The Inter-American Coalition for Business Ethics in the Medical Technology Sector (“the Coalition”) serves as the first and only initiative across the Western Hemisphere to strengthen ethical business practices for all stakeholders that operate within or interact with the medical technology sector. The initiative was welcomed during an exploratory session of leading private and public organizations in Lima, Peru on the margins of the 2016 APEC Business Ethics for SMEs Forum.
Launched in Bogotá, Colombia in 2017, the Coalition has developed Bogotá Principles that adopt high-standard international ethical business practices for all members. This includes industry collaboration with healthcare professionals, ethical third party intermediary relationships, and the role of governments as positive enablers in fostering high-standard ethics in the health system.
Today, the Coalition has unified the 17 largest industry bodies for the medical technology sector, enabling them to pursue and implement aligned codes of ethics. Based in 10 countries, these 17 industry bodies serve over 3,000 member companies who develop, manufacture, distribute, or support the utilization of medical technology. These companies operate across every country in the hemisphere and serve as the overwhelming majority of enterprises operating in the sector.
At the 2018 Summit of the Americas and Americas Business Dialogue (ABD) in Lima, Peru, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce in collaboration with public and private sector leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) welcomed the Coalition as a model approach to strengthening ethical business practices. The Coalition is now in the process of expanding its membership to include additional medical device distributor associations as well as leading government and other health organizations. It has approved a detailed action plan to guide its activities through 2023.
ETHICS COALITION PRINCIPAL MEMBERS
