Ethical issues and relations with commercial organisations

Alzheimer's Society position statement

The Alzheimer's Society has a rigorous approach to the support received from companies, pharmaceutical companies, those that benefit commercially from dementia, and investments we may make in companies. This policy was reviewed and revised in August 2007, is monitored and reviewed each year.

The Alzheimer's Society will work in partnership with companies and others, to achieve its objectives.

The purpose of the policy is to regulate any support we receive from companies to protect the Society and our beneficiaries from the risk of being associated with a commercial organisation whose activities might be detrimental to our cause. It requires the Society to ensure that any product endorsement is evidence based.

To support the needs of people with dementia and those who care for them the Society needs to work with others and it needs to derive income from a variety of sources. In deriving income from commercial organisations it will:

• not endorse products without evidence of benefit to those living with dementia or evidence of a benefit in the prevention of dementia;
• ensure that all engagements with commercial organisations are conducted and reported on in a transparent manner
• support this policy with detailed guidelines on interpretation and make those guidelines publicly and readily available
• keep the policy under constant review and report on its implementation to the Board of Trustees on an annual basis
• ensure that any inclusions/exclusions to the policy are made clearly known.

Following the adoption of the policy in August 2007, it was agreed that:

• the Society will not accept donations from the tobacco industries or boxing, or those who make the substantial part of their profit from tobacco or boxing;
• that donations from the pharmaceutical industry be 'capped' at 5% of income (£2 million in 2007/2008), based on the accounts for the preceding year; and that
• the Society will seek partnerships with healthcare industries and those working with dementia.

Written agreements with companies are required before a partnership is agreed with them.

The Society also instructs its investment advisers to avoid any investment in companies, which profit materially from products that may be harmful to dementia sufferers or contribute to the causes of dementia. Consequently investments in the tobacco and boxing industries are avoided.

Pharmaceutical donations

April 2008 - March 2009

In 2008/09 donations from pharmaceutical companies totalled £122,000.  The majority of this was support for Worried about your memory? awareness campaign, totalling £105,500, from Eisai Ltd, Pfizer Ltd, and Shire Pharmaceuticals Ltd.  An additional £16,500 has been recieved from Pfizer Ltd and Eisai Ltd.

Our ethical policy states that income from the pharmceutical industry is to be capped at 5% of income based on the accounts for the preceding year.  Donations from the pharmaceutical industry in 2008/09 represented 0.24% of our total income.

Last updated: October 2009