Hi my name is Anna Bonomi and I oversee the healthcare mechanical research here
at Sustainalytics, and today I'm here with you to share some of our analysis about the risk
companies operating in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, in case of failure to
ensure affordability and accessibility of their medical product and also or healthcare services.
Access to basic services is one of our 20 material ESG issues that underpin the ESG risk rating and
as healthcare costs continue to rise globally, accessibility of medical product and health
healthcare services really remains a challenge in both developing and developed countries.
The Covid-19 pandemic really further highlighted pricing and accessibility issue, and this is
really because institutional investors have heard pharmaceutical company to follow principle of
transparency, but also cooperation in the race to develop Covid-19 vaccine or treatment. This issue
really show investors which companies are more exposed to pricing accessibility and affordability
risk, but also how well they are managing it. Pharmaceutical companies with high revenue
with large global price discrepancy and a history of large annual price increases are particularly
exposed to this issue. And this is mainly because scrutiny of truck pricing and affordability has
increased in recent years because public payers have shifted towards a more value-based model
to control the cost of healthcare. This is particularly relevant in the us which has the
highest spending per capita on prescription drugs. An example of a leading management practice in the
industry is GSK, a pharma company located in the uk. GSK has a leading position in developing and
marketing HIV treatment and also the company as also leading program to enable the affordable
access to this treatment both in developing countries and for low-income people located
in developed countries. The company also offers good disclosure, adequate disclosure on price
increases and has avoided large price hikes in the past years. Thank you very much for watching.