Is Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Halal?
Table of Contents
How much of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s revenue comes from haram?
Bristol-Myers Squibb discovers, develops, and markets biopharmaceutical products worldwide.
Bristol-Myers earns its revenue from the following segments:
- Net Product Sales:
Includes biopharmaceutical products in hematology, oncology, cardiovascular, and immunology therapeutic classes
- Alliance and Other Revenues:
Includes collaboration revenue, out-licensing arrangements, and royalties for products not sold by Bristol-Myers
The contributions from each of Bristol-Myers’s revenue segments in their 2020 annual report were as follows:
Practical Islamic Finance concludes:
None of Bristol-Myers’ revenue comes from anything inherently haram.
Does Bristol-Myers Squibb rely on interest to operate?
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What is Bristol-Myers Squibb Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) impact?
Environment
According to Bristol Myers’ 2020 ESG report, the company has photovoltaic installations at five of its sites in the U.S., Switzerland, and China, providing a combined annual electricity output of 3,632,000 kWh, equivalent to taking 560 vehicles off the road for one year.
Social
Bristol-Myers has an impressive Glassdoor rating of 4.0 out of 5 from 3,000 current and previous employees compared to a 3.3 average for all other Glassdoor rated companies.
Governance
In 2019, a federal judge in Maryland said Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johns Hopkins University, and the Rockefeller Foundation must face a $1 billion lawsuit from Guatemala for “roles in a 1940s U.S. government experiment that infected hundreds of Guatemalans with syphilis.”
According to Reuters, the experiment aimed to test the then-new drug penicillin and stop the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases.
According to the complaint, four executives from Bristol-Myers predecessors, Bristol Laboratories, and the Squibb Institute were involved in the experiment.
However, given the study was conducted nearly 80 years ago, Practical Islamic Finance feels safe to assume these executives are no longer involved with Bristol-Myers.
In light of this situation, given Bristol-Myers’ fundamentally beneficial lines of products, we are willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt so long as systemic causes for unethical behavior aren’t identified in the company,
Practical Islamic Finance concludes:
Bristol-Myers has a net positive ESG impact.
Comfort Rating
From Bristol-Myers Squibb’s business, financial, and ESG reviews, Practical Islamic Finance rates Bristol-Myers Squibb stock as:
Comfortable to invest in from a halal perspective.
Sources
2020 Environmental, Social and Governance Report
Johns Hopkins, Bristol-Myers must face $1 billion syphilis infections suit