Our policy positions

It is important for Haleon that we operate at the highest standards within our own business. For example, our ambition on tackling stigma and discrimination as a driver of poor health in society requires Haleon to be a leader on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in our own business. DEI is the essential foundation that supports our commitment to human rights and humanity. By leveraging our diversity, we’re better able to develop new ideas, innovate, understand our markets stakeholders and customers, and drive our successful and competitive workforce.

Related topics: Code of Conduct

Learn more: The Haleon Experience 

Haleon is a world-leading consumer health company with a clear purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity. Our leading brands, built on science, innovation and deep human understanding, are trusted by millions of consumers globally. As a leading consumer health company, we aim to be at the forefront of the application of new scientific technologies to develop new healthcare products and meet the real needs of our consumers.

Emerging technologies such as nanotechnology, genetic engineering and human stem cell research continue to develop at pace. The use of products intentionally designed and produced using emerging technologies has also increased considerably over recent years.

While there are a number of benefits associated with the use of emerging technologies in the research, development and manufacture of a wide range of products, we recognise that any potential hazards to consumer or environmental safety, arising from the novel properties of some materials designed and produced using emerging technologies also need to be appropriately managed.

Haleon’s approach to emerging technologies is guided by the following guiding principles:

1. We are a health company that puts people first. 
2. Trusted Science is a key part of Haleon: we use science to build confidence and trust in self-care, and trust in our brands.
3. We comply with the diverse regulations that apply to our products around the world.

In addition to our commitment to comply with the applicable regulations and our guiding principles, Haleon evaluates data and risks of emerging technologies if used in our products. If available data is insufficient to quantify risk, Haleon adopts a precautionary approach during the development of our products to minimize risks and continues to evaluate the issue and monitor the externally available data.

For Haleon, health inclusivity means increasing opportunities for as many people as possible to enjoy better everyday health, including the socially and economically marginalised and those discriminated against because of disability, age, race and ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. We support policy interventions that facilitate greater health inclusivity by providing the structures, mechanisms, and skills for greater engagement in everyday health, and which empower people to engage in their own health and the health of their community through self-care. We take a health in all policies approach, looking at how health inclusivity can be improved through all levels of policy both within and beyond the traditional healthcare sector. We also acknowledge the role of social determinants on health inclusivity which are the social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental conditions influencing a person’s opportunity to be healthy.

Haleon commits to understanding the interventions which will make the biggest impact to improved health inclusivity, and to partnering with external organisations and experts to achieve this. We are currently partnering with experts from Economist Impact to uncover the drivers of health inclusivity across the globe and create a Health Inclusivity Index to drive positive change.  

Related Positions: Role of pharmacists in self-care; Health inclusivity and self-care; Health literacy and self-care; Value of self-care

Health Literacy refers to the “knowledge, motivation, and competencies of people to access, understand, appraise and apply information to manage health in everyday life regarding health care, disease prevention and health promotion to maintain and promote quality of life during the life course.” With our focus on everyday health, health literacy plays a significant role in how we do business. Understanding the needs of people at all levels of health literacy, and helping to build health literate communities, enables everyone to engage in and improve their everyday health.

Full position coming soon

Related topics: Health inclusivity and self-care; The value of self-care

Oral health has a significant impact on individuals’ everyday health. Oral disease affects approximately 3.5 billion people worldwide and has been linked to poor systemic health and non-communicable diseases (NDCs). Haleon is committed to supporting the improvement of everyday oral health through our portfolio of innovative products, backed by science, targeting specific oral health problems; seeking new ways to improve oral health habits around the world; investing in oral health innovation; working in partnership with academics, NGOs, and others; advocating for improved oral health and inclusivity; and educating and empowering the public and health professionals on the importance of everyday oral health.

Related Positions: Health Inclusivity and self-care

It can be difficult for people to achieve a diet that provides them with adequate levels of all the micronutrients which are necessary to support their everyday health. Vitamin and Mineral Supplements (VMS) therefore play an important role in supporting people’s health and wellness, and in doing so, bring value to healthcare systems. VMS products can empower people to own their health and wellness by providing a convenient and simple way to bridge the gap. As such, vitamin and mineral supplements can be a cost-effective way to reduce the burden on healthcare systems by avoiding direct costs like hospital visits, and further indirect economic costs, such as a loss of productivity. We support measures which ensure consumers have meaningful access to VMS products.

Clinical trials are conducted on all new medicines. Regulators will only approve a new medicine if these trials, together with other research data, demonstrate it has a favourable risk/benefit profile. This position describes Haleon’s approach to conducting clinical trials. It sets out the philosophy underpinning our approach and covers topics including where we conduct our studies, the standard of care we apply, and access to medicines post-trial. It also sets out how we may put in place additional measures in countries with less developed research infrastructure, to help ensure that the rights, safety, and wellbeing of trial subjects are protected, no matter where in the world the trial is being conducted.

Related topics: Clinical research transparency

Alongside the global community, we share deep concern about the ongoing war in Ukraine. We are continuing to take actions guided by our purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity.

As with all the products that we use and consume in our daily lives, the ingredients in everyday health products can end up in the environment by being excreted from our bodies or washed into water systems. Haleon is committed to ensuring that we play our part in minimising the environmental impact of our products, while continuing to deliver benefits to people’s everyday health.

Related topics: Trusted ingredients, sustainably sourced; Political advocacy

Haleon is committed to working with policymakers and policy partners in the interests of consumers, innovation, and public health, and in compliance with local and international laws. Our approach to political advocacy is underpinned by our Haleon values and standards to safeguard the integrity, transparency, and accountability of our activity.

Haleon's spend on political advocacy in 2022

Haleon's spend on political advocacy in 2023

The safety of Haleon’s products and ingredients is core to the care we take to deliver better everyday health for our consumers. Our diligent approach to product and ingredient safety is driven by robust standards and extensive controls that are embedded throughout the design, development, manufacture, and sale of our products. Our commitment to safety extends throughout the product lifecycle through continuous and careful monitoring of the safety of our products and ingredients beyond the point of purchase. Consumers therefore trust our brands because they know each product is made with quality ingredients that have their safety and effectiveness supported by science.

Related topics: Trusted ingredients, sustainably sourced

At Haleon, we are committed to sustainably source deforestation-free key materials by 2030. We have developed guiding principles to drive our work with suppliers and other stakeholders to progress our commitment and are committed to applying our guiding principles in practice by taking position action to address and eliminate deforestation in or related to our value chains. We focus our actions on the palm oil,  paper and soy used to produce the ingredients and materials in our products.

Packaging is essential to delivering our products to consumers. We choose the most appropriate formats and materials for our packaging to create an inclusive user experience for our consumers and meet all safety, quality, and regulatory requirements, ensuring product effectiveness for the full shelf life. Many of these formats and materials are, by necessity, high-performance and high-quality. This comes with a responsibility to use them efficiently. Across our packaging, we’re working to minimise waste and associated pollution by driving a circular model – so that the materials we use can stay in-use – while reducing our dependency on non-renewable sources.

Related topics: Climate action; Trusted ingredients, sustainably sourced

For Haleon to supply high-quality consumer health products where, when and how consumers want them around the globe in a safe, timely and most cost-effective manner, we rely on a diverse and interconnected supply chain.

We aim for supply chain excellence: designing and implementing solutions so that we can leverage global resources in the best way possible whilst we ensure safe, timely, relevant, and cost-effective access to our everyday health products at a local level. We are closely connected to our local market teams, which enables us to make the right decisions for our consumers where they are and act more quickly in responding to local needs.

We have robust due diligence in place to allow us to only conduct business with third-party suppliers, business partners and collaborators who share our commitment to high ethical standards and operate in a responsible and ethical manner towards their workers – both directly and indirectly employed - and their own suppliers.

We believe it is critical that policymakers understand the need for global, diverse supply chains in meeting the needs of our consumers, in normal times and in times of crisis, and avoid putting protectionist policies in place that can compromise our supply chain integrity.

Pharmacists are at the heart of the communities they serve and are the most accessible health experts. By taking a patient-centred approach, pharmacists provide evidence-based, accurate, and accessible self-care information to guide people to make well-informed choices in pharmacy and beyond. This includes information around healthy life choices, recommending appropriate non-prescription medications, identifying when people should consult a physician, and educating patients on how to interact with health information. We believe there are further opportunities to enable pharmacists to fulfil their potential in supporting individual wellbeing and promoting self-care interventions, which can be achieved through targeted policy interventions, supported by all stakeholders.

Related topics: Health inclusivity and self-care; Health literacy and self-care; The value of self-care

Haleon is a global company with a unique portfolio of consumer health products, spanning non-prescription medicines, medical devices, cosmetics, and food and dietary supplements. We operate in a varied yet highly regulated environment where regulatory requirements often differ from country to country around the world.

As a purpose-led business, focused on delivering better everyday health with humanity, we understand the strength of feeling and sensitivity around the use of animals in research. We only use animals in the development of new products where alternative forms of testing do not exist, and where there is a specific scientific, legal, or regulatory requirement to do so, in order to ensure our products are safe and deliver the intended health benefits. 

Animal studies represent a very small part of our research and development of innovative consumer health products. Where we are required to use animals for specific scientific, legal, or regulatory requirements, this is managed exceptionally carefully with our maximum focus on ensuring it is conducted in the most humane way possible.

Ultimately, we would like to see all development of innovative consumer health products take place without the involvement of animals. Haleon is therefore committed to the replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal studies (the 3Rs) and we are actively engaged in efforts to develop and validate experimental methods that can provide alternatives to the use of animals in research. 

Related topics: Trusted ingredients, sustainably sourced

Self-care can play an important role in empowering individuals to become better managers of their everyday health, by enabling them to identify and manage self-limiting conditions and take preventative actions. It can also ease the burden on overstretched healthcare systems, reduce costs, increase the effectiveness of care, and free up time and resources for healthcare professionals, by reducing the need to see and treat patients for conditions suitable for self-treatment. As a world leader in consumer health, Haleon contributes to self-care by researching, developing, and manufacturing consumer health products that enable individuals to participate in self-care. We believe there are further opportunities to support individuals and improve health outcomes by helping to optimise and facilitate self-care interventions.

Related topics: Health inclusivity and self-care; Health literacy and self-care; The role of pharmacists in self-care

Millions of people trust Haleon with their everyday health because of the care we take over our products and the ingredients we use. Earning trust starts with how we select ingredients and design products that people feel good about using. We combine deep human understanding of people’s needs and preferences, with scientific research into the ever-evolving evidence on ingredients, to design high-quality products that meet expectations for quality, efficacy, safety, and desired user experience.

We also recognise that people’s health is inextricably linked to the health of the planet, which is why ensuring the ingredients we select, where we source them, the communities with whom we work to produce them, and the footprint they leave, all add up to just one simple idea: that trusted ingredients, sustainably sourced can ensure a healthy planet for healthy people.

We also believe we can build trust by how we communicate about our products and ingredients. That’s why we aim to be transparent about the ingredients in our products, what they do, and where they come from. The care we take over our ingredients helps people feel good about using them to take care of their health, while also feeling reassured they are taking care of the planet too.

Globally, societies' reliance on natural resources continues to increase, with resource extraction more than tripling since 1970. Many of these resources are only in-use for a short period of time, and they are removed from the economy, ending up in landfill or being downcycled. Driven by the linear economy and the “take-make-waste” approach to using our natural resources, this approach is contributing to pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change. There is a growing imperative to move away from this model and towards a more circular economy. A circular economy is based on three principles:

• Eliminate waste and pollution;
• Circulate products and materials (at their highest value); and
• Regenerate nature

Central to addressing waste is proactively considering it at the early stages of any project or production process. The generation of waste may be avoided by the implementation and prioritization of sustainable procurement, the efficient use of natural resources and by sustainable patterns of production. Despite these efforts, sometimes the generation of waste cannot be avoided. Under these circumstances, a strategy for socially and environmentally responsible waste management should be in place. In 2020, all manufacturing sites owned by Haleon achieved the goal of sending zero waste to landfill. While maintaining this performance, we want to move our manufacturing waste towards greater circularity by certifying our sites using the TRUE Certification system.

Water is a vital resource, which underpins the health of humans and healthy functioning ecosystems. Water is used across our whole value chain. We are dependent on water in our manufacturing processes, for cleaning and sanitation, which ensures that the products we produce are manufactured in full accordance with regulatory requirements where we operate. Water also plays an important role across our products’ lifecycle: from the production and supply of raw materials, and the manufacture of products, to the use of our products by consumers. We are committed to the sustainable and equitable management of water resources, recognising our own impacts on this shared resource, by setting targets to: 

• achieve Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) standard certification at our manufacturing sites by 2025; and
• achieve water neutrality at our manufacturing sites in water-stressed basins¹ by 2030.

1. Determined using publicly available tools to identify water risk such as the WRI Aqueduct Tool, site-specific reviews of local water risk using local data and a materiality of the risk to the business.

At Haleon, we strive to only conduct business with third parties that commit to maintaining high ethical standards and operating responsibly. We rely on our suppliers to help us achieve our targets and deliver our purpose. Maintaining consistent standards and behaviours helps build trust and valuable relationships – with our consumers, stakeholders and suppliers. Any third party that supports our business must apply responsible business behaviours and high ethical standards of business conduct in compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. As a multinational organisation with global reach, Haleon recognises that we have a role to go beyond by driving best practices in key areas such as human rights, environmental protection, and anti-bribery and corruption.

Related topics: Anti-bribery and corruption; Code of conduct; Human Rights; Data privacy; Speak up; Supplier Code of Conduct