Performance by Technical Area

Has a strong access-to-medicine strategy with executive level responsibility. Sanofi is one of the 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 the development of new business models focused on developing medicines for unmet needs, affordability and strengthening healthcare systems. The highest level of responsibility for access sits with executive committee members.

Financial and non-financial access-related incentives to reward employees. Sanofi 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 salary increases, bonuses and awards. 

One of 16 companies working on impact measurement. Sanofi 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 Global Polio Eradication initiative, the company is committed to adapt its production capacity based on needs, and to help provide vaccines to millions of children around the world, reporting a sustained reduction from 350,000 cases in 1988 to 22 in 2017. Furthermore, it is part of the Access Accelerated initiative, which includes a commitment to evaluate impact. 

Some transparency about stakeholder engagement approach. Sanofi 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. 

Has measures to ensure third-party compliance with ethical marketing and anti-corruption standards. Sanofi has a code of conduct and policy relating to ethical marketing and anti-corruption. It provides regular compliance training for employees through e-learning tools. The company provides evidence of having formal processes in place to ensure compliance with standards by third parties. Yet, expected performance for sales agents is based solely on sales targets. 

Internal control framework meets some Index criteria. Sanofi'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, and performs regular evaluations that also apply to third parties. It reports that it regularly conducts fraud-specific risk assessments, and has procedures to segregate duties, so that decisions are checked by another party. It does not, however, demonstrate evidence of a monitoring system for compliance in place.

Above average transparency regarding access-related practices. Sanofi publicly discloses its policy positions on access-related topics (e.g., its global medicine protection strategy includes its position on counterfeit medicines). It is one of the few companies to have a global policy that prohibits political financial contributions. The company publicly discloses its financial support and membership of relevant organisations. It publicly discloses its policies for responsible engagement in its Code of Ethics. 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. Sanofi 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 public health targets. Further, it has time-bound strategies for completing R&D projects for diseases in scope and evaluates progress toward these targets. Sanofi has a mid-sized pipeline in the Index with 56 projects. For diseases in scope where priorities exist, Sanofi is active in 38 projects; 35 of these target priority R&D gaps.

Access provisions in place for 40% (10/25) of late-stage candidates. Sanofi 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 vaccines. To date, Sanofi has project-specific access provisions in place for 10 of its late-stage R&D projects, eight of which are preventive vaccine candidates. Of these, four are being conducted in partnership with organisations including the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). 

Policy to ensure post-trial access; commits to conduct clinical trials only where it intends to make the product available. Sanofi has a 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. However, this policy is not publicly available. The policy is aligned with the standards set in the Declaration of Helsinki. Sanofi commits to only perform clinical studies in countries where it intends to make the product available.

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