- Novartis Healthcare Philippines is taking concrete steps to help ensure sustained supply of essential life-saving medicines to patients and support the country's COVID-19 response led by the Department of Health (DOH).
- Novartis support focuses on protecting frontline health workers and supporting the expansion of treatment and testing capacity.
Makati City, May 1, 2020 – As the Philippines deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, Novartis Healthcare Philippines is taking concrete steps to help ensure sustained supply of essential life-saving medicines to patients and support the country's COVID-19 response led by the Department of Health (DOH).
“Our main thrust is to protect our frontline health workers and support the expansion of the country’s treatment and testing capacity,” said Jugo Tsumura, President & Managing Director, Novartis Healthcare Philippines.
To support the DOH COVID-19 response in the National Capital Region, Novartis Healthcare Philippines and Sandoz Philippines donated 8,800 pairs of gloves shared equally among Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine General Hospital and Philippine Heart Center. The Swiss-based company is donating PHP500,000 worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) to PHAPCares Foundation for the benefit of frontline health workers in key COVID-19 referral hospitals. Novartis also donated food packs to quarantined frontline healthcare workers of government hospitals, private hospitals and medical societies for five days.
Novartis and its generics and biosimilars division Sandoz are donating a substantial volume of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to the DOH for hospitalized COVID-19 patients based on guidelines issued by the Philippine Society of Microbiology and Infectious Disease (PSMID).
Novartis has started the Ruxolitinib compassionate use program for COVID-19 patients in the Philippines. Pre-clinical and preliminary clinical evidence suggests Ruxolitinib , a well-established Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, could reduce the number of COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care and mechanical ventilation. On April 2, 2020 Novartis Global announced its plan to initiate a clinical study of Ruxolitinib in severe COVID-19 patients in multiple countries primarily in North America and Europe.
The Novartis initiatives in the Philippines are part of the company’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the creation of a global USD 20 million fund to support impacted communities around the world.
About Novartis
Novartis is reimagining medicine to improve and extend people’s lives. As a leading global medicines company, we use innovative science and digital technologies to create transformative treatments in areas of great medical need. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the world’s top companies investing in research and development. Novartis products reach more than 750 million people globally and we are finding innovative ways to expand access to our latest treatments. About 105,000 people of more than 140 nationalities work at Novartis around the world. Find out more at www.novartis.com.
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