Dong-A Pharmaceutical Takes First Step with Social Value Committee

Leading Eco-Friendly Product Development and Environmental Protection... Holding Companies Accelerate Sustainable Management

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] Dong-A Pharmaceutical has launched a Social Value Committee this year to prepare for future uncertainties and establish a virtuous cycle structure of corporate management and social value creation aimed at sustainable management. Ho-jin Choi, President of Dong-A Pharmaceutical, is directly serving as the chairman of the committee to establish sustainable management strategies, and each committee member is engaged in creating social value for governance, stakeholders, and consumers.

◆From Plastic Bags to Paper Bags... Developing Eco-Friendly Products= In particular, Dong-A Pharmaceutical is focusing on developing eco-friendly products and environmental protection. Since 1991, Dong-A Pharmaceutical has supplied plastic bags for Bacchus promotion to pharmacies for 29 years, but from July this year, they switched to eco-friendly paper bags. A Dong-A Pharmaceutical official said, "Providing paper bags to patients helps pharmacists recognize their participation in environmentally friendly protection activities, which is welcomed by pharmacies." Approximately 5.5 million Bacchus plastic bags are supplied to pharmacies nationwide each month. Although the production cost of paper bags is about three times higher than that of existing plastic bags, Dong-A Pharmaceutical has willingly accepted the cost burden to create social value.

The recently launched children's health functional food 'MiniMax Jungle' has obtained green technology certification through eco-friendly packaging production. The MiniMax Jungle container is made of recycled pulp, making it easy to separate and recycle, and the band surrounding the container is made of non-wood paper produced from sugarcane generated during the sugar production process.

◆Dong-A Socio Holdings Issues First Sustainable Management Report= Along with Dong-A Pharmaceutical, the group's holding company Dong-A Socio Holdings is also participating in social value creation. Dong-A Socio Holdings published the group's integrated sustainable management report, "Gamasot," for the first time in April. Dong-A Socio Holdings created the sustainable management report to transparently disclose financial and non-financial performance and efforts to fulfill social responsibilities, and to communicate with stakeholders.

In 2018, Dong-A Socio Holdings established a dedicated department, the Integrity Management Team, to spread and settle the culture of integrity management within the group and held an Integrity Management Declaration Ceremony. Since 2019, they have accelerated the practice of sustainable management based on ISO26000, the international standard for corporate social responsibility, and to establish governance for reviewing and making decisions on related matters, they launched the Social Responsibility Council in March this year, composed of CEOs from each company in the Dong-A Socio Group. A Dong-A Pharmaceutical official said, "In today's world where change has become routine, we will faithfully uphold the founding spirit of integrity, sincerity, and consideration, and promote sustainable management that considers not only human health but also the health of the planet."