Humanitarian Programs

Genzyme's commitment to increasing access to health care extends beyond our areas of medical focus and commercial interest. We are working with partners to improve global health by advancing treatments for neglected diseases. Genzyme also helps patients affected by disasters around the world by donating products, supporting the rebuilding of health-care infrastructure, and matching employee donations to relief organizations.

Humanitarian Assistance for Neglected Diseases

Beyond our commercial interests, Genzyme is developing an approach to helping improve global health. Neglected diseases such as malaria are enormous public health problems in many areas, killing more than one million people each year, mostly children.

Industry has a unique contribution to make by applying drug discovery and pharmaceutical development capabilities to create new solutions – filling a gap that currently has little funding and activity. In partnership with others, Genzyme seeks to be a catalyst in advancing the development of novel therapies for neglected diseases, but does not seek to profit from the commercialization of these therapies.

Genzyme's Humanitarian Assistance for Neglected Disease (HAND) is designed to be a long-term initiative and an extension of our other humanitarian programs. To begin this initiative, Genzyme is partnering with academic and non-profit organizations on focused research collaborations. Genzyme and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) are working together to advance a treatment for African sleeping sickness. Genzyme and the Broad Institute are collaborating on the discovery of new therapeutic candidates for malaria.

If a successful new drug is developed through these research collaborations, Genzyme will grant the rights and intellectual property for use to non-profit organizations with no commercial interest for Genzyme related to neglected diseases.

Responding to Disasters

Tsunami, Southeast Asia

Following the Tsunami that devastated areas of Southeast Asia at the end of 2004, Genzyme formed a new collaboration with Project HOPE to support rebuilding efforts. We made a $1 million contribution over three years to support programs that will create a sustainable health-care infrastructure and improve education for health professionals in tsunami-affected areas of Thailand and Indonesia.

The first project is a one-year program designed to improve the national level of pediatric critical care nursing skills in Thailand. In collaboration with the Chiang Mai University Faculty of Nursing, 55 nurses from hospitals serving the tsunami-affected areas are being trained with a standardized curriculum, resulting in certification. To ensure sustainability, the trained nurses will then train peer nurses at their hospitals, which will raise the level of pediatric critical care nursing across Thailand.

In addition, a three-year commitment has been made to re-equip and provide health professional training in order to re-establish quality medical service at Zainoel Abidin University Hospital in Bande Aceh, Indonesia, which lost 50 percent of its staff and most of its equipment, furniture and supplies in the tsunami.

Hurricane Katrina

In partnership with the American Kidney Fund, Genzyme donated 2,248 units of Renagel, our treatment for end-stage kidney disease, to patients affected by the hurricane.

Genzyme also provided a 100 percent match to employee donations to three designated charities: the American Kidney Fund, the American Red Cross, and America's Second Harvest. More than 500 employees donated $91,266, bringing the total contribution to more than $180,000.

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