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pharmaceutical innovations would appear to be a reasonable step forward. In fact, the latest communication from the European Commission on the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, states that “Actions in the area of public procurement can foster competition and improve access. Public buyers should design smart and innovative procurement procedures, e.g. by assessing the role of ‘winner-takes it all’ procedures and improving related aspects (such as price conditionality, timely delivery, ‘green production’ and security and continuity of supply) including via the Big Buyers initiative launched under the SME Strategy”.
A Preferred Supplier Model Aimed at Redirecting Public and Private Interactions. The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the resilience of the system and its capacity to respond to a planetary crisis, and although the investments made to develop and produce a vaccine are unprecedented, issues remain around transparency and directionality, raising concerns about equitable distribution and access to the vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests produced. Strengthening the system to improve its outcomes, accountability and transparency will not be achieved solely by increasing inputs (funding, resources, etc.), but by redefining how the different actors (both public and private) interrelate. Companies and public sector actors interact in many different ways, for example the following: ● As shown in this paper, companies receive billions in public investments to fund the research and development of new pharmaceutical products. ● Clinical trials of pharmaceutical companies’ products often use public sector infrastructures and resources. ● Regulatory agencies assess and approve the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products to facilitate access to national markets. ● Pharmaceutical companies’ product representatives engage with healthcare professionals in different sectors to provide information and promote their products. ● Pharmaceutical companies participate in tenders and other procurement mechanisms established by health systems.
“Strengthening the system to improve its outcomes, accountability and transparency will not be achieved solely by increasing inputs but by redefining how the different actors interrelate.”
Procurement and supply practices have been identified as ways in which commercial partners can apply sustainability and ethical principles focused on the environment and human rights issues (such as child labour and equal opportunity and nondiscriminatory employment practices29). Corporations, including pharmaceutical companies, implement responsible procurement practices (for example, those evaluated in B Corps certification) designed to impose environmental, social and ethical standards on their suppliers and to work only with those suppliers (preferred suppliers) who fulfil the predefined criteria.29,36,37 This practice is fully aligned with the Sustainable Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact.36,37
COVID-19 and the Reform of the Biomedical R&D System: A Proposal for a Preferred Supplier Model. An ISGlobal discussion paper.
