Date
14 November 2016
Drugmakers improve access for poor, GSK ranked top
Ben Hirschler and Mark Potter report on the 2016 Access to Medicine Index for Reuters, highlighting how the Index can focus executives’ attention on the issue of access to medicine.
The world’s top drugmakers have improved access to medicines in developing countries but still need to do more to make a wider range of products affordable, according to a report on Monday.
The Access to Medicine Index, which ranks the 20 leading pharmaceutical companies every two years, found GlaxoSmithKline led the pack for the fifth time, followed by Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Merck KGaA.
The independently compiled index, first launched in 2008, is now widely tracked by the industry and has helped focus executives’ attention on the issue of getting life-saving treatments to people in poor countries. (…)