Evaluation of UCB’s Social Business Model

Project Overview

Boston University is supporting UCB’s 5M Reach program to refine its Theory of Change (ToC), develop program metrics and generate key learnings from the Mumbai pilot.

UCB’s 5M Reach program aims to improve access to the right diagnosis and treatment for people with epilepsy (PwE) in LMICs using an innovative social business model. UCB will pilot the 5M Reach program in Mumbai, India, in 2022.

A ToC is meant to clearly articulate the logic of a program and lay out the pathways through which the program intends to achieve a positive impact. A ToC serves as a management tool to internally align a program’s team around shared objectives. It also serves as an important communication tool to tell a program’s story in a language that external stakeholders can understand.

The Mumbai pilot is intended to serve as a testing ground for UCB’s innovative social business model. Proper analysis of the input, output and outcome/impact metrics generated during the pilot will be analyzed to generate key learnings that can then inform the further refinement of the program ToC before the program is scaled-up to additional settings.

This project will provide UCB with social analytic tools, which facilitate public reporting on company access programs. Social Analytics are a set of tools and methods for understanding and measuring social aspects of private industry-led programs. They facilitate innovation processes by providing timely information on key aspects of program performance.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SGD 17, recognize the specific responsibility of the private sector in contributing to global social aims. The pharmaceutical industry has a special role to play in contributing to the SDGs because their products have a direct impact on the health and well-being of populations. Part of this responsibility involves documenting their contributions in a methodologically sound and transparent manner.

 

Key activities

  • Refine the 5M Reach Program ToC
    1. Conduct systematic literature review
    2. Conduct root cause problem analysis
    3. Revise program logic model
  • Develop Program Metrics
    1. Generate an initial list of suggested metrics
    2. Refine the list to a set that can feasibly be collected in the Mumbai pilot
  • Generate key learnings from the Mumbai pilot
    1. Analyze metrics data collected in the Mumbai pilot
    2. Summarize key learnings from the Mumbai pilot
    3. Suggest refinements to the 5M Reach program design and ToC
    4. Advise on next steps for scale-up and impact evaluation
  • Disseminate key learnings within UCB and to external audiences
    1. Disseminate key learnings within UCB
    2. Disseminate key learnings to external audiences

 

Funding

Funding for this project is supported by the King Baudouin Foundation.

 

Related Resources

This project is part of broader effort by Boston University faculty to improve measurement and reporting for pharmaceutical industry-led access programs. This effort includes:

  • The Access Observatory (accessobservatory.org), a public reporting platform for industry-led access programs.
  • A review of strategies and evidence on the impact of industry-led access programs, published in Health Affairs (link)
  • A commentary on the unique opportunity currently available for industry, academia, and global health stakeholders to come together to strengthen institutions for measuring industry-led access programs (link)