While the pharmaceutical industry has found itself under increasing scrutiny for high drug prices , Fortune recently highlighted the good deeds of four drugmakers in its 2016 "Change the World" list.
The list features 50 companies from around the globe who are making efforts to positively change the world.
Britain-based GlaxoSmithKline topped the list at No. 1. In March, the company said it would stop filing drug patents in lower-income areas to decrease drug prices and improve patient access to medication. GSK invests 20 percent of its profits into developing countries to train healthcare workers and promote health system infrastructure. Through a partnership with nonprofit Save the Children, the company teaches locals how to administer vaccines and screen for conditions like malnutrition, according to the report.
Gilead Sciences ranked fourth on the list. While the Foster City, Calif.-based drugmaker has received backlash for the high cost of its hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi, Gilead entered deals with 11 Indian generic drug companies to offer more affordable versions of the medication to individuals in 101 developing countries. The drugmaker also cut the price of Sovaldi by 99 percent in Egypt, which has the highest incidence of hepatitis C in the world.
Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson came in as No. 31 on the list for its development of a drug called Sirturo. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012, Sirturo represents the first tuberculosis medication approved in four decades that can treat the condition's most drug-resistant forms, according to the report. The drug was added to the World Health Organization's Essential Medicines List in 2015 and has so far treated more than 10,000 patients. New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J is working with governments, physicians and organizations to offer the drug to those who need it.
Mumbai-based Cipla ranked 46th on the list. More than 20 years ago, the drugmaker developed an innovative anti-AIDS drug cocktail and offered it to patients for prices as low as a dollar a day. At present, one in three people living with HIV in 115 countries rely on Cipla's medications, according to the report. The company's vision — "none shall be denied" — guides its focus on affordability and global accessibility. Cipla's newest mission is to bring its "dollar a day" to the cancer realm by producing cheaper biosimilar versions of expensive cancer drugs.
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