Integrated Report 2022
PatientsAccess to affordable healthcare is a global priority. We support the WHO's promotion of Universal Health Coverage and are committed to advancing the goals and outcomes of the UN SDG3 of “ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages”. We believe that our market position as a global pharmaceutical company with a relevant portfolio of medicines and vaccines is the most fundamental way in which we contribute to increasing access to medicines and furthering the global goal of universal access to healthcare. The medicines we manufacture and distribute improve health, enhance the quality of life of patients globally and contribute to creating economic benefit through healthier, more productive populations. We continue to focus on developing a product portfolio that leverages our intellectual and manufacturing advantage, including investment in effective older specialty medicines that provide viable treatment options compared to expensive new innovative drugs. Effective treatments contribute to lower healthcare costs and prevent more costly treatment requirements. Through our extensive global presence, and a strong presence in developing regions, we extend the availability of our medicines and products to new patient populations.
We are intently committed to making our increased sterile manufacturing capacity available to ensure equitable access to vaccines for less developed countries, with a particular emphasis on African countries. We have demonstrated our ability to produce vaccines and are well positioned to make a meaningful contribution to strengthening health security and achieving enhanced access to high quality, affordable medicines. We look forward to our partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and CEPI through which we will receive grant funding to support African regional manufacturing capacity for an affordable supply of vaccines to, among others, African countries and Gavi/UNICEF, as well as contributing to pandemic preparedness through a share of our manufacturing capacity over a period of 10 years.
We share the responsibility to build resilient and sustainable healthcare systems with governments and private stakeholders, such as healthcare professionals, NGOs and other private sector participants.
Applying the brakes to slow down myopia in children
Myopia, also known as near-sightedness, is a condition in which someone can see objects nearby clearly, but objects farther away are blurry. Myopia is a growing public health concern worldwide and increasingly it is an issue for children. Childhood myopia is critically important to address as it can progress to the more severe version called high myopia, which can lead to an increased risk of sight-threatening eye disease in the years to come.
With the combination of younger children spending more time on devices than ever before, less time spent outdoors, COVID-19-related lockdowns, remote learning and isolation, there are increasing numbers of children being diagnosed with myopia in Australia and other parts of the world, and this is being called a 'crisis of myopia'.
In response to a patient unmet need that was identified by a local paediatric ophthalmologist and opinion leader, four years ago Aspen Australia initiated the development process that has subsequently led to the launch of Eikance (0,01% atropine sulfate) eye drops in 2022. Eikance is a prescription medicine used to treat children with myopia who are aged 4 to 14 years old by slowing down the progression of myopia.
As part of the launch activities, a consumer media project was developed to inform and educate families about myopia and raise awareness of the availability of Eikance, reaching over 4,3 million Australians.
Our PeopleOn the back of unprecedented times and massive global and business disruptions caused by COVID-19, our diverse team of skilled, accountable and engaged employees have stayed focused on delivering our strategic objectives. This has required us to not only reset and refocus our human capital priorities to respond to the future world of work, but also provide for a connected, enabling, supportive and safe environment for our employees. How employees are treated, how they show up in the workplace and how they thrive were front and centre of our focus. While more business units implemented hybrid arrangements or full return-to-the-office programmes, we continued to prioritise keeping our employees engaged, connected and well-informed. We adapted leave policies and placed an increased focus on providing employee well-being and mental health support initiatives as employees navigated post COVID-19 realities. We enhanced our leader support and development to provide our executives and managers with effective tools and skills to enable inclusive leadership and foster collaboration within their teams. We have taken the opportunity to progress our policies, procedures and practices to help us continue to create an enabling environment that respects and nurtures the diversity within our business, despite the location of individuals. Maintaining an inclusive culture was at the centre of our approach, underpinning our overarching duty of care for our employees' wellness and safety.
Resilience in the face of adversity
When the news broke of a conflict situation in Ukraine, our first concern was to ensure the safety of our Ukrainian colleagues. Emergency assistance was provided to the team to make sure that they, and their families, could move to areas of safety and their immediate needs could be taken care of. Following the initial days, regional executives maintained almost daily communication with each member to ensure their continued well-being.
What struck us, was the resilience and a pioneering spirit demonstrated by the team despite the humanitarian crisis unfolding in their home country and the significant personal stress they were facing. The team persisted and explored new ways of working to ensure that patients in Ukraine have access to medication while continuing to deliver on their own business objectives. Together with our global supply chain teams, new logistical routes for importing and distributing medication to Ukraine were established, and sales and marketing activities continued through amended working solutions. These efforts were supplemented by humanitarian assistance provided through the donation of Anaesthetics to facilitate 62 000 surgeries.
The team continues to demonstrate its resilience, engagement and dedication to our business as the conflict in Ukraine continues. We are proud of their unwavering commitment to our purpose of improving the health and quality of life of patients and our credo "Healthcare. We Care."
Accolades
AGI was awarded the Top Employer Award for Mauritius for the third consecutive year.
Aspen Holdings won the Transparency and Reporting Leadership category and was a finalist in the Gender Inclusive Workplace category in the WEP Awards (South Africa).
Beta Healthcare International Ltd (Kenya) was awarded one of two trophies in the Social Impact/CSR awards 2021 by Digital Events Limited for Best in Health & Safety Initiatives, recognising the site's efforts in ensuring a safe working environment for its employees.
SocietyOur responsible corporate citizenship philosophy encapsulates our commitment to conducting business ethically, with integrity and with commercial wisdom. We strive to enhance the economic and social well-being of our patients, consumers, investors, employees, customers and business partners.
We are committed to adopting a stakeholderinclusive governance approach and sustaining strong relationships with our stakeholders through transparency and effective communication. The Board takes overall responsibility for ensuring a stakeholder-inclusive governance approach and ensuring that a Group stakeholder engagement policy is in place. During the year, we have had a wide range of structured and ad hoc engagements with our broad stakeholder base. Our approach to stakeholder engagement and a summary of the most material stakeholder engagements that we have undertaken are set out in Engaging with our stakeholders.
Led by an effective Board and long-serving, experienced executives, we operate on an established foundation of strong corporate governance. The King IV Report on Corporate Governance is implemented throughout the Group. More can be read about this in our approach to governance and our governance overview, where we also report on our application of the King IV principles.
Lawful compliance and respect for the rule of law underpins an ordered and effective society. We are committed to complying with the applicable legal and regulatory requirements wherever we do business. The Group Executive: Governance & Communications, who is also the Company Secretary, is responsible for the implementation of an effective legislative compliance framework and provides the Board with assurance in respect of the Group's compliance with applicable laws and regulations. He is supported by the Group Head: Ethics & Compliance in fulfilling this mandate.
There were no significant incidents of legislative infringements recorded during the year under review, reflecting the Group's effective compliance management and governance processes.
Reducing period poverty
Seven million women in South Africa suffer from period poverty. Period poverty, defined as a lack of access to menstrual products, hygiene facilities, waste management and education, affects many women globally causing physical, mental and emotional challenges.
The stigma that shrouds periods further prevents individuals from talking about it and is also one of the leading causes of absenteeism in school-going female learners mostly in rural and township communities. Aspen recently made a public pledge to donate 50 000 sanitary pads to Noordgesig Secondary School in Soweto, South Africa and handed these over to the young women. This school has been previously announced as a top achieving school with an 85% pass rate. The sanitary pads donated will assist in alleviating period poverty in the lives of the 655 girls at Noordgesig Secondary School for 12 months.
The public pledge was made on a special broadcast on the national broadcaster, SABC, focusing on the scourge of period poverty, which has subsequently won an international award which will be conferred to the SABC at the end of the United Nations General Assembly.
Additionally, Aspen in collaboration with the Siyakunakekela Foundation – a non-profit organisation that focuses on ensuring young women in township and rural areas have access to feminine and hygiene products – have donated sanitary pads to over 900 girls from Minerva Secondary School in Alexandra, South Africa, which will assist them for a year.
EnvironmentWe are committed to practising responsible environmental stewardship, seeking to minimise any negative impact our operations may have on the environment and to comply with applicable laws, regulations and other environmental management requirements. We promote the efficient use of resources such as energy, water, packaging and production materials, with due regard to the scarcity of natural resources and the environmental impact resulting from the utilisation and application of such resources in conducting our business activities. We are a participant of the UN Global Compact and fully support global initiatives aimed at protecting the environment and conserving natural resources.
This year we joined the National Business Initiative in South Africa as well as the World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. as corporate members. Through these partnerships we intend to engage in collaborative thought leadership, collective action and knowledge sharing on climate and other related topics.
The implementation of our Group Environmental Policy (incorporating the Group's environmental management principles) and compliance with all applicable legislation are the responsibility of designated business unit executives.
Our Board monitors the status of environmental risks through the review of material environmental management performance indicators at scheduled intervals. In addition, any significant environmental risks are escalated through the Group risk management process. The Social & Ethics Committee assists the Board in monitoring compliance with the relevant environmental legislation and monitoring the adequacy of environmental management systems. Under the direction of a Group Chief Corporate Services Officer, the Group Risk & Sustainability function develops and promotes our environmental management principles and standards, with the Group SHE Operations function monitoring the alignment of business units' environmental management systems with the Group's standards. In addition to this, an Executive Sustainability Forum was established in August 2022 to oversee the development of the Group's sustainability strategy and ensure integration and alignment of the sustainability objectives with business priorities. This forum (chaired by the Group Chief Operations Officer) comprises members of the Group executive and other senior managers, and has executive oversight of the Group sustainability performance.
Our environmental management systems are aligned with global standards. Environmental certification covers 83% of our manufacturing sites with all of our fully commercialised primary finished dose form manufacturing sites and all, but one, of our API manufacturing sites currently complying with ISO 14001:2015. The Sioux City and Ghana sites have been excluded from certification due to the limited scale of their operations.
During the year, a number of environmental training interventions were conducted across the manufacturing sites to ensure the consistent application of environmental principles, standard operating procedures and compliance with legislative requirements, and to create awareness of new developments. The Group participates in a number of industry platforms in order to keep abreast of initiatives and technological developments focused on the efficient use of scarce natural resources. Awareness campaigns were rolled out across the Group in celebration of World Water Day and World Environment Day. A platform for the sharing of best practice on manufacturing-related environmental topics was established this year. This manufacturing sustainability COE comprises small and medium enterprises from across the Group and has enabled knowledge sharing on various environmental themes.
The Aspen Code of Conduct for Suppliers and Service Providers requires our vendors to conduct their business in an environmentally conscious manner and to ensure compliance with the applicable environmental legislation.
A focus on water stewardship by our API sites
We recognise the importance of producing medicines in the most sustainable manner. Sustainable production means we also need to consider our responsibility to preserve the environment, for instance, through water stewardship.
We are actively reducing our water consumption such as at our API site, Fine Chemicals Corporation in South Africa, which is located in a water-scarce region. By implementing various water-saving projects over the past few years, the site has reduced its municipal water intake by 52%.
This effort also benefits the local communities that share the same water resources. Besides reducing consumption, we are also looking for ways of treating and recovering water on-site for utility systems. Instead of using freshwater, we use recycled water in the cooling system.
We continuously improve our processes and use environmentally friendly chemicals. Moreover, we eliminate toxic chemicals from our water effluent before entering the environment. Our chemical production plants in the Netherlands, including containment pits, have been disconnected from the main sewage system, preventing the discharges of potentially harmful materials into the surrounding environment. Process water collected at the Moleneind site is evaporated and then condensated at a specialised water treatment facility before being discharged to the sewage system. API material is removed from the effluent during the condensation process because APIs are non-volatile. The remaining API material is discarded as hazardous waste and incinerated.
Since 2011, our De Geer site has reduced 98% of estrogen discharges to wastewater. Aspen API aims to achieve zero-emission of aquatic hazard substances by 2030.