Pfizer’s claim of a human rights violation and its overt pressure on the government of the Dominican Republic as a strategy to protect its patent on Paxlovid has caused concern among shareholders that the board is putting Pfizer’s social license to operate at risk. In this letter, ICCR notes the incongruence between Pfizer’s stated principles related to access, its commitments in the company’s human rights policy statement, and its stated values and principles related to equity, with actions that seek to hinder access to life-saving COVID medicines.
On July 7, 2020, the White House communicated to the UN Secretary General that the United States would officially withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). Additionally, in September, the United States announced that it will not join a global effort led by the WHO to develop, manufacture and distribute a vaccine against the coronavirus[1]. As the foremost health agency in world, the WHO works tirelessly to solve our world’s most complex public health problems, including the current pandemic. ICCR issued the following statement in response.
The below letter was sent to the following pharmaceutical companies by ICCR members on April 1, 2020 AbbVie; Amgen; Biogen; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Gilead; GSK; Eli Lilly; Johnson & Johnson; Merck; Pfizer; Novartis; Roche; Sanofi; Vertex
ICCR members asked President Biden to support an emergency COVID-19 waiver of World Trade Organization (WTO) intellectual property rules, so that greater supplies of vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tests can be produced in as many places as possible as quickly as possible.
Statement for the Record by ICCR before United States Committee on Finance hearing on “Drug Pricing in America: A Prescription for Change, Part II”
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) in collaboration with the Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) Initiative brought together restaurant and retail companies, meat producers, investors, trade associations, NGOs, and public health advocates on October 17, 2017 in New York City. This Multi-Stakeholder Roundtable on Opportunities for Sustainable Animal Agriculture addressed antibiotic risk and the importance of protecting human health from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This is our Roundtable Report.
These Principles are an articulation of our positions on corporate responsibility regarding global health, along with our recommended best practices. We welcome affirmation of these principles and practices by all stakeholders.