Performance by Technical Area

Lacks an overarching access-to-medicine strategy; responsibility for access lies at executive level. Daiichi Sankyo does not have an access-to-medicine strategy but shows evidence of some activities guided by access-related goals. For example, it operates mobile healthcare clinics in Tanzania. Access is discussed by its Global Management Committee, which entails executive leadership.

Financial and non-financial access-related incentives in place for employees. Daiichi Sankyo performs strongly in encouraging employees to work towards access-related objectives. It is one of 14 companies to have both financial and non-financial incentives in place to motivate employees to perform on access-related issues. These incentives include rewards and awards. 

One of 16 companies working on impact measurement. Daiichi Sankyo measures and monitors progress and outcomes of access-to-medicine activities. It also publicly reports on its commitments and performance information. For example, for its initiative on mobile healthcare clinics in Tanzania, the company reports the rates of infants receiving measles vaccinations and mothers undergoing prenatal checkups. Furthermore, it is part of the Access Accelerated initiative, which includes a commitment to evaluate impact.

Limited transparency about stakeholder engagement. Daiichi Sankyo performs relatively poorly when it comes to the disclosure of its stakeholder engagement. Daiichi Sankyo 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. Neither does it report incorporating local stakeholder perspectives into the development of access strategies.

Does not report processes for ensuring third-party compliance with standards. Daiichi Sankyo has a code of conduct and policy relating to ethical marketing and anti-corruption: namely, it has a global anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy. It provides compliance training for employees. The company performs relatively poorly when it comes to enforcing compliance measures and non-sales incentives. 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 lacks Index criteria. Daiichi Sankyo's internal control framework for ensuring compliance meets one of the criteria looked for by the Index. This is an auditing and review mechanism (that performs evaluations once every three years). However, it does not report that this mechanism applies to third parties. Daiichi Sankyo does not report conducting fraud-specific risk assessments, nor does it demonstrate evidence of a monitoring system in place to track compliance, or evidence of having procedures to segregate duties, to ensure decisions are checked by another party. 

Average transparency regarding access-related practices. Daiichi Sankyo publicly discloses its policy positions on access-related topics (e.g., its policy on intellectual property rights and access to medicine). It does not have a policy prohibiting political contributions in countries in scope, but states that no such contributions occurred during the period of analysis. The company publicly discloses its membership of relevant organisations for access, but not its financial contributions to such organisations. It shares its policies for responsible engagement for employees' interactions with healthcare professionals. It does not, however, publicly disclose its policy approach to payments made to healthcare professionals in countries in scope.

Publicly commits to R&D to meet public health needs. Daiichi Sankyo has publicly committed to R&D for diseases and countries in scope. Its R&D strategy for low- and middle-income countries is informed by an evidence-based public health rationale by following external targets including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Further, it has time-bound strategies for completing R&D projects for diseases in scope and evaluates progress toward these targets. Daiichi Sankyo has a mid-sized pipeline in the Index with 73 projects. For diseases in scope where priorities exist, Daiichi Sankyo is active in 15 projects; nine of these target priority R&D gaps.

Access provisions in place for 38% (6/16) of late-stage candidates. Daiichi Sankyo does not have a clear process in place to develop access plans during R&D. Instead, Daiichi Sankyo considers access on a case-by-case basis. To date, Daiichi Sankyo has project-specific access provisions in place for six of its late-stage R&D projects. Of these, three are being conducted in partnership, all with the Nipro Corporation for GenoScholar® diagnostic tests for tuberculosis.

No policy for post-trial access. Daiichi Sankyo 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.

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