Public policy and advocacy

Effective public policy requires input from industry. Companies and the trade associations that represent them can serve as a valuable sounding board for testing the feasibility and practicability of new policies. Through active engagement in policymaking and legislative processes, we can bring our scientific knowledge and technical expertise to bear in promoting sound regulatory outcomes that balance the needs of all stakeholders.

It is sometimes claimed that pharmaceutical companies exercise undue influence on governments and pursue commercial objectives without taking into consideration society's interests. We consider it our responsibility to provide decision-makers in government with the objective and fact-based information needed to formulate sound health policies.

Our lobbying and advocacy efforts focus on increasing access to the best medicines and to health information globally, while preserving incentives for research and innovation through competitive pricing. In addition, we believe that it is in the interest of companies striving for a leadership role in corporate citizenship to campaign for policies and regulations which favor ethical business conduct.

Novartis public affairs activities are governed by the same rules for ethical business practice that apply to all other parts of our business. We follow our Promotional Practices Policies and Code of Conduct. Our third party consultants and agents who conduct advocacy on our behalf are subject to our Third Party Code. In the US Novartis complies with all Federal and State lobbying registration and disclosure laws.

Novartis maintains full-time public affairs offices in Basel, Switzerland; Brussels, Belgium; and Washington D.C., in the US. In some other countries where we operate, we have part- or full-time public affairs personnel. The Novartis Global Public Affairs department is responsible for managing political lobbying and contributions. Our aim is to monitor and assess regulatory and political decisions that may affect our business, to make timely and substantive contributions to the policy process and to ensure consistency of action across all policy fronts.

As well as monitoring policy trends, public affairs identifies opportunities for our core businesses, provides feedback on current and forthcoming legislation and responds to - as well as initiates - key policy debates.

An example of how Novartis is contributing proactively to the health policy and disease prevention debate in Europe is the question of smoking cessation. Tobacco is the single largest cause of avoidable death in the EU and over half a million people die each year in Europe as a direct or indirect result of smoking. It is estimated that 25% of all cancer deaths and 15% of all deaths in the EU could be attributed to smoking.

Until recently, efforts by European regulators to reduce smoking were concentrated mainly on the introduction of 'smoke free' legislation which prohibits smoking in certain environments. Novartis believes that greater public health benefits could be achieved through a policy of smoking cessation, coupled with increased duty on tobacco.

Novartis is campaigning to encourage policies to complement non-smoking environments with smoking cessation, with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) as an important component of an EU strategy on tobacco control.

Together with various NGOs, we helped to foster a 'Smoke Free Partnership.' Our aim is to foster a policy and legislative environment which leads to better public health through strong tobacco control measures and increased availability of NRT in line with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Other areas where we are also campaigning for improvements to public health policy are pediatric medicines development, where we work to ensure that more currently available treatments are adapted for use in children, and access to medicines and healthcare.

In the area of access to medicines, Novartis works on many levels to encourage sound policymaking that will improve access and R&D for diseases affecting patients in developed and developing countries. For instance, Novartis recently engaged Members of the European Parliament in a debate on access to medicines to alert EU policymakers about the major access and infrastructure challenges faced in developing countries to deliver our treatment Coartem, recognized as the most effective therapy against malaria. Through such initiatives, Novartis advocates policy changes favorable to patient access to effective treatment, calling for improved international coordination and multi-stakeholder collaboration. Another illustration of the company’s efforts in this area is the development, together with the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), of an innovative funding model for R&D for neglected diseases. The new concept, built on public-private partnerships, is being currently discussed with major legislative and governmental institutions involved in development policies.

Additional key public policy issues for Novartis include:

• intellectual property protection and reward for innovation
• sustainable health systems
• strategies to cope with aging societies

In general, we are aligned with our industry association peers on these matters; however, there are times when our positions may diverge. For example, we were among the first companies to declare that we would not file patents in the poorest countries. Where an industry position does not align with our public position, we will not sign onto it.

The Novartis Code of Conduct
(62 KB)

The Novartis third party Code of Conduct
(410 KB)

 

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