Walgreens Raises More Than $1.3 Million in 2012 Campaign to Support Type 1 Diabetes Research

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Nov 16, 2012, 02:42 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Walgreens, the nation's largest drugstore chain, and JDRF, the world's largest charitable funder of research toward curing, treating, and preventing type 1 diabetes (T1D) and its complications, today announced that Walgreens community-based programs helped raise more than $1.3 million in 2012 for JDRF. The year marked the 21^st anniversary of Walgreens' participation in JDRF's nationwide campaign to raise funds for research to put an end to the disease that affects as many as 3 million Americans.

During the month of July, as part of the Walgreens Way to Well Commitment™, customers at more than 7,500 Walgreens stores could make donations of $1 or more at checkout. This effort raised more than $1.3 million for JDRF.

"Walgreens is proud to support JDRF and we're thankful to our customers and employees who have helped raise more than $18 million toward type 1 diabetes efforts over the past 20 years," said John Gremer, director of community affairs for Walgreens. "Through the Walgreens Way to Well Commitment™, we aim to help improve people's everyday health through education and early detection of today's leading diseases -- cancer, diabetes, and heart disease."

"The support that Walgreens provides JDRF year after year is remarkable," said Jeffrey Brewer, president and CEO of JDRF. "For more than two decades, their commitment to JDRF's mission has helped fuel critical research toward preventing, better treating, and curing type 1 diabetes. We value our collaboration with Walgreens and look forward to the continued growth of type 1 diabetes research progress."

About T1D

In T1D, a person's pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. People with T1D need to test their blood sugar and give themselves insulin (with injections or an insulin pump) multiple times every day, and carefully balance insulin doses with eating and daily activities throughout the day and night. However, insulin is not a cure for diabetes, and even with that intensive care, a significant portion of the day is still spent with either high or low blood sugar, placing people with T1D at risk for devastating complications such as heart attack, stroke, blindness, and amputation.

About Walgreens

As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2012 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to become America's first choice for health and daily living. Each day, Walgreens provides more than 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 7,944 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.

About JDRF

JDRF is the leading global organization focused on type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. Driven by passionate, grassroots volunteers connected to children, adolescents, and adults with this disease, JDRF is the largest charitable supporter of T1D research. The goal of JDRF is to improve the lives of all people affected by T1D by accelerating progress on the most promising opportunities for curing, better treating, and preventing T1D. JDRF collaborates with a wide spectrum of partners who share this goal.

Since its founding in 1970, JDRF has awarded more than $1.6 billion to T1D research. More than 80 percent of JDRF's expenditures directly support research and research-related education. Past JDRF research efforts have helped to significantly improve the care of people with this disease, and have expanded the critical scientific understanding of T1D. JDRF will not rest until T1D is fully conquered. For more information, please visit www.jdrf.org.

SOURCE JDRF