The Access to Medicine Foundation, which works to encourage pharma to do more in poor countries, has just issued its new Index that rates the 20 largest drugmakers on their efforts to make meds affordable and available. As the chart indicates, Glaxo was ranked No. 1 and Schering-Plough is last.

The Index uses 28 ‘indicators’ that are grouped into eight main criteria, which can examine by looking at the handy-dandy pie chart provided. You can look at this interactive chart to more closely examine the rankings for each individual drugmaker, too. The analysis was conducted by Innovest. This is the full report.

In discussing the results, the foundation says “lower-ranked companies do not consider access to medicine as a key issue. Lower performers usually do not have a formal access to medicine policy that is backed at the board level, and/or they disclose little information on their efforts to improve access to medicine. They have very few programs in place to address the access to medicine issue and most of them do not have a clear commitment to respond to access to medicine challenges in the future.”

Among the key findings: The number of R&D programs focused on neglected diseases is growing; drugmakers increasingly rely on partnerships to implement R&D programs into neglected diseases; most recognize the relevance of the access to medicine issue and have developed access to medicine policies at the board level; pharma increasingly relies on licensing and/or technology transfer with generic makers in the developing world to increase manufacturing capacity and ensure long-term supply of affordable and good-quality drugs; pharma is moving toward more disclosure of policy positions on access to medicine and fundings of various groups and political parties;

At the same time, many drugmakers provided clear access to medicine policies at the global level but did not disclose how programs are implemented at local levels, for instance by local subsidiaries; industry leaders have mechanisms in place to manage access to medicine risks but most companies faill to recognize business risks associated with access to medicine; some companies rely on potentially counterproductive drug donation programs rather than more sustainable equitable pricing mechanisms.

UPDATE: A Teva spokeswoman writes us to say: “It looks like the data that was used in this report is taken from information provided by some of the NGOs we donate to - it was not information provided by Teva. Teva does not currently publish this information. Also, one important point to note is that most of the pharma companies listed are branded and as such, their donations dollars will typically be much higher since generic prices are lower to ensure all patients have access to the medicines they need. Teva is committed to making quality healthcare accessible to everyone.”