Interview Wim Leereveld - Founder and CEO

Wim Leereveld, Founder and CEO of the Access to Medicine Foundation shares the history of the foundation from its earliest inception as a nonprofit created to reward companies for their corporate socially responsible programs to creating the first Index of its kind to encourage pharmaceutical companies to improve their policies and procedures around access to medicine.

Q. Where did the idea for the Access to Medicine Foundation come from?

A. The Access to Medicine Foundation evolved from an early foundation I created called ‘Wereldbedrijven’ or “World Business.” It was 2003 and my goal at that time was to create a foundation to stimulate and reward companies for doing socially responsible work. At that time CSR (corporate social responsibility) was still a business and marketing notion that no one seemed to really know how to get their hands around it to make it at an important and valuable element of business. I knew that if I could create a system that assigned some real value to company’s CSR efforts it would serve as a catalyst for other companies to also participate and give back to society.

Q. What made you move from the business sector to the nonprofit area?

A. Early on in my career I was fortunate to enjoy quite a few successes. I had been involved with bringing a company to the Nasdaq that provided marketing services to the pharmaceutical industry. I was enjoying my work in the pharma industry and building an area of expertise, but my real passion at that time was in ‘building things’. In the back of my mind I was still focused on the idea of helping the private sector refine their CSR efforts towards creating sustainable and culturally relevant practices. And then it happened…..911.

Q. How did the events of 9/11 affect your life?

A. Like everyone else I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the events of 911 began to unravel. I was in Den Hague attending a seminar on social responsibility and a gentleman from Kenya was sharing his story about setting up and opening schools in the country for children that would normally not have the opportunity to get an education. During that seminar, news of 911 began to trickle into the class room and then we saw the news video. I tell you, when I saw those pictures I knew immediately that the incredible difference between rich and poor in this world would damage us all.  From that moment on I knew I was going to create a foundation that would help bring some balance back into the lives of people around the world.

Q. And that was the Access to Medicine Foundation?

A. Not right away. This monumental moment in my life, first lead to the development of Wereldbedrijven. Still, the role of the Foundation evolved quickly, by  2005 that my focus began to gravitate towards the issue of access to medicine and the role of the Pharmaceutical Industry within this area. While attending seminars and speaking with business leaders and NGO’s it became obvious that the access to medicine issue was a big part of the agenda to improve the lives of those in need. The specifically pharmaceutical industry, the world I knew so well played a huge role in helping to solve this problem so the conversation seemed to always focus around the fact that Big Pharma was not doing enough to help get vital medicines to communities in developing countries.

Q. With your background in the pharmaceutical area it must have seem like a natural fit.

A. Yes, from that point further, I began to refine my idea of creating a reward system open to all companies to focusing primarily on the pharmaceutical industry. As well, I already possessed a great knowledge of the pharmaceutical area. Knowledge that I could see others did not have.

Q. How did you apply this knowledge?

A. The thinking at the time was to place public pressure on the pharmaceutical industry in such as way as to force them to act. There was an element of shame involved in this tactic that I knew would not work. What people didn’t realize is that the pharma industry was willing to improve their access to medicine programs but they simply didn’t know how.

Q. What was your idea then?

A. Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years and knowing the industry as I did, I understood that a driving force within that sector was its sense of competitiveness. Rather than working against this instinct I thought why not use that characteristic to help redirect efforts towards social issues. Together with a number of very knowledgeable and skilled individuals we began to research and develop appropriate guidelines for which companies could wrap their social programs around.

Q. And then the idea of the Index was created.

A. Well with my background it was a natural step to move from working with a variety of businesses to targeting the pharmaceutical industry. I came into contact with a number of key individuals that began to steer me in the right direction and slowly the idea of creating an Index began to take shape. There are a lot of talented individuals that are active in the access to medicine field. At that time Oxfam, VSO and Save the Children had just published a very important report called “Beyond Philanthropy.” The report challenged the pharmaceutical industry to improve its efforts to tackle the global health crisis in developing countries and benchmarked five areas where CSR policies should govern companies’ core business activities. A driving force behind the report was a consultant, Sophia Tickell and after reading the report I immediately went to see her. She was very knowledgeable and so with her help and other individuals and organizations serving as advisors we refined the idea of an Index.

Q. Why an Index?

A. It quickly became clear that the biggest hurdle at that time was that there was absolutely no consensus among civil society and businesses on what the pharmaceutical industry should be doing, and most importantly, where they should be focusing their attention. It was like the ‘Tower of Babel.” Each group had their own opinion and in some cases were advising completely different things. You can imagine the confusion this created for the industry. The Access to Medicine Foundation organized a common path among stakeholders as well as defining a guidelines for the pharma industry in which their policies and procedures on access to medicine could be measured.It was not simple to find a sort of consensus it took us years…..!The Index is simply the most effective tool for allowing us to complete this objective while tapping into the competitive nature of the industry.

Q. How did the global health community and industry respond to the first Access to Medicine Index?

A. The first Index was published in 2008, with the help of Innovest, now MSCI group. At first pharmaceutical companies were skeptical and suspicious of the Index. They worried that this was going to be a tool to berate and shame them with the public. We had to earn their trust and communicate that our goal was to help set the guidelines to make their access to medicine policies and procedures more visible, effective and of course, bring attention to those companies doing well and encourage others to do more. At the same time, Paul Hunt Special Rapporteur for the United Nations (2002-2008) used the methodology of the Index as the guidelines for a UN Human Rights Report. This helped us get the attention of the international global health community and a number of governments as well.

Q. What was the initial reaction of the Index?

A. The first Index was important because if proved ‘proof of concept’ and I think all the stakeholders at the time where very encouraged and excited by that. It was clear that the Index needed some refinement but it did grab the attention of international media as well as key influencers from the medical, global health, business and academic world.   

Q. How has the Index evolved?

A. Our primary goal is to continue to create an Index that reflects the reality of both the pharmaceutical industry and the needs of those individuals worldwide that live without access to medicine. The methodology of the second Index had been greatly expanded to bring it in line with global medical standards as well.

Q. What is your vision for the Index and the Foundation in the future?

A. Access to medicine is a broad and complex issue. The Index was a powerful first step towards organizing big pharma, but the truth is that access to medicine is a far greater problem that goes beyond just measuring one segment of the global business market. The Foundation will continue to expand its role to bring health care and a better standard of living to vulnerable communities as well as working with the pharmaceutical industry to help guide then in refining and improving their access to medicine policies and procedures. When we are able to finetune our measurements, we may be able to measure real impact on the ground which means figures seeing a decrease in people that lack ATM that is my greatest challenge.