Performance by Technical Area

Boehringer Ingelheim is one of 14 companies that performs strongly with regards to its newly launched access-to-medicine strategy, which is aligned with its corporate strategies. The strategy has a focus on availability, sustainable access models, awareness and adherence. The highest level of responsibility for access sits with a board-level committee.

No evidence of access-related incentives for employees. Boehringer Ingelheim does not disclose details of how it incentivises employees (financially and non-financially) to perform on access-related issues. It is one of only two companies that do not demonstrate evidence of such incentives.

Measures and monitors outcomes and progress; not impact. Boehringer Ingelheim measures and monitors progress and outcomes of access-to-medicine activities. It also publicly reports on objectives and targets. For example, for its Angels Initiative on patient care, Boehringer Ingelheim reports having trained 33,936 healthcare workers across various countries in the last two years. However, it does not report measuring the impact of its initiatives.

Discloses who it engages with, incorporates local perspectives into strategies. Boehringer Ingelheim publicly discloses which stakeholder groups it engages with on access issues, but does not publicly share its process for selecting who to engage with, nor its policy for ensuring responsible engagement. It does incorporate local stakeholder perspectives into the development of access strategies. 

Does not report processes for ensuring third-party compliance with standards. Boehringer Ingelheim has a code of conduct relating to ethical marketing and anti-corruption, namely its Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy. It provides compliance training for employees on an annual basis. It does not provide evidence of having formal processes in place to ensure compliance with standards by third parties. Further, expected performance for sales agents is based solely on sales targets. 

Internal control framework meets some Index criteria. Boehringer Ingelheim's internal control framework to ensure compliance meets some of the criteria looked for by the Index. Namely, it has an internal auditing department for the whole company, involving both internal and external resources—that also applies to third parties. It does not, however, report fraud-specific risk assessments, nor does it demonstrate evidence of having a monitoring system for non-compliance in the workplace, or procedures to segregate duties, to ensure decisions are checked by another party.

Below average transparency regarding access-related practices. Boehringer Ingelheim publicly discloses its policy positions on access-related topics (e.g., its corporate policy on supply chain integrity). It does not disclose political contributions in countries in scope. Boehringer Ingelheim discloses its membership of relevant institutions but not whether it provides financial support. The company discloses its policies for responsible engagement through its code of conduct. It does not publicly disclose its policy approach to payments made to healthcare professionals in countries in scope.

R&D commitment has limited public health rationale. Boehringer Ingelheim has made a specific 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 and evaluating progress toward these targets. Boehringer Ingelheim has one of the largest pipelines in the Index with 111 projects. Boehringer Ingelheim is active in R&D for non-communicable diseases, for which a globally accepted priority list does not exist.

Access provisions in place for 29% (2/7) of late-stage candidates. Boehringer Ingelheim has a clear process in place to develop access plans during R&D. The process considers some R&D projects for diseases in scope, namely projects for non-communicable diseases where it is actively involved in low- and middle-income countries. In general, Boehringer Ingelheim develops access plans for R&D projects in Phase III of clinical development. To date, Boehringer Ingelheim has project-specific access provisions in place for two of its late-stage R&D projects, both of which are being conducted in-house.

No policy for post-trial access. Boehringer Ingelheim does not have a policy for ensuring post-trial access to treatments for clinical trial participants. Additionally, it does not disclose a commitment to registering newly approved products in all countries where clinical trials for these products have taken place.