Stakeholder Engagement

We believe engaging in constructive dialogue with our stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, employees, investors, communities, suppliers and partners, is critical for our long-term success. 

These relationships provide us with new perspectives and valuable information that help us identify issues and improve our performance. We regularly collect feedback through established channels in government relations, investor relations and patient services, as well as individual meetings with other organizations, as necessary.

Specific examples of our engagement include:

Engaging with Patients

We are committed to improving and extending the lives of the patients we serve, and we work with them and others to ensure that we are meeting their needs as best we can.

  • We provide support services to help patients cope with the challenges associated with living with their diseases, as well as resources to help them obtain free or discounted medicines. We continuously evolve our suite of services based on feedback from patients. To learn more about our offerings, please see Patient Services.
  • We engage and interact with patients on our therapies, when feasible. For instance, in 2011 we invited several patients to a number of Biogen Idec staff meetings so they could share their personal experiences with our therapies. Such interactions give us a better understanding of patients’ needs and challenges, help us improve our products and solutions and, ultimately, contribute to better health outcomes.
  • Listening to and gathering feedback from patients allows us to tailor our communications to meet their needs and expectations. Learn more about how we are working to be a trusted source of information for patients.

Engaging with our Employees

Talking with and listening to our employees is key to our success and contributes to our employees’ level of engagement and satisfaction. We solicit feedback through an annual company-wide employee survey, periodic roundtables and an annual employee meeting. We also capture employee concerns through our Compliance Hotline. To learn more, please see Our Culture.

Engaging with Investors

There are a number of ways we engage and communicate with investors regarding Biogen Idec’s corporate citizenship initiatives. For instance, in 2011 we provided detailed information to SAM and Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, some of the most prominent entities that track the stock performance of the world's leading companies in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria. We then engaged SAM to review Biogen Idec’s corporate citizenship practices compared with our industry peers. This benchmarking review provided valuable feedback on our performance and helped us identify areas for improvement. 

Additionally, we belong to a number of industry organizations that share best practices within and outside our industry. Some of these groups include:

  • BioPharma EHS Forum
  • Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)
  • Corporate Responsibility Officer Association (CRO)
  • DirectEmployers Association
  • Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI)
  • Mercer
  • Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
  • Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI)