Geneva-based Covalence, a company that markets the information system, EthicalQuote, has observed that pharma is not keeping pace with other industries in terms of the overall balance of global good and bad news coverage in four broad ethical areas: labour standards, waste management, product social utility and human rights policy. “The pharma industry is losing [...]

Today, 13 pharmaceutical companies, the U.S., U.K. and U.A.E governments, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and other global health organisations announced a new, coordinated push to accelerate progress toward eliminating or controlling 10 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by the end of the decade. Uniting efforts with NTD-endemic countries, partners pledged to [...]

A group of US investment institutions have filed shareholder resolutions at 40 companies calling on them to report on their spending on direct lobbying and lobbying via trade associations. The group wants greater transparency on how companies influence regulation and law-making. Backers of the initiative include investors such as the $134bn (€104bn) New York State [...]

Six pharmaceutical companies and several governments have pledged more than $150m in medicines and funding over five years to tackle some of the most neglected diseases. The debilitating illnesses – including leprosy, lymphatic filariasis and sleeping sickness – affect 1bn of the world’s poorest people, place a burden on health services, stunt children’s education and [...]

Health giant Johnson & Johnson is donating about $200 million in cash and medicine to a sweeping United Nations program created to improve the health and lives of people in poor countries. J&J is launching a five-year program called “Every Mother, Every Child,” meant to help almost 400 million women and children in developing countries. [...]

The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is inviting submissions for the 2009 Awards for Business Excellence, which will honor the unique and crucial contributions of companies implementing sophisticated, successful programs to fight disease. Winners of the Coalition’s awards have provided care and treatment for hundreds of thousands of employees, and reached millions [...]

Increased attention on product human risk and smaller media coverage of drug donations have challenged Pharmaceuticals’ ethical reputation last year, states a report published today by Geneva-based research firm Covalence – Covalence Pharmaceutical Industry Report 2008. The pharmaceutical industry dropped from the first to the third rank of Covalence all-time EthicalQuote ranking across 10 industries. [...]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday honored 17 companies that combined buy nearly 4 billion kilowatt hours of green power each year. The Green Power Purchasing Leaders already are Green Power Partners that commit to buying renewable power such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and low-impact hydro. The EPA selected seven Green Power [...]

Pharmaceutical companies carry increasing ethical risks related to innovation, states a report released on 29 August 2007 by Geneva-based ethical reputation research firm Covalence, Covalence Pharmaceutical Industry Report 2007. These innovation-related risks deal with intellectual property rights, drug pricing, clinical trials, drug side-effects and transparency. In terms of ethical reputation, innovation seems to bring more [...]

A decade ago the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice accused Dr. Faruk Abuzzahab of a “reckless, if not willful, disregard” for the welfare of 46 patients, 5 of whom died in his care or shortly afterward. The board suspended his license for seven months and restricted it for two years after that. But Dr. Abuzzahab, [...]