Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) has released its most comprehensive corporate responsibility report using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework, which is designed to help companies report on economic, environmental and social performance.
"Lilly's greatest contribution to society is continuing to discover and develop innovative medicines that help people live longer, healthier, more active lives," said John C. Lechleiter, Ph.D., Lilly chairman, president and chief executive officer. "To succeed, we must conduct our business ethically, responsibly and transparently - and use our resources, knowledge and capabilities to help improve global health and bring value to patients, society and shareholders."
Lilly, a leader in advocating for greater transparency by the biopharmaceutical industry, provides a comprehensive report of the company's progress on numerous corporate responsibility goals and efforts. The report includes updates on longstanding programs, data for 2010, as well as highlights of initiatives begun in 2011.
Included in the report are highlights indicating that Lilly:
- helped more than 227,000 people through its patient assistance programs in 2010, a 12 percent increase compared to the previous year;
- launched a physician payment registry to help people better understand how the company works with doctors to advance research and education;
- introduced 229 new clinical-trial sites in U.S. locations with diverse populations since 2008;
- gave approximately $430 million in global charitable contributions in 2010, including cash, products and other in-kind donations;
- invested its largest-ever education-focused grant ($2.5 million) in a campaign sponsored by The Mind Trust to improve public education for underserved children;
- launched new five-year, $60 million commitments through The Lilly NCD Partnership and The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership to improve outcomes for underserved populations;
- received a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign's "Best Places to Work: Corporate Equality Index" in 2010;
- selected 200 employees to volunteer, on company time, in countries where people lack resources or access to quality health care;
- reduced serious injury and lost-time injury rates each by 33 percent (from 2007 baseline);
- decreased water intake by more than 30 percent and waste to landfill by 50 percent compared to 2007;
- improved energy efficiency by more than 12 percent, compared to 2007, and reduced corresponding greenhouse gas emissions by more than 9 percent.
"Our role as a good corporate citizen extends well beyond a desire to be charitable and 'do the right thing' in communities where our employees live and work," Lechleiter said. "Our commitment to corporate responsibility is embedded in our innovation-based business strategy, our culture and the day-to-day operations carried out by Lilly employees worldwide."
The Lilly 2010/11 Corporate Responsibility Report also serves as the company's annual Communication on Progress to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). As a signatory of the UNGC, Lilly shares its progress annually on 10 universally accepted principles related to human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption.
The report details the company's progress in areas such as:
- conducting business ethically and transparently, including the safe, uninterrupted supply of medicines, ethical product promotion, patient privacy, public disclosure of clinical trial results and financial payments to health care professionals, and participation in public policy dialogue;
- enhancing access to medicines and efforts to improve health among underserved populations through The Lilly Global Health Innovation Campaign, patient assistance programs and product donations;
- developing innovative medicines and maintaining the highest standards in research and development, including the use and care of animals in research, bioethics, patient safety and education, diversity in clinical trials, and the development of tailored medicines that deliver higher value and better outcomes for individual patients;
- supporting strong workplace practices that encompass diversity and inclusion; employee health, safety and wellness; recruiting, hiring and development; and efforts to help employees maintain work-life balance;
- engaging with patients and communities to achieve better health outcomes, including community-based programs that support patients with specific diseases, partnerships that focus on improving health disparities, and volunteer and giving programs that mobilize Lilly's global workforce around its vision to improve global health;
- fostering environmental sustainability and reducing the company's environmental footprint through initiatives related to energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, water intake and waste to landfill.
About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly, a leading innovation-driven corporation, is developing a growing portfolio of pharmaceutical products by applying the latest research from its own worldwide laboratories and from collaborations with eminent scientific organizations. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., Lilly provides answers - through medicines and information - for some of the world's most urgent medical needs.