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Human rights guidelines have been drafted for pharmaceuticals companies by a United Nations expert.
The guidelines on how the industry can improve access to the two billion people in developing countries who lack essential medicines, have been drawn up by Paul Hunt, a UN special rapporteur who advises how states and others can ‘promote and protect the right to the highest attainable standard of health’.
Hunt drew up the proposals with input from pharmaceutical companies, partly facilitated by the Ethical Globalization Initiative, a human rights consultancy led by former UN high commissioner for human rights Mary Robinson. As well as inviting formal responses before consultation closes at the end of this month, the rapporteur is also meeting industry representatives.
The final version will be released in March and if approved in a vote by the UN’s Human Rights Council, will be adopted as an officially sanctioned UN recommendation to the industry.
The guidelines say that governments have primary responsibility for improving access, but pharmaceuticals companies can have ‘a profound impact, both positive and negative’ on their ability to do so, and that ‘it is time to identify what pharmaceuticals companies should do to help realize the human right to medicine’.
Among the 50 proposed provisions are that companies:
‘expressly recognize the right to the highest attainable standard of health’ in their corporate mission statements
have a public global policy on access to medicines stating ‘general and specific objectives, timeframes, who is responsible for what, and reporting procedures’
assign board responsibility for strategy in this area
produce a detailed report each year on their efforts.
According to Hunt, companies’ research and development programmes in general ‘have not addressed the priority health needs of low-income and middle-income countries’ and ‘neglected diseases that mainly afflict the poorest people in the poorest countries’. Companies should therefore publicly commit to carry out more in-house research and development and support external work in these areas, disclosing how much they invest.
Hunt, a professor of law at Essex University, also wants drug companies to progressively extend differential pricing and discount schemes to all their medicines, rather than just flagship products.
Julia King, vice president of corporate responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline, told EP that the guidelines were ‘broadly consistent’ with what her company was already doing. But she added: ‘We were struck by the absence of any suggestion that other access stakeholders – beyond the pharmaceutical industry – should be similarly held to account. Improving access in the developing world must be approached collectively by all sectors of global society.’
The guidelines on how the industry can improve access to the two billion people in developing countries who lack essential medicines, have been drawn up by Paul Hunt, a UN special rapporteur who advises how states and others can ‘promote and protect the right to the highest attainable standard of health’.
Hunt drew up the proposals with input from pharmaceutical companies, partly facilitated by the Ethical Globalization Initiative, a human rights consultancy led by former UN high commissioner for human rights Mary Robinson. As well as inviting formal responses before consultation closes at the end of this month, the rapporteur is also meeting industry representatives.
The final version will be released in March and if approved in a vote by the UN’s Human Rights Council, will be adopted as an officially sanctioned UN recommendation to the industry.
The guidelines say that governments have primary responsibility for improving access, but pharmaceuticals companies can have ‘a profound impact, both positive and negative’ on their ability to do so, and that ‘it is time to identify what pharmaceuticals companies should do to help realize the human right to medicine’.
Among the 50 proposed provisions are that companies:
‘expressly recognize the right to the highest attainable standard of health’ in their corporate mission statements have a public global policy on access to medicines stating ‘general and specific objectives, timeframes, who is responsible for what, and reporting procedures’ assign board responsibility for strategy in this area produce a detailed report each year on their efforts.According to Hunt, companies’ research and development programmes in general ‘have not addressed the priority health needs of low-income and middle-income countries’ and ‘neglected diseases that mainly afflict the poorest people in the poorest countries’. Companies should therefore publicly commit to carry out more in-house research and development and support external work in these areas, disclosing how much they invest.
Hunt, a professor of law at Essex University, also wants drug companies to progressively extend differential pricing and discount schemes to all their medicines, rather than just flagship products.
Julia King, vice president of corporate responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline, told EP that the guidelines were ‘broadly consistent’ with what her company was already doing. But she added: ‘We were struck by the absence of any suggestion that other access stakeholders – beyond the pharmaceutical industry – should be similarly held to account. Improving access in the developing world must be approached collectively by all sectors of global society.’
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