Our contribution

At Abacus Medicine, we are proud to serve a purpose beyond ourselves. When we compete in the market, we help lower the prices on life-critical medicines so that they become more widely available.

With thousands of products in our growing portfolio, this adds up to a significant contribution to society. Healthcare costs have been rising steadily for years and look to become an even bigger burden on public budgets in the future. All across Europe, populations are aging.

Abacus Medicine has grown fast since the beginning, and as we grow, we are able to make an ever-increasing contribution. To us, this is the hallmark of a sustainable business model.

Purpose

John Wagner, Co-founder and MD

John Wagner (1932-2018), Co-Founder and MD

At Abacus Medicine, we are innovative, dedicated, and we care. We improve global healthcare through better access to medicine.

Our Purpose reflects the fundamental values of our company. It’s not a lot of words, but they matter a lot. We may not think about them every day, but we live by them in our daily actions.

Innovative
We believe anything is possible. We encourage original ideas. We are flexible and always ready to change plans if an opportunity arrives.

Dedicated
We are intensely focused on our tasks. We are relentless and willing to go that extra mile.

We care
We respect and value our fellow human beings: Internal colleagues, external business partners and the societies, we are part of. We do not act only in our own interest, but are conscious of others and believe in mutual, long-term partnerships.

Global
Today, our core business is in Europe. Tomorrow, we will be a global company. This is just as much about mindset, as it is about time zones and language versions. We must think and act globally.

Access
What we do, is all about access. We provide access to medicine in countries, where patients might not have it otherwise. We provide access for companies conducting clinical trials. When we make medicine more affordable through parallel trade, we also to make it more accessible.

We strive to uphold these values, both to society and to our external and internal relations. Therefore, we have created our own code of conduct.

Abacus Medicine has established a Whistleblowing Scheme in order to allow the reporting of potential violations of the law and serious violations of internal company policy and procedures.

Corporate Social Responsibility

We want to do better, where it really matters

CSR is an ongoing and never-ending process. From year to year, gradual changes in our business landscape and in the priorities of our stakeholders will affect our CSR priorities.

For 2019, we have prioritised the following four Focus Programs:

Environment and climate
The program will seek to reduce the environmental footprint at our main production facility in Budapest, Hungary.

Packaging material
The program will specifically address the environmental effects of how we source and dispose of packaging material.

Employees
The program will address issues identified in the Employee Satisfaction Survey 2018, including elements relating to benefits and compensation.

Medicine donation
The program will establish 1) an internal standard operating procedure and 2) cooperation with one or more NGO’s to ensure that overstock or non-saleable medicine will be offered to non-profit organisations.

CSR Report 2018

Employees, environment and more. How did we progress and what are our plans?

As Abacus Medicine grows, so does our societal impact.
We recognize our obligation to our stakeholders and to the wider society.

Our CSR Policy is rooted in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact.

Among the Sustainable Development Goals, two have particular relevance to Abacus Medicine:

Goal #3: Good Health and Well-being, including Target 3.8: “Achieve universal health coverage (UHC), including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health care services, and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all”.

Goal #8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, including Target 8.5: “by 2030 achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value”.

Because we insist on a close link between our core business and our CSR efforts, we subsequently adapt the UN’s broad goals and principles into specific goals and action plans reflecting the business practices of Abacus Medicine. We want to do better, where it really matters.

Corporate Social Responsibility at Abacus Medicine is governed at the executive level. We share news on our progress regularly and publish an annual CSR Report.

Free medicine for hospitals in Ghana

Abacus Medicine recently donated medicine worth approximately EUR 35,000 free of charge to hospitals in Ghana.

The medicines will be distributed locally by the two organizations The Ghana Baptist Convention (GBC) Health Service and the Christian Health Association of Ghana.

The shipment is part of our CSR program and is our second during 2019. This time, we donated medicine with an expiry of between 2 and 6 months, all of which were useful to the recipient hospitals.

Global guidelines
“I’m happy and lucky to work in a company where I can drive a project that donates to a society where patients cannot afford the medicine. This medicine is perfectly good but could not be sold in our traditional markets, so the next option for me would naturally be a donation,” says Logistics Controller Mark Hemanson. On top of his day job in our Supply Chain department, Mark is also responsible for organizing our medicine donations.

In order to guarantee that the medicine is relevant, of sufficient quality and does not influence local markets and competition, all donations must comply with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Guidelines for Medicine Donations”.

Abacus Medicine works in cooperation with Global Medical Aid, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working in a number of developing countries.