Corporate Citizenship

Every successful corporation has a responsibility to use its resources and influence to make a positive impact on the world and its people. Beximco Pharma endeavors to achieving success in ways that respect ethical values, people in need, their communities and the environment. The Company’s key strategies always aim to provide a strong return for shareholders, while creating social and economic value in the communities where it operates.

Responsibility to the Community at Large

Our vision is to make significant contribution to humanity by improving health. This vision guides our Company’s operations, including its commitment to corporate responsibility.

Trusted Partner in Health

We work together with non-profit organizations who work to improve people's lives through research, information, and advocacy. As the Company writes its success story as an emerging leader in the pharmaceutical industry, we also realize that responsibility towards all our stakeholders increases in tandem. We remain committed to being a good corporate citizen.

In the year under review, we joined Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) in Bangladesh. MAMA is a country-owned, country-led initiative managed by an alliance of stakeholders. Through a core group of founding partners, MAMA Bangladesh is designing and testing a platform to provide both audio and text health messages to pregnant women and new mothers linked to their delivery date. The service also includes family gatekeepers for inspiring healthcare seeking behavior. The commercial brand name to be tested is Aponjon. As part of the new United States Global Health Initiative, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) catalyzed the creation of a public-private coalition in Bangladesh to support the execution of the service. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Access to Information (A2I) Program at Prime Minister's Office are official partners of the initiative. Global partners include Johnson & Johnson and United Nations Foundation, among others.

Awareness Campaigns

Prevention is the best cure and the first step is to create awareness. Every year, we launch campaigns touching on different forms of heath impediments ranging from asthma, diabetes, hypertension and many more. Campaign activities include rallies in addition to organizing and sponsoring scientific seminars and conferences for various associations and societies in medical disciplines.

Employee Volunteering Program

In this program, we sent employee volunteers to devote their time and energy in spreading smiles across the faces of children battling the ultimate battle of survival against cancer. The children are currently being treated at the ASHIC Foundation. We arranged an outing at an amusement park in the capital city where the children were accompanied by their parents and representatives from the not-for-profit organization. We had a wonderful day together packed with fun rides and great food. Later on we donated hospital equipment to the palliative care unit where the children at the terminal stage of cancer are being treated.

We believe that a genuine spirit of giving itself is credential enough and therefore we stand by the unsung heroes who dedicate their lives for the betterment but do not get the recognition or enough support to carry out their intentions with optimized efficiency and impact.

Preserving Cultural Heritage

Preservation and promotion of cultural heritage are linked to economic welfare of any country. We at Beximco Pharma hope to preserve and promote our country’s vibrant heritage in a way that would imprint its immortal beauty in the hearts of our today’s modern demography and the generations to come.

In 2011, we sponsored and organized the grand cultural event, at the National Museum, marking the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore; the legend who had irrefutable contribution towards the heritage and identity of Bengali culture. We also sponsored the making and distribution of a comprehensive documentary, highlighting Rabindranath Tagore's intermittent stay in Bangladesh. It was premiered on 7th May at the National Museum, Dhaka. The documentary, based on research by the eminent Tagore researcher Ahmed Rafique, was directed by Dr. Chanchal Khan, better known as a Tagore singer and exponent. Elements of the documentary include nine songs that were penned by the Nobel laureate poet during his stay in Bangladesh. The film also features glimpses from a play based on a Tagore short story; interviews of distinguished personalities and recitals. The rich content lends it historical, archival and educational value.

Responsibility to the Environment

We are always aware of environmental compliance and adopt policy to preserve the environment by practically minimizing emission and waste, thereby reducing our carbon footprint. The premise that drives us is we always put the needs of people before anything else in every chapter of our success story. Our Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) program is also based on a framework of consistent standards.

Our Path to Protecting the Ozone Layer

Inhaled therapy is essential for the treatment of patients with asthma and COPD. Unfortunately, CFC gases used in inhalers as propellants have ozone-depleting properties. The “Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer”, the international agreement that established measures to control ozone-depleting substances, made it mandatory for Bangladesh and many other countries to implement and complete the phase-out of CFC based MDIs by December 31, 2009.

It was a challenge for Bangladesh to make the transition from ozone-depleting CFC to ozone-benign HFA-based inhalers to save the environment and to ensure availability of inhalers for the patients. In 2006, we were the first Bangladeshi company to proactively and successfully make the shift to HFA inhalers to ensure that no patient in Bangladesh suffers from a lack of availability of MDIs when CFC would become scarce in the future. This was an enormous feat not only for a developing country like Bangladesh but also for the world at large. In addition to proactively adopting ozone-benign HFAs, Beximco Pharma actively advocated so that others would also do the same. As a follow-up to UNEP’s Langkawi Declaration on Public-Private Partnership, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Bangladesh Lung Foundation designed an effective awareness raising strategy for CFCfree MDIs for asthma and COPD patients.

Today, we are the single largest producer of ozone-benign MDI in Bangladesh, and as a responsible company we conduct well thought-out multi-stakeholder campaigns when we launch a product. Such partnerships are now regarded as a successful role model of public-private partnership involving government, pharmaceutical industries, doctors, environmental agencies and others stakeholders that could be replicated in other developing countries.

Responsibility to the Stakeholders

Even though at the core of any business is the aim to maximize profit, we actively look out for our stakeholders’ best interest and ensure that our growth is “sustainable” in the long run. Once again, this year we achieved substantial growth and surpassed the industry average.

From the handsome revenues earned, we always make it a point to invest in the future. We are committed to ensure the optimal utilization of resources in order to create and sustainably maintain our shareholders’ wealth. Every day we are mindful of our responsibilities to create value for our community, for instance, our support for Save the Children’s program on human rights; nourishing employee relations through the creation and maintenance of employment; creating change though environmental stewardship and progressing into the future with excellence in financial performance. In our everyday interactions with our stakeholders including employees, customers, suppliers, competitors and so on, we do our utmost to maintain integrity and fairness in all dealings.