And the 2010 Winner in Sustainability Indexing in Healthcare Is: Roche

Each year, SAM, a Zurich boutique investment house, conducts a study of major public companies to include in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), which is then licensed to financial firms to compose an investment fund. The criteria include “corporate economic, environmental and social performance, assessing issues such as corporate governance, risk management, branding, climate change mitigation, supply chain standards and labor practices,” according to a Dow Jones statement. This year, 2,500 large-capitalization companies were polled, 1,237 responded, and 318 were ultimately included in DJSI World. (There are also a growing number of regional or

sectoral indices.) In the healthcare “supersector” (which includes biopharma, med device and health plans, but not providers), a total of 20 companies were selected, and then a “sector leader” is identified—in this case, Roche.

Does virtuous management (in the form of a superior sustainability assessment) translate into better financial performance? Although DJSI World has had some higher-performing years when compared to the DJ Global Large-Cap Total Stock Market Index, its performance since inception (1999) has fallen short: DJSI World grew by 17.9% in US dollar terms, while the large-cap index grew by 27.2%, according to data published by SAM. PC

The “Healthcare Sustainability 20” in alphabetical order

• Abbott Laboratories

• Astrazeneca

• Baxter International

• Becton Dickinson

• Coloplast A/S

• Essilor International

• Genzyme

• GlaxoSmithKline

• Humana

• Johnson & Johnson

• Life Technologies

• MDS (Canada)

• Novartis

• Novo Nordisk

• Novozymes

• Quest Diagnostics

• Roche

• Sanofi-Aventis

• Smith & Nephew

• United Health