Performance by Technical Area

Has a strong access-to-medicine strategy with board-level responsibility. Pfizer is one of 14 companies that performs strongly with regard to its access-to-medicine strategy, which includes access-related goals and aligns with its corporate strategies. The newly reviewed strategy centres around the development of commercially viable business models providing sustainable, long-term access for patients at all socioeconomic levels. The highest level of responsibility for access sits with a board-level committee.

Non-financial access-related incentives in place for employees. Pfizer has non-financial incentives in place to motivate employees to perform on access-related issues. These incentives include awards for employees focused on patient and health impact and a dedicated access-to-medicine incentive. 

One of 16 companies working on impact measurement. Pfizer measures and monitors progress and outcomes of access-to-medicine activities. It also publicly reports on commitments, objectives, targets and performance information. For example, for its International Trachoma Initiative, the company reports committing to continue its donation of azithromycin for blinding trachoma until at least 2025, with 81 million doses already donated to 26 countries in 2017. Furthermore, it is part of the Access Accelerated initiative, which includes a commitment to evaluate impact. 

Discloses who it engages with, incorporates local perspectives into strategies. Pfizer publicly discloses which stakeholder groups it engages with on access issues, but does not publicly share its process for selecting who to engage with, or its policy for ensuring responsible engagement. It does incorporate local stakeholder perspectives into the development of access strategies.

Has measures to ensure third-party compliance with ethical marketing and anti-corruption standards. Pfizer has a code of conduct relating to ethical marketing and anti-corruption. The company provides compliance training for employees upon hire and periodically. The company provides evidence of having formal processes in place to ensure compliance with standards by third parties. Sales agents' rewards are not solely based on sales targets. Instead, the company also considers non-sales driven components, depending on the specific market situation and product portfolio.

Internal control framework meets some Index criteria. Pfizer's internal control framework to ensure compliance meets some of the criteria looked for by the Index. Namely, it has an auditing and review mechanism in place; it performs regular evaluations that also apply to third parties. Pfizer also has procedures to segregate duties, so that decisions are checked by another party. It does not, however, demonstrate evidence of having fraud-specific risk assessment.

Below average transparency regarding access-related practices. Pfizer publicly discloses its policy positions on access-related topics (e.g., its position on counterfeit medicines, importation and intellectual property). It does not disclose political contributions in countries in scope. Pfizer publicly discloses its membership of relevant organisations to access, but not its financial contributions to such organisations. It does not, however, publicly disclose its policies for responsible engagement, nor its policy approach to payments made to healthcare professionals in countries in scope.

R&D commitment has limited public health rationale. Pfizer has made a general commitment to R&D for diseases in scope, but it is not publicly available. Its R&D strategy for low- and middle-income countries lacks an evidence-based public health rationale including internal assessments and calls for action from external sources like WHO. It lacks time-bound strategies for completing R&D projects for diseases in scope. Pfizer has a mid-sized pipeline in the Index with 46 projects. For diseases in scope where priorities exist, Pfizer is active in 20 projects; 19 of these target priority R&D gaps.

Access provisions in place for 8% (2/24) of late-stage candidates. Pfizer has a general process in place to develop access plans during R&D. The process considers some R&D projects for diseases in scope, namely vaccines and products for maternal and children's health conditions. To date, Pfizer has project-specific access provisions in place for two of its late-stage R&D projects. Of these, one is being conducted in partnership with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).

Policy to ensure post-trial access; commits to registering trialed products. Pfizer has a policy for ensuring post-trial access to treatments for clinical trial participants. However, this policy is not publicly available. The policy is aligned with the standards set in the Declaration of Helsinki. Once a product is approved, Pfizer commits to registering it in all countries where clinical trials for the product have taken place.

*Defined as a recommended time frame through consultation with stakeholders during Index methodology development.