GSK Vaccines can provide financial support or donation for requests that meet the following criteria:
- The requestor is an established organization, not an individual.
- The requesting organization must be officially registered in its country.
- There is no duplicate with a similar request in another part of GSK.
- The cumulative GSK funding cannot represent more than 25% of an organization's annual revenue of the current year (with possible exceptions for Patient organizations focusing on rare diseases with low prevalence).
- The requested support must be permissible under local laws and regulations and under local GSK policies.
Ineligible recipients:
- An individual.
- An organization that is an alter ego of a particular individual, such as a personal services corporation or a charitable foundation in which that individual or an immediate family member has an instrumental role in the management or leadership.
- An organization through which healthcare practitioners come together to administer their medical practices (e.g., a medical staff or faculty practice association).
- An organization or department which is assessed to have a conflict of interest that cannot be adequately managed.
- An affiliate or alter ego of an ineligible recipient.
- An organization that is reasonably believed to be positioned to act as a “pass through” organization for provision of resources to an otherwise ineligible recipient.
- Political candidates, campaigns, or parties.
- An organization on which a GSK employee is serving in a board role or other position of influence unless its activities are not of a clinical nature and do not have the potential to impact patient treatment or guidelines (the applicable Grants and Donations Committee may approve an exception to this prohibition in circumstances when, in its judgment, the funding would provide a significant benefit to the medical or scientific community or to patients and would not pose an undue reputational risk to GSK).
The cumulative GSK funding in the year of the support cannot represent more than 25% of an organization's annual revenue in that year.
Except for IMEs, the requesting organization must be non-profit or be able to demonstrate that the activity for which support is requested is non-profit.
I. FINANCIAL GRANTS
CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTION
Monetary support to an organization that relies on community contributions, where the purpose is to benefit the public or the community through activities and community support devoted to the assistance of those in need (e.g. funding aimed at supporting institutions that help low-income, disabled or sick people to get housing, social living, education, etc.)
CORE OPERATIONAL COSTS
Monetary contribution to an organization’s general operational costs (not an event), in general throughout a calendar year or a defined period of time.
CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP
Financial or other support provided by GSK to a requesting organization in order to become a member, based on pre-established membership classification, categories or levels of support, as defined by the requesting organization by-laws, charters or guidelines. The membership is open and available to other entities besides GSK; there is no expectations of return in terms of public policies/influence on public policies for GSK.
- PPG CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP (OUT OF SCOPE OF GDSC): sub-category of corporate membership, managed by Public Policy Group (PPG) for financial or other support GSK provides to a requesting organization to become a member, with expectations of return in terms of public policies/influence on public policies for GSK etc.
(INDEPENDENT MEDICAL) EDUCATIONAL EVENT / ACTIVITY
Monetary contribution to a meeting, production of educational material or other with educational purpose related to health topics. Medical education includes activities that maintain, develop or increase the knowledge, skills and professional performance and relationships that HCPs/OHS use to provide services for patients, the public or the profession. Independent Medical Education (IME) means Medical Education where GSK does not influence content, speaker faculty or audience selection, or participate in its delivery. GSK Vaccines has identified areas of interest with gaps in medical education related to disease areas where GSK has marketed products, as well as in general areas of vaccinology.
FELLOWSHIP / STUDENTSHIP
Funding aimed at supporting students' education and training, where GSK Vaccines funds not the individual himself or herself but the Requesting Organization or the program that awards the support. A selection process must be in place at the level of the organization without GSK Vaccines being involved in the selection process. NOTE: Only fellowships that are fully independent from GSK and take place elsewhere with just a financial support from GSK are in scope of GDSC. Fellowships that take place within GSK facilities, on GSK projects or which benefit for GSK are out of scope of GDSC.
NON-SCIENTIFIC MEETING
Funding aimed at supporting a meeting not dedicated to science, research or health care
PROJECT
Funding aimed at supporting an educational, scientific, research, or health care project over a period of time (ex: research projects via PhDs, set-up of programs including several studies (protocols not yet defined) and advisory boards)
SCIENTIFIC MEETING / CONGRESS
Funding aimed at supporting a meeting dedicated to science, research or health care - TRAVEL GRANT: specific funding program supporting travel, accommodation and / or registration fees ONLY, aimed at enabling attendance of HCPs / OHS ONLY to global/ international IME activities or scientific congresses (with a selection process in place, based on merit and / or need (in general participants from low-middle income countries)).
UNIVERSITY CHAIR
Funding aimed at supporting a permanent position / organization within a university or high school, dedicated to the teaching of a specific-fic discipline or course.
OTHER
To be defined by the requesting organization
II. DONATIONS
DONATION
Non-financial support consisting into
- DONATION OF EQUIPMENT / MATERIAL: provision of new or salvaged equipment/material (including, but not limited to, IT, manufacturing, scientific, and analytical laboratory equipment or materials, subject to the respective business units or functional SOPs
- DONATION OF VACCINES: donation of GSK vaccines not related to any commercial offer or to a GSK sponsored or supported research project, or compassionate use/named patient access program. Vaccine donations in response of emergency / disaster situations are under GSK’s Corporate Global Health Program responsibility (out of scope of Grants and Donations)
III. IN-KIND SUPPORT
Non-financial support provided to an organization (i.e. use of GSK facilities for instance, time of GSK presenters, …)
TYPES OF REQUESTS SUPPORTED BY GSK VACCINES:
- Provision of free goods or other assets made in the context of a commercial or R&D transaction (e.g., GSK products provided as free goods, Patient Assistance Program, medical samples or product replacement, equipment, services and other assets for capacity building).
- Political contributions
- Orange Day activities, Pulse and other employee volunteering activities, unless they include a grant by GSK to the non-profit partners
- Compassionate use
- Supported research studies.
- Human subject research
- Importation of medicines into a country where it is unlicensed but has had approval in the US or the European Union.
TYPES OF REQUESTS NOT SUPPORTED BY GSK VACCINES:
- Any activities where there is a primary religious or political purpose.
- Any activities including luxurious venues or venues that can be considered as such.
- Any entertainment activities or social activities.
GSK Vaccines has a program to support, indirectly, the continued education of mainly Health Care Professionals (HCPs) through attendance at reputable medical and scientific congresses. Grants may be awarded for:
- travel sponsorship programs which are established by reputable medical and scientific organizations to enable mainly HCPs/OHS to attend global independent medical education activities or scientific congresses
- meetings that focus on general vaccinology or specific disease areas in which GSK Vaccines has marketed products.
Independent Medical Education (IME) projects eligible for GSK Vaccines’ support include educational activities in general vaccinology or specific disease areas in which GSK Vaccines has marketed products, for (mainly) HCPs to improve their day-to-day patient care.
Source: Anti-Bribery & Corruption Policy, GSK Enterprise POL_150091 (13.0), Section 2.1 ‘Government’ refers to all levels and subdivisions of governments, i.e. local, regional, national, administrative, legislative, executive, or judicial, and royal or ruling families. Government officials are defined broadly as:
- Any officer or employee of a government or any department, agency, or instrumentality of a government (which includes public enterprises, and entities owned or controlled by the state);
- Any officer or employee of a public international organization (for example, the World Bank or United Nations);
- Any officer or employee of a political party, or any candidate for public office;
- Any person defined as a government or public official under applicable local laws (including anti-bribery and corruption laws) and not already covered by any of the above; and/or
- Any person acting in an official capacity for or on behalf of any of the above.
- We extend the definition of government official to any person with close family members who are government officials with the capacity, actual or perceived, to influence or take official decisions affecting GSK business.
Source: External Expert with Influence on our Business, SOP_344448 Procedure for Engaging with External Experts to Provide Services
EEs have an actual or perceived influence that impacts our business when they make or influence public (government) or private decisions on the approval, recommendation, prescription or use of our medicines including but not limited to on advisory boards, formulary or purchasing committees, guideline committees. This applies at the local, state, country or international level.
1. Able to influence government.
2. Members of advisory boards that make recommendations related to the use of our products and other business operations.
3. Members of formulary committees.
4. Individuals who make purchasing decisions.
5. Individuals who have responsibility for allocating or influencing funds.
6. Close family members of those listed above.
If an EE meets any of the criteria above (disclosed on the Conflict of Interest form), the EE is considered to have influence on our business (EEIB). This also includes close family members of an EE who may have a position of influence.
