GSK_Annual_Report_2021

Statutory Reports GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Limited 74 Section E: Principle-wise performance Ethics, transparency and accountability Good governance and transparent reporting are part of our commitment to be open about our business activities. Your Company has a strong values-based culture and our actions are supported by robust policies and compliance processes. It conducts business in an ethical way and engages stakeholders directly to understand and prioritise the issues that are important to them. As a global corporation, your Company has a common Code of Conduct across the globe. This code sets out fundamental standards for all employees and is supported by the written standards which help employees take ethical decisions and emphasises the Company’s values: transparency, respect for people, integrity, and patient focus. Your Company ensures that everything that it does is guided by our commitment to our values and our commitment to following the regulations within which it has to operate. The foundations of these commitments are laid out in the Company’s Code of Conduct and each employee takes personal responsibility to abide by this Code. This Code also extends to anyone who works for and on behalf of your Company. Your Company markets prescription medicines and vaccines to healthcare professionals, hospitals and the government. Our policies and the updated Code of Practice for Promotion of Prescription Medicines and for Scientific Engagement prescribes the nature of your Company’s practices. This Code, as the name suggests, is applicable worldwide. Regional and local policies, standard operating procedures and other written standards provide additional guidance to employees. In addition, your Company is also a signatory to the Code of Pharmaceutical Practices of Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI). Your Company has an extensive Anti-Bribery and Corruption (ABAC) Programme. ABAC is a part of your Company’s response to the threat and risk of bribery and corruption. The programme includes the ABAC Policy, which has been designed to assist internal and external parties, understand corruption risk, and identify people’s responsibilities to actively combat both real and perceived corruption. Safety and sustainability of products and services Sustainability in business is critically important to deliver continued innovation and success while reducing environmental impact. Your Company’s commercial success depends on growing a diverse business, creating innovative new products that people value, making them widely accessible and operating efficiently. In the process, your Company can grow its business and add value to patients, consumers, employees, shareholders and society. Through a wide range of products and services, your Company touches the lives of millions of patients every day. In the best interest of the patient, your Company endeavours to work with responsible suppliers who adhere to the quality, social and environmental standards that are mandated by your Company. The interest of the patient is of prime importance at every stage in your Company - from development to nal distribution. Being a global organisation, most of your Company’s products are approved by major international regulators. Besides, there are mandatory regulatory approvals required in India endorsing the safety of the products. A signi cant proportion of ingredients for your Company’s products and packaging material are sourced locally from third party manufacturers belonging to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). A qualified team is in place to build capacity and capability, to educate and raise the standard of these vendors and as mentioned above these vendors comply with your Company’s standards. To ensure the same, all vendors must go through the GSK Audit and Approval process, which are based on global guidelines. Your Company’s operational quality team trains and guides these vendors to ensure that they have infrastructure, facilities, systems and controls in line with GSK’s global standards. In addition, periodic quality audits are held to ensure that the manufacturing processes, both internally as well as with contract manufacturing partners, remain compliant with your Company’s quality standards. These are over and above the speci c quality checks with respect to each batch of nished products as well as inputs in the form of raw materials. There remains relatively lesser scope in the healthcare industry for recycling. However, there is a mechanism to segregate the waste given to the authorised vendor for recycling, wherever appropriate. Globally, we look forward to working across our value chain - from discovery to disposal - to deliver reduction in environmental impact. Your Company follows the GSK Manufacturing Practices guidelines with respect to product packaging. Your Company’s products have various anti-counterfeiting and anti-pilferage measures such as barcodes and unique codes for products which are reviewed from time to time.