At Pfizer, engaging in public policy is an important facet of our corporate responsibility efforts. The purpose of our public policy engagement is to create an enabling environment to improve access to medicines and health care. Effective public policies can help create an environment in which innovative new prescription medicines are brought to market at costs society can afford. We understand the complexity of the health care challenges facing the world, and further recognize that our role extends beyond discovering, developing and delivering pharmaceutical products. We also have a role in helping to find solutions to the systemic barriers to health care. At Pfizer, we are facing mounting pressures in the external environment on our commercial model—from growing pressures to increase transparency in pricing models and clinical trials, to changing standards for responsible product promotion, to the need to identify and manage risk ourselves rather than relying on regulatory agencies for oversight. Similarly, we are also acutely aware of the increasing role of government in addressing health care issues, and that this will have a direct effect on our ability to achieve commercial success and meet our obligations to stakeholders. In response to these pressures, we are engaging with governments around the world, as well as with private and public institutions, and our industry peers to address a wide range of policy issues. These include policies that would limit the choices of doctors and patients, potentially dilute intellectual property protection, impose price controls on health care products and services, and allow the unfettered importation of medicines across national borders. Our policy positions are based on the following longstanding principles:
- Promoting access to quality health care
- Patient preference
- Clinician autonomy
- Openness and flexibility with regard to new business models to increase access to medicines
- Market-based competition
- Transparency throughout the business
- Protection for information contained in patents and clinical data that maintains incentives for innovation
To learn more about our participation in public policy debates and how this helps us to fulfill our mission of working together for a healthier world visit the Public Policy section of our Web site for more information.