The pharmaceutical industry has the responsibility to be able to make the most innovative medicines available to society. To meet this objective, pharmaceutical companies must approach those who generate scientific knowledge (health professionals and health organizations) to make investments in training and R & D that have a real impact on society. In a close and permanent collaboration with the industry, health professionals and health organizations suggest and advise companies on the development of medicines, the role of these medicines in the treatment of patients, access to new therapies and the best clinical practice.
The collaboration between all the actors generates a virtuous circle where everyone wins: health professionals update and improve their knowledge about medicines; the pharmaceutical industry makes better use of the clinical and scientific experience of the health workers; the health system has professionals at the forefront of knowledge and constant pharmacological improvements; and patients and society in general receive the best provision of health services.
As a business group in the pharmaceutical sector, the Chiesi Group works closely with the scientific community through the constant exchange of knowledge. And in this relationship, transparency is absolutely essential. In Chiesi we bet for it so that society can trust that our collaborations with health professionals or health organizations obey the need to research new medicines or to update the knowledge of professionals according to scientific evidence, so that they apply said knowledge to reality of the day to day of medical institutions and equipment.
Opting for transparency is an honest and courageous position that responds to a real commitment to strengthen the confidence of society, in the functioning of our health system and that of the companies that operate in it.
The commitment to transparency led by Farmaindustria in collaboration with the entire industry is an ambitious and pioneering initiative. Its main objective is for society to know and understand what pharmaceutical companies do and how they do it, in order to contribute, in a transparent and ethical manner, to the training of our healthcare professionals and to perfect treatments to, with all of this, improve the health of the patients. Therefore, in Chiesi we fully subscribe to the principles of transparency established by Farmaindustria and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations -EFPIA- and during the last years, we have been working on its application in the most appropriate way, ensuring the relationship at all times of mutual trust that is generated between us and those with whom we work.
Therefore, the publication of data related to value transfers represents our commitment to society, to strengthen transparency and ethics, in our relations with public institutions and bodies.
Chiesi is recognized as a reliable company, capable of promoting and adopting transparent and ethical conduct at all levels, in accordance with the relevant provisions and regulations, and with a sense of responsibility regarding its key role in the pharmaceutical sector. This reputation is the result of what has been built over the years. And our secret to make it possible has been to implement measures of transparency and ethics, not only in our relationship with professionals and health organizations, but also in our daily work as a company. We understand that the people who work at Chiesi are the fundamental asset of our image and reputation. That is why we bet decisively for internal communication and for reinforcing our credibility through the introduction of concrete measures, in the field of ethics and transparency.
All the pharmaceutical companies adhering to the Code of Good Practices of the Pharmaceutical Industry publish each year on their website, the value transfers made to health professionals and health organizations corresponding to the previous year, in terms of:
- Donations (only applicable to health organizations and with the own limitations defined in the Farmaindustria Code).
- Training activities and scientific-professional meetings (e.g. sponsorship of the activity, registration fees or travel and accommodation).
- Provision of professional services or consulting, by organizations or health professionals, (regulated by specific contracts).
-In terms of value transfers for research and development, only the total investment made in relation to preclinical, clinical and observational tests performed in Spain is published. This is, therefore, a part of the total costs that the Chiesi Group supports annually globally, for research and development: every year the Chiesi Group invests more than 20% of its turnover in R & D, what places it among the first business groups of the national and international rankings.
Pharmaceutical companies must inform health professionals about the publication of their personal data, individually, in relation to the value transfers that they have received from the pharmaceutical industry throughout the year. In this sense, following the recommendations set forth in the Report of April 22, 2016, of the Spanish Agency for Data Protection, to safeguard the individual rights of these professionals, pharmaceutical companies will implement on their websites where the declaration of transparency will be lodged on the referred transfers of value, computer protocols that avoid the indexation of the information by search engines, including a legal notice explaining the purpose of the publication and indicating the express prohibition that these data may be used for purposes unrelated to the purpose of the publication. In addition, together with the transparency statement, a methodological note will be included, describing the process that the company has followed to obtain the results of said declaration.
The decision of the healthcare professional to maintain an active collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry from which a transfer of value is derived will therefore imply the individual publication of this transfer, being able to exercise, in any case, the rights that the current legislation, in matter of data protection, can grant it. Value transfers made to Spanish healthcare professionals, invited by Group subsidiaries, domiciled in other countries, will also be included in this publication.
In the same way, the transfers of value made to the health organizations will be published individually.
On the other hand, the data related to R & D will be published in an aggregate manner, in a single quantity.
All the regulation on this obligation can be consulted in the Farmaindustria Code, accessible through the web www.codigofarmaindustria.es. Also, to obtain additional information about Chiesi's transparency declaration, you can contact us through the email: transparencia@chiesi.com and in relation to data protection, directly with our Data Protection Officer of Chiesi España, through the address: chiesi.es@chiesi.com.
The declaration of transparency of the previous year, that is before June 30, will be published on the website, within the first six months of each year. The information will remain published for 3 years, unless, in accordance with the principles of applicable data protection regulations, the right to suppress / oppose can be exercised.