| Human Rights | Sanofi-aventis complies with the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with all the individual rights denoted by the United Nations organisations. |
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| Defending innovation | Sanofi-aventis believes that innovation is the most effective answer to unresolved public health problems (unmet medical needs, technically or economically unadapted treatments, etc.). For this reason, the Group supports public policies and initiatives designed to encourage innovation worldwide. |
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| Respecting intellectual property rights | Sanofi-aventis considers respect for intellectual property an essential part of stimulating research and encouraging the risk-taking it involves. The Group believes it is important for the international agreements of the World Trade Organization (W.T.O) to be applied and upheld. |
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| Compulsory licenses | While it steadfastly defends the respect for intellectual property rights, sanofi-aventis accepts the practice of compulsory licenses in the event of health emergencies. The Group nevertheless emphasizes that implementation should adhere to the conditions specified by the W.T.O. |
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| Ensuring the quality of medicines and fighting counterfeit drugs | Sanofi-aventis ensures product quality for patients and the medical personnel in all countries throughout the world. The Group actively supports public authorities efforts, wherever they may be, to guarantee the highest standards of drug quality and safety and fight counterfeit drugs. In accordance with this position, it alerts health authorities of the risks involved in parallel trade and pharmaceutical sales over the Internet. |
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| Clinical trials | Sanofi-aventis supports efforts to improve clinical trial transparency so that patients and/or healthy volunteers will be better informed about the trials in which they participate and their rights will be guaranteed. It publishes information about its own clinical trials via specialized Internet sites. Regardless of the country where the Group carries out clinical trials, it ensures compliance with ethical standards for the protection of those enrolled in the trials. |
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| Patients’ rights | Sanofi-aventis considers that meeting the actual patient needs must be the first criterion to assess the validity and relevance of health policies. Patients must be able to benefit from innovations that can improve their health as quickly as possible without obstruction by unjustified administrative obstacles. |
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| Access to medicines in developing countries | Sanofi-aventis promotes international solidarity efforts making it possible to finance better access to healthcare for populations in need. The Group has numerous partnerships with national and international public health organizations (WHO, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Nelson Mandela Foundation, etc.).
For further information, see pages 38-45. |
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| Good commercial practices | Sanofi-aventis adheres to good commercial practices adopted by professional associations to which it belongs (I.F.P.M.A, E.F.P.I.A and the primary national codes in the United States, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, etc.). Sanofi-aventis refrains from any practices resembling forced prescriptions or those considered corruption. |
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| Pediatric drugs | Sanofi-aventis routinely studies the opportunity to develop new pediatric medicines, and meets registration agencies requirements. The Group also applies this approach to drugs for the treatment of diseases in developing countries:
for example, it produces a pediatric version of the drug combination artesunate + amodiaquine (AS-AQ), launched recently by the Group for the treatment of malaria, a disease that is especially serious in children. |
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| Price setting | The Group’s preference is to let the market determine the "fair" price of a medicine, for all drugs that are not reimbursed by a public health insurance system. In countries where price setting is practiced by administrative authorities, the Group would like prices to take into account the need to pursue today’s research efforts for the sake of tomorrow’s health. In Europe, where prices are set by authorities in the different countries but products circulate freely, the Group has stated its preference for laboratories’ freedom to set a single "factory exit" price for Europe with variable national compensation (from one country to another) applied to locally consumed products. |
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| Parallel trade | Experience has clearly shown that parallel trade brings very little benefit to patients.
In addition, increasing the number of commercial intermediaries makes it more difficult, and sometimes impossible, to ensure product traceability. This may create patient risk, especially in connection with counterfeit products introduced into commercial channels. For all these reasons, sanofi-aventis has always expressed very strong reservations about the parallel trade of medicines. |
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