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Sustainability Goals and Indicators
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Expanding Access to Medicines and Health Care: Compassion for PatientsContextAmong the most complex and challenging issues facing society and the health care industry is improving access to health care among patients in need. Bristol-Myers Squibb is working to expand access to medicines and help strengthen the health care infrastructure. Our focus is on people in need, including the uninsured or underinsured in the United States, those living in developing countries, and survivors of natural or man-made disasters around the globe. In addition to product donations, Bristol-Myers Squibb has also implemented a differential pricing policy for many markets globally in order to enable collaboration with and support of government activities in regions with high incidence and low ability to pay for our HIV medicines. Access in the United StatesThe pharmaceutical industry needs to intensify its efforts to make medicines available to patients through the various mechanisms available to them. One of those mechanisms is health insurance. The industry needs to continue to encourage people to enroll in Medicare Part D, while stressing the importance of market-based approaches to containing costs without government-imposed pricing or access restrictions. We need to reach out to more of the uninsured and underinsured, to help them obtain medicines through industry, state and federal access programs, when they do not have adequate coverage. Patient assistance programs represent important measures to ensure access for those in need until government or other programs can take on that role. Many of the company's prescription medications are provided without charge in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Patient Assistance Foundation to patients with a financial hardship who have no public or private prescription drug insurance and are not eligible for prescription drug coverage. Physicians enroll patients in the program on a yearly basis. Company oncology and virology products are available to eligible patients without charge through the Bristol-Myers Squibb/AmeriCares Oncology Virology Access Program. While such programs have long been central to Bristol-Myers Squibb’s efforts to lift barriers to treatment, a number of new initiatives were launched in 2005 to go further. In April, the company joined with its industry counterparts to make industry access programs more accessible and comprehensible. The new nationwide Partnership for Prescription Assistance offers a “one-stop shopping” approach for people to more easily navigate through the multitude of industry and government programs that can help them gain greater and more affordable access to medications. It links over 475 prescription assistance programs across the U.S. and already has helped more than 2.4 million people. A new website, www.pparx.org, and toll-free number (1-888-477-2669) have been set up to help patients, caregivers and health care providers. Other domestic patient assistance initiatives include the Mead Johnson Helping Hand for Special Kids program, which provides infant nutrition to babies and children with special needs, regardless of financial status, and has assisted more than 50,000 families over the past 15 years. In January 2005, the company joined with nine other companies in Together Rx Access, a program that offers meaningful savings to millions of non-Medicare eligible, uninsured Americans not eligible for other discount or access programs. The Together Rx Access Card is the latest innovation in our ongoing quest to broaden the access to medicines for patients in need. Overall, across the 10 manufacturers participating in this program, eligible recipients qualify for discounts of 25 to 40 percent or more on over 275 brand name prescription medicines and products, as well as a wide range of generics. Bristol-Myers Squibb has consolidated its patient assistance programs in the U.S. into a single LifeLines of Care initiative that continues to provide assistance for qualifying patients with financial hardships. During 2006, approximately 570,000 patients in the U.S. benefited, with donated products valued at more than $418 million at wholesale list price. Access in Developing CountriesOutside the U.S., Bristol-Myers Squibb is actively engaged with governments and other partners to enable access to our HIV medicines. Through the Global Access program, we make our HIV medicines available at no-profit prices in sub-Saharan Africa and the poorest countries globally. In July 2005, we announced the further reduction in the price of pediatric formulations from no-profit to significantly below cost in an attempt to further reduce barriers delaying broad and accelerated access to treatment for the millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa who need them most. Bristol-Myers Squibb has also implemented a differential pricing policy for many other markets globally, in order to enable collaboration with and support of government activities in regions with high incidence and low ability to pay for these HIV medicines. Since 2001, Bristol-Myers Squibb has maintained a policy of not enforcing its patents for HIV products in sub-Saharan Africa. The company is committed to ensuring that its patents do not prevent inexpensive HIV/AIDS therapy in sub-Saharan Africa. In order to ensure sustainable access to care for millions of HIV positive patients in sub-Saharan Africa, Bristol-Myers Squibb has engaged in various activities to facilitate generic participation. In February 2006, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced a highly innovative agreement for full technology transfer of its newest antiretroviral, atazanavir, to two generic companies, Aspen and Emcure. The technology transfer agreement seeks to expand access to atazanavir for people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and India by ensuring access to a high-quality product supported by local expertise, supply and infrastructure. It builds on Bristol-Myers Squibb’s consistent leadership and long-term commitment to expand access to medicines in sub-Saharan Africa and countries where HIV has reached epidemic levels. SECURE THE FUTURESECURE THE FUTURE is an innovative, comprehensive public-private initiative to help alleviate the HIV/AIDS crisis among women and children in sub-Saharan Africa, where 25 million people are infected with the disease. Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation launched the initiative in 1999. The goal of the program is to prevent HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted disease (STD) transmission, reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS, and expand access to treatment by helping to improve public health policy. SECURE THE FUTURE was the first and remains the largest single corporate commitment of its kind to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. The range of SECURE THE FUTURE programs includes:
Key programs and accomplishments under SECURE THE FUTURE include:
The commitment by Bristol-Myers Squibb through SECURE THE FUTURE has grown to $150 million, provided through more than 200 grants for innovative, cost-effective model programs. These programs support people living with HIV in clinics and at home; build medical capacity and infrastructure; and encourage development of sustainable programs that can be replicated elsewhere in Africa and in other parts of the world. The initiative started in five countries in southern Africa and was subsequently extended to West Africa and Central Africa. It now serves people in South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Uganda. SECURE THE FUTURE has developed and funded innovative programs by creating a unique series of partnerships with government leaders, Ministries of Health, medical institutions in Africa and the U.S., physicians and other health care professionals, non-governmental, community-based and faith-based organizations, and people living with HIV/AIDS. Programs were recommended by independent local Technical Advisory Committees with full participation by personnel from national governments. They were aligned with national AIDS plans, developed with sensitivity to local traditions and customs, and designed to meet best-practice standards and demonstrate outcomes and impact. To further extend the impact of SECURE THE FUTURE, the company is developing a guide for establishing medical treatment and community programs in resource-limited settings. SECURE THE FUTURE received the first Pan African Health Award for Excellence and Innovation in the category of Public Private Partnerships. The awards ceremony took place during the Pan African Health Congress 2006, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 2006. The awards, in six categories, recognized companies and organizations whose health initiatives exemplify excellence, innovation and sustainability. Also see more information on access to medicines and view a video on SECURE THE FUTURE, Continuing the Promise (you will need the Windows Media player to view this movie). Access through Disaster ReliefNatural disasters also pose serious health care challenges, as demonstrated all too well from recent experiences. The pharmaceutical industry is a responsive and generous donor of medicines and other products – as well as money – to victims of natural disasters around the world. The industry donated more than $130 million in medicines, product and cash to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, and more than $170 million to the South Asian relief effort following the December 2004 tsunami. The industry has an opportunity to be better prepared for future natural disasters by developing industry-wide emergency plans that could respond to public health needs in a more coordinated and comprehensive manner. In 2005, the company donated more than $750 million in products, cash contributions, and programs, including significant assistance to those devastated by disasters, both natural and man-made. The company product donations for humanitarian assistance were valued at approximately $70 million at wholesale, which supported programs across the globe. Products are donated to our designated non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to support health care programs throughout the world. In Asia, Bristol-Myers Squibb provided $1.2 million in direct assistance and $7 million in donated medicines and other needed products. In Pakistan, the company worked closely through partnerships with international relief agencies including Direct Relief International, AmeriCares and Interchurch Medical Assistance, donating more than $3 million and helping distribute both medicines and nutritional products. In Guatemala, the company donated antibiotics through its partner, Project HOPE. For Hurricane Katrina, Bristol-Myers Squibb donated $1.1 million in cash to the American Red Cross and product donations totaling $2.9 million at wholesale through Direct Relief International, Project HOPE and AmeriCares. Product donations outside the U.S. totaled $27 million in 2006, including disaster relief, medical missions, and proactive programs. Bristol-Myers Squibb is committed to meeting international standards regarding the donation of pharmaceutical products. These standards address quality assurance and shelf-life, packaging and labeling. |
On this Page: Access in Developing Countries |
