Performance by Technical Area

Has a strong access-to-medicine strategy with board-level responsibility. Roche 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 strategy centres around identifying access-related issues with local stakeholders and developing country-specific plans using its Access Planning Framework. This framework is focused on four areas: awareness; diagnosis; healthcare capacity; and funding. The highest level of responsibility for access sits with a board-level committee. 

Financial and non-financial access-related incentives to reward employees. Roche 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 annual performance-related goals, and internal recognition and awards. Senior management has a separate incentive that supports the company's long-term access-oriented objectives. 

One of 16 companies working on impact measurement. Roche measures and monitors progress and outcomes of access-to-medicine activities. It also publicly reports on commitments and performance information. For example, for its Patient Access Dashboard initiative, Roche reports having increased access to standard of care treatment for blood cancers and breast cancer in 14 low- and middle-income countries. 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. Roche publicly discloses which stakeholder groups it engages with on access issues, as well as its process for selecting who to engage with. It selects by conducting a materiality assessment and an engagement activity. Local stakeholder perspectives are incorporated into the development of its access strategies. However, it does not publicly share its policy for ensuring responsible engagement. 

Has measures to ensure third-party compliance with ethical marketing and anti-corruption standards. Roche has a code of conduct relating to ethical marketing and anti-corruption, and provides continuous compliance training for employees. 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, it rewards other qualities relating to diversity, sustainability and the environment.   

Internal control framework meets some Index criteria. Roche's internal control framework to ensure compliance meets some of the criteria looked for by the Index. Namely, it has a monitoring system in place to track compliance, and auditing processes. It 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. 

Above average transparency regarding access-related practices. Roche publicly discloses its policy positions on access-related topics (e.g., its position on counterfeit medicine and human rights). It does not disclose its political contributions in countries in scope. It publicly discloses its financial support and membership of relevant organisations to access, and is the only company in scope to disclose its policy for managing conflicts of interest with these institutions. The company also discloses its policies for responsible engagement. 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. Roche 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 based on data from external sources like WHO related to global disease burden. It lacks time-bound strategies for completing R&D projects for diseases in scope. Roche has one of the largest pipelines in the Index with 100 projects. For diseases in scope where priorities exist, Roche is active in five projects; three of these target priority R&D gaps.

Access provisions in place for 5% (2/44) of late-stage candidates. Roche does not have a clear process in place to develop access plans during R&D. Instead, Roche considers access on a case-by-case basis. In general, Roche develops access plans for these R&D projects in Phase I or II of clinical development. To date, Roche 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 Shionogi Inc.

Public policy to ensure post-trial access; commits to registering trialed products. Roche has a publicly available policy for ensuring post-trial access to treatments for clinical trial participants and has provided a detailed example of this policy in action in countries in scope. The policy is aligned with the standards set in the Declaration of Helsinki. Once a product is approved, Roche commits to registering it in all countries where clinical trials for the product have taken place.