Beyond Philanthropy: The pharmaceutical industry, corporate social responsibility and the developing world

Every year, 14 million people die of infectious diseases, a majority of these deaths occur in developing countries. Moreover, most of these diseases are preventable. However, a lack of access to the right sources and adequate infrastructure. While the need is the greatest in these countries, only 10% of pharmaceutical sales go to these coutries.

Save the Children, Oxfam, and VSO believe that pharmaceutical companies have a role to play in this evil cycle. They need to ensure that their policies and practices support the fight against disease in the developing world. This report focuses on five areas of pharmacy that the authoring organizations believe can have a major impact on increasing health in developing countries: Pricing, Patents, Joint public-private initiatives (JPPI), Research and development (R&D) and Appropriate use of medicines.