Launched in 2010, the Business Ethics for APEC SMEs Initiative biopharmaceutical sector program actively advances the adoption and implementation of voluntary codes of ethics by the region’s relevant industry associations. These associations include thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises that constitute the majority of firms operating in the region’s biopharmaceutical sector.

Welcomed by APEC Economic Leaders and Ministers, the Initiative – the largest public-private partnership to promote business ethics in the world – realizes the best practices set by the APEC Mexico City Principles for the Biopharmaceutical Sector. Monitoring and evaluation of code adoption and implementation by the APEC region’s biopharmaceutical industry associations serves as one of the Initiative’s core activities. This is done through an annual survey program extended to every known biopharmaceutical industry association in the region. To date, the Initiative monitors 71 biopharmaceutical industry associations that represent a significant majority of the regional biopharmaceutical economy.