Dr Hadwen Trust: Ethical ranking of top pharma companies slammed for ignoring animal testing

A report on the ethical reputations of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies which gives UK-based multinational GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) the top score, has been heavily criticised for ignoring one of the most contentious ethical issues around, animal testing. Ethically ranking animal-testing companies without considering animal suffering is deeply misleading, says non-animal research charity, the Dr Hadwen Trust (1). The ethical ranking was recently profiled (30 May) in a series of online industry journals such as DrugResearcher.com which called GSK ‘big pharma’s Mother Theresa’ (2). That’s ethical whitewashing, says the Dr Hadwen Trust. The recently-released EthicalQuote report by Geneva-based ethical-monitoring firm Covalence (3), claims to represent the latest ethical evaluation of the top twenty multinationals, with ten companies selected for the top spots. In the category of Best Ethical Quote for pharmaceutical companies, one of the world’s most notorious animal-testing companies, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), makes the top score of 326 despite being the focus of anti-vivisection boycott campaigns around the globe because of its massive animal testing and research programme. GSK was joined at the top by two more animal-testers, Bristol-Myers Squibb (second place scoring 315) and Johnson & Johnson (third place scoring 298).

Publication about Covalence | Country: Global | Company: GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson | Source: politis.co.uk