Roivant Social Ventures Publishes Global Access Scorecard to Guide Impact Investors in Making Equitable Investment Decisions
Roivant Social Ventures (RSV), a social impact organization launched by Roivant Sciences, today announced the publication of a proprietary Global Access Scorecard that impact investors can use to guide equitable investment decisions.
The innovative scorecard is designed to help impact investors identify investments that, in addition to meeting existing investment criteria, will expand inclusive access to healthcare. The Scorecard includes three key criteria evaluating whether the technology will increase access to medical care and healthcare in underserved global communities: (1) Target outcomes and target equity of the company and its technology (2) Scientific viability of the product (3) Corporate governance and business structure.
The Global Access Scorecard uses building blocks of existing Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) principles and applies them to the biotech, healthcare, and drug manufacturing context. It analyzes net benefit to all stakeholders, including the patient/consumer, company employees, and company investors.
“Impact investors are in a powerful position to shape global access, given their early position in the investment lifecycle,” said Rachel Rubin, RSV VP of Investments and Programs. “In order to ensure global access provisions persist through drug approval, we must build a coalition of like-minded investment professionals to carry the torch into future funding rounds.” The project was led by Rubin and Kenneth Zhou, RSV Global Access Fellow and PhD candidate at Yale School of Medicine.
Access to affordable medicines is a critical component of health, and the lack of equitable access for many treatments, cures, and other health innovations creates hardship and healthcare barriers. The current system, where a drug is approved before conversations begin about global access, too often means that underserved patients obtain medicines too late, or not at all. These delays can lead to worsening health disparities, sometimes to the point of crisis. RSV is confident that adoption of the Global Access Scorecard will yield improved health outcomes globally.
About Roivant Social Ventures
Roivant Social Ventures (RSV) is a 501(c)(3) social impact organization focused on improving healthcare access and outcomes for underserved groups. RSV uses advances in science and technology as vehicles to challenge and advance the norms of biopharma and healthcare delivery. RSV pursues two strategies: (i) investing in and incubating early-stage companies working to address unmet needs in medicine; and (ii) increasing the number of diverse leaders in the biopharma industry through partnerships, education and training programs.
RSV is founded and led by CEO and President Lindsay Androski. Androski’s experience in comprehensive drug development at Roivant Sciences includes key roles in the launch and incubation of 16 biotechs, leading to 5 approved medicines to date.