Sanofi US News

More than 70 sanofi-aventis Gulf state-based field employees and their families have been affected by Katrina, many of whom have been left with uninhabitable or unsafe residences and impacted work territories.  Sanofi-aventis quickly mobilized to provide these employees financial aid in the form of payroll advances, along with temporary housing assistance and the company is working to provide alternative work assignments for those field-based employees whose territories were severely affected by Katrina.  Furthermore, the company has established a Hurricane Hotline for employees who may have been affected in any way. 
 
Sanofi-aventis has been actively engaged in providing relief to the hurricane victims almost immediately after the devastating storms hit the Gulf Coast.  The company is working in close collaboration with a number of government and other external groups to ensure that relief efforts are supported not only with medicine but with other forms of support as well. 
 
To date, sanofi-aventis has donated more than $4 million worth of products, a number that will continue to grow.  Some of the relief efforts include:

• Within days of the catastrophe, the company had successfully delivered over 10,000 vials of our diabetes treatment to the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans.  Nearly 20,000 additional vials of Lantus have also been delivered recently to the disaster area through bulk and much needed individual shipments, and the company is continuing to receive and fulfill requests on a daily basis. 
• Working in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), sanofi  pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, has donated 200,000  doses of influenza vaccine.  In addition, tens of thousands of doses of tetanus  vaccine have been donated for use by victims and emergency responders as well  as a variety of pediatric vaccines that had been lost due to the severe flooding  conditions.
• We are continuing to deliver many of our essential medicines including sleep aids, antibiotics, heart medications and cancer treatments to those in need in the Gulf Coast area. 
• Sanofi-aventis Patient Assistance Program (PAP) 
  
  Sanofi-aventis has, and will continue to, work with physicians and patients in the affected areas who have an unmet need for our medicines.        

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• In addition, sanofi-aventis has pledged a $100,000 contribution to the Children’s  Health Fund’s “Operation Assist” to provide needed medical and health services  to the children of hurricane victims.  And our vaccine division has already  donated a supply of tetanus and influenza vaccines to the CHF.
• The company also has established a matching gift program to match employee contributions on a dollar-for-dollar basis up to $1,000.
• Sanofi-aventis is working closely with organizations like Wal-Mart and  Walgreens, which have the distribution networks and healthcare professionals  necessary to be sure our medicines are appropriately dispensed and distributed to  those in need, and we are working closely with our industry trade association, the  Pharmaceutical Research and manufacturers Association (PhRMA), to assess how  to maximize the power of all of the member pharmaceutical companies to provide  relief to this devastated area.   

The sanofi-aventis Group is the world’s third largest pharmaceutical company, ranking number one in Europe. Backed by a world-class R&D organization, sanofi-aventis is developing leading positions in seven major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, metabolic diseases, central nervous system, internal medicine, and vaccines. The sanofi-aventis Group is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY).
 
Sanofi-aventis Group subsidiaries in the United States include Sanofi-Synthelabo Inc., 
Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sanofi Pasteur Inc.