We are pleased to launch the lightly refreshed PSCI Principles. The Principles underpin the work of PSCI, and form the basis of our mission. As such, we encourage all members, suppliers, and auditors to ensure they understand and are familiar with them.

The Principles have been in place, in their original form, since they were agreed by PSCI’s founding members in 2006. This is the first time they have been updated, and the refresh was motivated partly in recognition of the need for periodic review. Additionally, inputs from stakeholders during the 2018-2020 Strategy Review, and from the Advisory Panel, indicated the need to update or add wording on certain issues and topics.

The refresh followed a consultative process, with member feedback invited, and culminating in a formal vote including all members, which took place at the AGM in Fall 2019.

The refreshed Principles take effect for members from 1st January 2020. To ensure the Principles are reflected in member practices, the first accountability questions will be in the annual member accountability survey, due in September 2020; any non-compliance to the refreshed Principles will be raised during member calls taking place in February 2021.

The more significant changes to the Principles are highlighted below:

• Strengthened references to human rights, and emphasized PSCI’s commitment in this area

• Adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) as the internationally agreed standard for the corporate responsibility to respect human rights

• Strengthened content on anti-bribery and corruption, data protection, freely chosen employment, and health & safety

• New clauses on patient safety, conflicts of interest, resource management and sustainable sourcing.

As ever, the Principles are made available freely and publicly to anyone with an interest in responsible supply chains for our sector. To view the Principles, visit them in our Resources library.

Translated versions of the Principles in key languages will be made available in Spring 2020.

Any comments to the refreshed Principles, or their implementation, should be submitted to the Secretariat.

Recently we published an article about PSCI and sustainable packaging on Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Packing Sourcer (PMPS) August 2019. PMPS is a specialist journal designed to provide worldwide coverage of a range of topics relating to the pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging sector, with around 10K readers mainly in Europe and North America.

In this article we shared PSCI’s approach on promoting responsible practices via PSCI principles and audits sharing project, insights from the audits and case study from PSCI member company. See below audit findings on different topics among packaging suppliers; around half of all audit findings are related to health and safety, especially worker protection, occupational health, and process safety.

Thanks to member company West, who provided their insights to promoting responsible practices in packaging.

Read the article here, page 68-69.

Enric Bosch from Boehringer Ingelheim, one of our PSCI members, and co-Chair of the PSCI Communications Committee, recently spoke at an industry event about sustainability in Pharma supply chains, Salon Internacional de Logistica in Barcelona.
The SIL Barcelona conference focused on Logistics, Transport, Intralogistics and Supply Chain in Southern Europe. Enric shared PSCI collaboration as an example of good practice where different companies in the same sector work together to build up a more sustainable supply chain.

Last week we hosted another great webinar on the antimicrobial resistance, hosted by Daniel Caldwell (Global Director, Environmental and Occupational Toxicology at Johnson & Johnson) and Neil Parke (Global HSE Consultant at Lilly).

We were thrilled to see so many members and suppliers tuning in, but in case you missed it, you can watch the webinar here.

The slide deck can also be downloaded here.

Last week we hosted a webinar on Emergency Preparedness and Response, with guest speaker Aaron Duff, Director of EHS&S at Johnson & Johnson. Aaron delivered a fantastic talk, and we were thrilled to see over 90 members and suppliers tuning in!

If you missed the webinar, you can watch it here.

Don't forget to tune in on the 18th July for our next webinar on Antimicrobial Resistance.

Yesterday, on 27th June 2019, Aaron Duff (Director of EHS&S at Johnson & Johnson) delivered a fantastic webinar on Emergency Preparedness and Response. We had fantastic attendance, with just under 90 people tuning in. It's great to see the PSCI webinars reaching out to wider audiences, and we look forward to seeing our viewer base continue to grow.

If you could not join us yesterday, the recording can be viewed here. The slides Aaron used are also available for download from the PSCI website.

Aaron was also kind enough to share some template documents with the webinar attendees. Both his Crisis Management Plan and Emergency Plan templates can be downloaded from the PSCI website.

Please remember to tune in on 18th July at 08.30 EST for our next webinar on Antimicrobial Resistance.

On Thursday 27th June, we will be hosting a webinar on emergency preparedness and response. We are delighted to be joined by Aaron Duff, Director of EHS&S at Johnson & Johnson.

The webinar will give an overview of the questions relating to emergency preparedness & response in the PSCI audit questionnaire and explain the PSCI's expectations.

For more information and to register, click here.

Over the past year the PSCI has gone from strength to strength, growing both in numbers and influence. In line with our growing reach, we have produced a short video and pamphlet explaining the work of the Initiative. We hope that members and stakeholders share the video with their networks, and find the pamphlet useful when promoting the PSCI at conferences and other events.

You can watch the video here, and download the pamphlet here.

UN Working Group on Business & Human Rights is calling for proposals for the 8th #UNForumBHR (25-27 Nov 2019) available at: http://www.ohchr.org/2019ForumBHR . Focus on government action: "Time to act: Governments as catalysts for business respect for human rights".

In the last year’s forum, Connie Low from Novartis, one of the PSCI members, presented PSCI and what we are doing. The presentation got positive feedback. It is a strong sign to other industries and the public sector that the Pharmaceutical Industry cares and is taking responsibility towards a better future collaboratively, said by Connie.

The PSCI is delighted to announce the publication of the 2018 Annual Report!

Dr Birgit Skuballa, Bayer (Chair of the PSCI during 2018) had a few words to say about the launch of the report:

"2018 has seen PSCI gain more members, reach more suppliers, perform more audits and host more events than ever before. The growth in our membership is a huge achievement but it is the growth in our impact that I am most proud of."

The Annual Report can be found here.