Chiesi Belgium’s contribution to help tackling the COVID-19 pandemic
Chiesi Belgium, the Belgian affiliate of Chiesi Group S.A. announced a range of new initiatives to support patients and healthcare providers in response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. The measures include support for general practitioners’ associations in Flanders and Wallonia as well as assistance for hospitals and residential care home all over Belgium. Moreover, Chiesi Belgium employees can donate time to empower initiatives in the local communities. The Chiesi Group Emergency Management Teams at corporate level and in all affiliates continue to closely monitor all developments of the COVID-19 pandemic as they have since the emergency been declared. They have put in place several contingency measures to ensure the continuous supply of our medicines in all the countries where they are distributed as well as measures to support health and well-being of employees, patients and partners
Production and supply of medicines
Chiesi’s products are produced mainly in the headquarters in Parma (Italy), in Blois (France) and in Santana de Parnaíba (Brazil). The Chiesi Group confirmed that production of all company medicines would continue without interruption and that the production lines in Parma, France and Brazil are continuing to operate. A team of experts are dedicated to continued monitoring of our supply chains and business continuity plans and contingencies are in place in order to protect the supply of medicines in all the countries where Chiesi's products are distributed.
Hence, as of today, work is continuing and we are able to deliver medicines under normal production and distribution channels from all of our production plants in Italy, Brazil and France, and our global operations in research and development continue to advance.
Contributions of Chiesi Belgium to tackle the pandemic
As a Benefit Corporation, Chiesi is committed to having a positive impact on society and act as a force for good. In Belgium, Chiesi has developed a strong connection to the local general practitioners, specialist, hospital and other healthcare practitioners. To support them in their extraordinary fight against COVID-19 Chiesi set up different initiatives. These initiatives have one ultimate purpose, help the patients and healthcare professionals get through this crisis.
The Société Scientifique de Médecine Générale (SSMG - ASBL) and Domus Medica (VZW) are the scientific associations of general practitioners (GPs) in the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking parts of Belgium. Their purpose is, among-others, to give up-to-date scientific information to general practitioners. In the current pandemic both associations created special COVID-19-dedicated websites for their members and other interested HCP’s. These pages have been of great help to all healthcare professionals. However, these separate websites are a big investment for the associations. Therefore, Chiesi wants to support Domus Medica and SSMG in continuing offering this support to GP’s and securing the vital flow of information:
https://www.domusmedica.be/actueel/coronavirus-covid-19
https://www.ssmg.be/avada_portfolio/coronavirus-covid-19-que-faire-en-tant-que-mg/
In the face of the current COVID-19 health crisis, the King Baudouin Foundation has created the Fund for Supportive Care, to which donations from businesses and private individuals can be made. The funds collected are distributed to hospital and residential care home initiatives throughout the country. The working group within Pharma.be representing all pharmaceutical SME’s active in Belgium (the SME-G10group) has collected donations for the fund. Chiesi Belgium answered to this call with a considerable donation.
70 % of the funds collected by the King Baudoin Foundation will be made available to hospitals and 30 % will go to other residential care establishments (for the elderly, youth welfare, people with a disability etc.). With this initiative Chiesi wants to support the daily struggle of all hospitals and residential care establishments in Belgium.
https://www.kbs-frb.be/en/Newsroom/Press-releases/2020/20200327AJSolCare
The COVID-19pandemic forced everybody to rethink the usual way of working. Home-working and digital communication have become the ‘new normal’. For Chiesi Belgium, the safety and health of our employees comes first. We do everything we can to make them all work safely at home and avoid travel as much as possible.
Chiesi Belgium encourages its employees to use this time to help local communities in the fight against corona. Communities across Belgium are setting up initiatives to support the elderly, fragile, poor and others. Employees can donate - within the framework of the current governmental Covid-19 recommendations - time and efforts to empower local communities in their solidarity efforts.
“We are very pleased that we have been able to ensure the continued production and supply of our drugs to the hospitals, doctors, and patients who rely on our medicines. As a pharmaceutical company, we are also leveraging our expertise andresources for healthcare professionals and the community. We continue to work with all our partners and local, national or regional bodies in Belgium to ensure we can support them to the best of our ability in line we our BCorp philosophy to act as a force for good. Tous Ensemble, Allemaal Samen, Alle Zusammen!”
Geert Van Hoof, Managing Director Chiesi Belgium.
In addition to the actions that Chiesi Group and its global affiliates have taken thus far to support patients, institutions and healthcare professionals during the pandemic, Chiesi has announced a new €3 million fund to support efforts to address this crisis in Italy, where the headquarters are located. This fund will support a range of actions including donations of personal protective equipment, ventilators and sanitizing gel in response to requests from hospitals and other health institutions.
About Chiesi Group
Based in Parma, Italy, Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A. is an international research-focused healthcare group with 85 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and a global presence in 29 countries. Chiesi researches, develops, and markets innovative drugs in the respiratory therapeutics, specialist medicine, and rare disease areas. Its R&D organization is headquartered in Parma (Italy), and is integrated with R&D groups in France, the USA, the UK, and Sweden to advance Chiesi's pre-clinical, clinical, and registration programs. Chiesi employs nearly 6,000 people. Chiesi Group is a certified Benefit corporation. For more information, please visit www.chiesi.com
