As a leader in the US pharmaceutical industry, we believe it is our responsibility to foster a constructive, open and informed dialogue between patients and physicians.
Our willingness to listen, together with the appropriate use of consumer marketing and responsible communication with patients, physicians, regulators and other key stakeholders, is vital to our ongoing commitment to helping people stay healthy and live longer lives.
Making a significant difference in people’s health requires that we act meaningfully. We help by providing doctors and patients with the clearest, most objective information available, and ensuring that our sales and marketing personnel adhere to the highest ethical standards.
This year AstraZeneca made significant efforts to advance our commitment to transparency. We believe providing information to the public about our company, our products and how we do business is integral to improving patient health. In May, we helped to improve patient health by ensuring physicians are knowledgeable about our products and patient assistance programs, and by providing physicians with timely, relevant information that enables them to make the best treatment decisions for their patients. In addition, we revised AstraZeneca policies to reflect the new PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals, and worked to educate our employees about the new company and industry policies.
2008 Health Highlights:
- Registered more than 800 clinical trials and published results of more than 500 trials
- Extended scope of clinical trials disclosure to include information about the registration and results of ongoing AstraZeneca sponsored clinical trials for all products in all phases
- Received the “Corporate Circle Award” from the National Medical Association for serving as an outstanding partner committed to the health of African Americans
- Revised AstraZeneca policies to align with standards in the revised PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Providers
- Pursued several new product-security efforts to protect patients from counterfeiting and ensure they receive genuine medicines
Looking ahead: Our goals for 2009 and beyond…
- Explore ways to increase diversity in clinical trials
- Continue to implement transparency policy in the US areas of public policy, compliance, clinical trials, political contributions, medical education grants, contributions to nonprofit organizations and FDA post-marketing study commitments
- Ensure accurate and timely product safety and adverse event reporting
