of course - to continue working as hard as possible to develop therapies that can one day STOP HIV/AIDS once and for all.

Yesterday, the Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits Division of the US Chamber of Commerce convened a group of experts for a symposium called "The Case for Wellness Programs: From Evidence to Practice."

Representatives from Congress, CDC, insurers, and business spoke about the need for employers to invest in work-based health management programs for their employees as a way to both improve health and manage healthcare spending--in other words, sometimes you gotta spend money to save money.

Our own Deirdre Connelly gave the luncheon address.  Deirdre remarked that she is pleased to hear our legislators talking about addressing the real driver of our healthcare costs--chronic diseases and conditions, such as Alzheimer's Disease, asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity--as they debate the best way to move forward on this critical issue.

Controlling the costs associated with chronic diseases will move us a long way toward putting our healthcare system back on track--and making life better for patients.

First, disease prevention must be a higher priority.  We must teach and encourage people to eat healthier, exercise more, and visit their doctors for regular check-ups. Vaccines also play a major role as they can help prevent diseases from developing in the first place. 

Second, when people do become sick, we must help them manage their diseases so they don't suffer worsening consequences--and cost the system more in the long run. 

Third, we must preserve the incentives for innovation that will lead to new and better healthcare for tomorrow.

From the common cold and chronic diseases to a global pandemic, our economy is impacted by the health of our workers.  If an employer can prevent employees from becoming sick--or even better, help them get healthier--they will be more productive.  We've seen examples from Asheville, the Diabetes Ten City Challenge, and many big corporations that show great results.  More companies should be investing in employee health to save on healthcare spending.

But what I really liked was how Deirdre brought home the need for continued investment in research:

"Thinking about the effects of chronic diseases on the elderly reminds me of the words of the poet Dylan Thomas.  His father, David, who was a robust man most of his life, became blind and frail in his eighties.  Thomas was so pained at seeing his virile father weaken with age, that he did the only thing he knew--he wrote.  He penned the poem 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight' as his way of dealing with the affects of aging on his father.

We as a society, however, must not go gently, and allow preventable and treatable chronic diseases to burden the healthcare system.  We must never stop our search for better medicines.  Rather, we must harness the passion for discovery upon which this country was built and encourage the development of innovative treatments for chronic diseases."

I think it is really important for a company to be a good partner with the communities in which it does business.  As a GSK employee, I have the opportunity to volunteer on company time in my community, and this says a lot about GSK.

But there is also something about a company directly investing--putting its money where its mouth is, so to speak--that really sends a message.  That's why I was pleased to see that earlier this week GSK established a $1 million college scholarship fund through The Philadelphia Foundation that will provide Philadelphia residents who have overcome significant adversity with the opportunity to improve their lives through higher education at Pennsylvania state universities or community colleges. 

Our goal with the scholarship is to remove at least one of the obstacles to education for recipients who have endured such difficult circumstances as serious illness, sexual abuse, domestic violence and personal loss.  Each scholarship will be for an amount up to $5,000 and will be renewable for up to four years.  The scholarships can be applied toward tuition, fees, books and materials.

"Opportunity scholarships honor those who will flourish in their chosen fields through a powerful combination of inner strength, commitment and having a dream," noted Deirdre Connelly, president of North America Pharmaceuticals. "The recipients will embody dignity and grace in the face of adversity and will all have learned that while misfortune may affect your circumstances, it does not have to claim your spirit."

By partnering with The Philadelphia Foundation--one of the oldest community foundations in the nation--we can leverage their expertise in managing philanthropic resources such as scholarships on a permanent basis for the good of the entire region.

If you or someone you know qualifies, please complete an application for the GlaxoSmithKline Opportunity Scholarship.  Applications will be available on www.philafound.org beginning in January and will be due March 15 for the fall.