ESG at scPharmaceuticals
At scPharmaceuticals, we’re actively transforming inpatient hospital treatment to outpatient solutions closer to home through our innovative therapeutic solutions. As we pursue solutions that advance patient care and reduce costs connected with how heart failure patients receive treatment, our commitment extends to integrating key Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices into our business strategy and planning. We strive to enhance ESG transparency and continue to identify ESG issues that may impact our corporate strategy, risks, opportunities, and performance. The current areas of focus that we view as critical to our future success include patient access to medicines, product safety, human capital management, ethics and compliance, and environmental impact.
Key Focus Areas
Learn about our strategic ESG focus areas:
Patient Access and Safety
scPharmaceuticals’ products are designed to increase patient access and affordability. By disrupting the cycle of hospitalization and readmissions related to chronic heart failure management, we enable and enhance opportunities for outpatient management with economic benefits for patients and the healthcare system. To facilitate access, we offer a patient assistance program with copay support and free product for financially eligible patients. We also maintain a robust corporate compliance program to ensure adherence to applicable regulations that ensure responsible promotion of our therapeutic solutions. Patient safety is a key priority and is reflected in programs that monitor clinical trials and the post market setting. Within our clinical trials, we strive for a diverse representation of participating patients.
People
Our culture is informed by a dynamic and highly engaged team that is goal and performance focused. Our A.C.T.I.V.E. Company values are integrated into our culture and inform performance evaluations. We take pride in being recognized by the Boston Business Journal’s Best Places to Work three years in a row (2020, 2021 and 2022) and view this as a bellwether of our culture. We thoughtfully expanded our capabilities and team to support strategic growth following the launch of our inaugural product with a diverse and inclusive workforce and a robust culture of ethics and compliance. We are committed to continuing to attract, develop, and retain key personnel, maintaining our strong company culture, and fostering diversity and inclusion throughout the organization and our Board of Directors.
Compensation and Benefits
Continuing to attract highly skilled talent is essential to maintaining our position as a leader in delivering innovative products that advance patient care and reduce health care costs. We provide our employees with a comprehensive compensation program designed to reward and recognize success, commitment, and resilience. As part of this program, all employees are granted equity and have an ownership interest in our Company to increase engagement and enhance employee attraction and retention. We also offer all employees a comprehensive and robust health and welfare benefits package that prioritizes well-being. This package is evaluated and tailored annually to reflect employee priorities.
Key Benefits Include:
- Robust health and welfare benefits
- Annual performance bonus
- Long-term equity incentive grants
- Employee stock purchase program
- 401(k) Safe Harbor retirement plan with Company matching to encourage and assist retirement goals
- Paid Time Off (PTO) plan to cultivate and maintain a healthy work-life balance
- Employee programs focused on professional development and leadership training
- Tuition reimbursement to promote employee growth and career development
- Hybrid work environment
We’re committed to fair and equitable pay for all employees, across genders and underrepresented groups. Our Board of Directors and senior leadership team strongly support this commitment.
Please check out our Careers page for additional information.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
We view diversity, equity, and inclusion as fundamental to our success and future innovation. We intentionally make efforts to include diverse points of view, perspectives, experiences, backgrounds, and ideas in our decision-making and hiring processes and practices. We continue to assess a diverse range of candidates for new positions as we expand our organization.
The composition of our board of directors as of Q3 2023 includes three individuals who are “diverse” under The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) listing rule regarding board diversity, with 33% of our board identifying as female and 11% of our board identifying as members of underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. As of Q3 2023, 49% of our staff identifies as female and 26% of employees identify as members of underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.
Board of Directors
33%
GENDER DIVERSITY
Female
Male
11%
ETHNIC DIVERSITY
Underrepresented
Racial/Ethnic Groups
White
Employees
49%
GENDER DIVERSITY
Female
Male
26%
ETHNIC DIVERSITY
Underrepresented
Racial/Ethnic Groups
White
Ethics and Compliance
We have an unwavering commitment to honest and ethical business conduct. Our policies are based on industry-standard principles designed to ensure adherence to the highest standards of corporate conduct, with oversight from our Board of Directors and senior management. The Company requires annual training on our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which outlines our commitment to ethical business practices and applies to all employees, officers and directors. As part of our commitment to patients, we maintain a compliance program in accordance with federal, state, and industry regulations and guidelines. We have dedicated significant time and resources to designing, implementing, and refining our program which is supported by a comprehensive framework of compliance controls throughout our operations. Our compliance program represents our commitment to the highest standards of corporate conduct.
Key elements of our Comprehensive Compliance Program include, but are not limited to:
- Oversight by our Chief Compliance Officer
- Dedicated and anonymous lines of communication to report non-compliance with protocols to promptly respond to issues
- Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that serves as a guide for decision-making to navigate situations that are complex or unclear. It is designed to drive meaningful conversations around ethics and most importantly, to help associates do what is right
- Policies and procedures that address specific areas of government concern
- Multi-faceted training and education programs
- Risk-based monitoring and auditing activities
- Implementation of appropriate corrective measures when necessary
For additional information on our ethics, compliance and corporate governance practices, please see our 2023 proxy statement and our Governance Highlights page.
Environmental
We are cognizant of our impact on the environment and the need to take measures to reduce our environmental footprint and support employee health. We recently announced our intention to expand the FUROSCIX® franchise to include an auto-injector which we expect would confer environmental benefits, such as streamlining manufacturing processes and reducing product materials, if successfully developed and approved. Environmentally friendly aspects of our leased building facilities include:
- Energy efficient lighting and heating systems
- Recycling where possible
- Air filtration
- Hybrid work environment for home office employees and smaller corporate office footprint that facilitates collaboration