Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of Innovative Pharmaceutical Corporations. The Case of BIOGEN

Janina Witkowska. Comparative Economic Research, Volume 21: Issue 3 45–62, First Online: 19 Sep 2018 DOI:10.2478/cer-2018-0018

The aim of a paper published in Comparative Economic Research was to discuss the common features and specificity of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices of innovative transnational corporations acting in the pharmaceutical industry, understood as their ability to make a breakthrough in the treatment of rare, incurable diseases. Traditional CSR practices include corporate philanthropy, community and neighbourhood programmes, volunteerism, etc. The author of the paper argues that the issue of CSR in the innovative pharmaceutical industry is the pricing of orphan and ultra-orphan drugs, while the case study of BIOGEN seems to show that the company is aware of the need to remove barriers to access the medicines. The author also suggests that a stronger international cooperation is needed to ensure equity of medicine access in a more efficient way.