What is a Pharma company?

In this context, we're talking about a company who make money by making and selling medicines or medical products - a pharmaceutical (or pharma) company. The pharma companies we work with are usually the companies who manufacture drugs which are prescribed to patients with aplastic anaemia, PNH, or another rare bone marrow failure whose patients we support. 

---

We have an internal Pharma Policy document which our trustees review every year and our team refer to when we are working with pharma companies. This policy governs how we work with these companies. This page sums up what the policy says, in plain English - so our community can understand our approach. 

Why does The Aplastic Anaemia Trust work with pharma companies?

The Aplastic Anaemia Trust believe it is right that pharma companies should spend some of their profits on projects to support patients. We also believe that it is really important that these companies listen to patients - and ensure their products and research are designed in a way that delivers real benefits to patients and their families.

By working with pharma companies, we can ensure both of these things are happening, supporting the strategic aims of our organisation. 

Working with pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and market drugs and treatments can also provide us with important knowledge and expertise. 

Why do we need to be careful about how we do this?

Pharmaceutical companies are not charitable organisations and the AAT takes particular care in how it works with them. 

We make sure that our work with pharmaceutical companies does not affect our ability to provide independent and unbiased patient information and support, our ability to speak up on behalf of patients, or otherwise influence our work.

How we work with pharma companies

• All partnerships are based on principles of integrity and openness and bring direct benefit to the AAT (through funding or by supporting work that helps to achieve our mission)
  
  
• Joint activity must fit within the AAT’s mission and strategic objectives. We will not accept support for activities which lie outside our objectives.
  
  
• We risk-assess any partnerships we enter into - which means carefully scrutinising our plans for any possibility of risks to our charity or our community
  
  
• Any partnership entered into will not compromise the independent status of the AAT. We make sure that our editorial independence is maintained so that we are free to comment both positively and negatively about pharmaceutical companies and their products
  
  
• All partnerships with products and services with specific links to a rare bone marrow failure have to be approved by our Board of Trustees.   
  
  
• Partnerships with pharmaceutical companies will comply with the ABPI code of practice. Where a company is not a member of the ABPI we obtain written assurances that any partnership work or support will be conducted to the ABPI Code of Practice.  
  
  
• We are open and clear with our community about where our funding comes from. We include descriptions of all pharmaceutical company funding in the Trustees’ Annual Report, we also disclose our pharma funders on our website, and clearly indicate when we have received sponsorship for an event, publication, or service. 
  
  
• For ethical reasons, and to maintain our independence, it's important for The AAT to make sure our income comes from a range of sources. We try to ensure that each year pharmaceutical funding is less than a third of our total income.  

The kind of work we do

We work with members of the pharmaceutical industry to share knowledge and expertise.  This may involve participation in pharmaceutical industry organised events such as: 

• Private or public meetings 
• Training events 
• Market research events 

When appropriate, we might invite members of our community to attend this kind of event to provide their perspectives and experience. 

We also accept sponsorship income from pharma companies to support specific events and projects. When this happens, we have a contract with the company to confirm they will have no say in the content of the event or project. 

What we don't do

• The AAT will not directly endorse any third party, its products or services
  
  
• We do not use pharma logos or branding on any clinical information materials
  
  
• We do not enter into any partnerships that would compromise our independence
  
  
• We would not enter into any commercial partnerships with a company whose product or service was considered to be detrimental to people living with a rare bone marrow failure, or any product or service with unsupported claims of positive benefits to those affected by a rare bone marrow failure.
  
  
• There may be occasions where we will campaign for equitable access to a treatment, on behalf of patients and their supporters. Under no circumstances will we accept funding from pharmaceutical companies to support campaigning activity for access to specific treatments.

If you have any questions about how we work with pharma companies, you are always very welcome to get in touch with us at [email protected].