AbbVie’s charitable contributions rank first among multinational pharmaceutical companies in Korea

[Newsmp] After reducing their donations in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korean subsidiaries of multinational pharmaceutical companies expanded their discretionary spending last year.

Newsmp has compiled audit reports for 36 companies' financial statements from September to December, showing that the total donation expenditure amounted to KRW 16.3 billion, an increase of approximately KRW 2.8 billion from 2022.

Out of 31 companies that reported their donation expenditures, 21 companies increased their donation spending, while 10 companies decreased it.

AbbVie Korea's donation spending increased dramatically from KRW 240 million in 2021 to KRW 3.67 billion last year. Moreover, AbbVie Korea had the highest donation expenditure last year.

Novartis, which had the highest donations in 2021, increased its contributions by approximately KRW 300 million to expand them to KRW 3.15 billion last year. Along with AbbVie, the two companies exceeded KRW 3 billion in donations.

AstraZeneca also slightly expanded its donation spending, reaching KRW 2.56 billion and following behind AbbVie and Novartis.

Roche also grew its donation spending by nearly KRW 500 million to approach KRW 2 billion at KRW 1.95 billion, while Kyowa Kirin reduced its donation spending but still kept in the billion range at KRW 1.05 billion.

Janssen donated KRW 600 million, while Pfizer exceeded KRW 500 million by KRW 540 million. Otsuka followed with KRW 360 million, and Amgen with KRW 320 million, and the donation expenditure of Gilead and Sanofi was also close to KRW 300 million.

Moreover, BMS donated over KRW 270 million and Galderma over KRW 220 million, both exceeding KRW 200 million in charitable contributions. Celgene, GSK, GSK Consumer Healthcare Korea, and Bayer also spent over KRW 100 million in donations.