Sanofi expands its social commitments, creates nonprofit unit to provide poorest countries with access to essential medicines

PARIS, April 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In an open letter, Sanofi Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson today outlined several key projects that the company will implement to increase the impact of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. Embedded in Sanofi's long-term strategy, the company's commitment is based on four essential pillars in which Sanofi is uniquely positioned to make a difference: access to medicines, support for vulnerable communities, preservation of the environment, and inclusion and diversity of its employees.

"The pandemic has forced us to question nearly every aspect of our lives: how we live and work, and how we connect with our communities and the planet. Yet as challenging as 2020 was, it also brought us –Sanofi and the pharmaceutical industry– closer to our purpose than at any other time in living memory," said Hudson. "This unique context led us to elevate our ambition for our Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and embed it even more into our mission to transform lives and our vision for a better future."

Sanofi Global Health, pillar of access to essential medicines
A cornerstone of Sanofi's CSR strategy, Sanofi Global Health is a newly formed nonprofit unit within the company. Leveraging the company's diverse and large portfolio of medicines and global footprint, Sanofi Global Health is dedicated to increasing access to medicines considered essential by the World Health Organization (WHO) for patients in 40 lower income countries. Thirty of Sanofi's medicines will be provided across a wide range of therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, tuberculosis, malaria, and cancer. Sanofi Global Health will also fund the training of healthcare professionals or the set up and development of sustainable care systems for those who suffer from chronic diseases and require complex care.

Sanofi Global Health is the first global initiative to provide access to such a broad portfolio of medicines, in so many countries and across several therapeutic areas, while funding local support programs.

Additionally, Sanofi is committed to helping 1,000 patients living with rare diseases who have no access to treatments and will donate 100,000 vials of medicine for their treatments each year. This continues Sanofi's 30-year commitment to patients suffering from rare diseases, such as Fabry, Gaucher or Pompe diseases, for which access to treatment is often limited.

Leveraging R&D efforts to address crucial treatment gaps
Sanofi continues to support vulnerable communities and commits to developing innovative medicines for pediatric cancer, with the ultimate ambition of eliminating cancer deaths in children. In low- to middle-income countries, a child is four times more likely to die of pediatric cancers than children living in high-income countries.

Sanofi also continues its efforts to fight polio and sleeping sickness, two of its historical programs that address global health issues. In December 2020, Sanofi announced it had renewed its five-year partnership with WHO to fight neglected tropical diseases that affect approximately one billion people. In this context, Sanofi, the only pharmaceutical company that continues to develop and supply treatments for African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness, and has committed with the WHO to eliminate this neglected tropical disease in humans by 2030. For 40 years, Sanofi has supplied billions of polio vaccine doses, including hundreds of millions of donated doses to support the global polio eradication effort.

Zero plastic packaging for vaccines and ecodesign of products
For several years, Sanofi has been implementing a global environmental protection program, Planet Mobilization. Today, the company is amplifying its actions to further improve the environmental footprint of its products and activities.

To reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and contribute to better resource conservation, Sanofi plans to remove all pre-formed plastic packaging (blister packs) for its vaccines by 2027. The company is also committed to ecodesigning all its new products by 2025. In terms of energy management, all Sanofi sites will use 100% renewable electricity and the company has set a target of a carbon-neutral car fleet, both by 2030.

Pushing to build more diverse and inclusive workforce
As a global company, Sanofi is committed to ensuring that its leaders reflect the communities and patients it serves. The company is committed to building an organization where all employees have equal opportunities to reach positions of responsibility within the company. Sanofi will continue to build a workforce that is fully reflective of the communities employees live in and the patients the company serves. This element of the social impact strategy will be integrated into the career development of Sanofi leaders worldwide, ensuring a mindset that fosters diversity and inclusion throughout the company.

"Throughout this pandemic, public authorities, scientists, and industry have worked closely together to discover and produce vaccines at a pace that has defied historical precedent. We now have to apply this same sense of urgency to other pressing threats, such as climate change, and issues that the pandemic has sharply put into focus, including widening racial and healthcare inequalities. Let's always remember that crises do not just neatly follow one after the other, they stack up. At Sanofi, we know we can do more," said Hudson.

About Sanofi
Sanofi is dedicated to supporting people through their health challenges. We are a global biopharmaceutical company focused on human health. We prevent illness with vaccines, provide innovative treatments to fight pain and ease suffering. We stand by the few who suffer from rare diseases and the millions with long-term chronic conditions.

With more than 100,000 people in 100 countries, Sanofi is transforming scientific innovation into healthcare solutions around the globe.

Sanofi, Empowering Life

Source: Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN) (NASDAQ: SNY)

SOURCE Sanofi

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