Sanofi does its part to combat coronavirus

Ti Gong

Pius S. Hornstein, PhD, Head of China, General Medicines and China Country Lead, Sanofi, has been dedicated to working with teams to fight the epidemic since mid-January and has been actively arranging work for operations to be restored promptly and safely.

Since the Chinese New Year's Eve, Hornstein and his team have been working with local and global business groups and partners to ensure personnel safety and smooth production and supply.

The French healthcare giant has been paying close attention to ensuring there is no discontinuation in the production and distribution of its medicines and vaccines in China.

"Day by day, the new cases have been stabilizing step by step and I'm confident that in the next couple of weeks, we will be able to come back to a manageable new normal," he said.

Before returning to Shanghai after the Chinese New Year, Hornstein has been in charge of the China crisis committee and the business-critical teams.

Upon his returning to China, he has been dedicated to internal and external efforts and has stayed in close contact with the crisis committee to get regular updates and pilot the actions taken.

"Our first and main priority has been to provide efficient support and care to protect the health of our employees," he said.

Sanofi's China crisis committee and business-critical teams are working day and night to support employees, especially in Hubei Province, in manufacturing sites and to ensure support and protection of office-based colleagues and field staff.

"We're guaranteeing the safety and health of our employees by implementing measures in accordance with the science-driven guidance of health authorities."

Its local and global procurement teams are working diligently to source the necessary masks and to do all they can to provide and distribute more masks to colleagues.

To ensure production and supply of medicines and vaccines for the Chinese people, Sanofi's three manufacturing sites (two pharma sites based in Beijing and Hangzhou, one vaccine site based in Shenzhen) resumed production successively right after the Chinese New Year holiday on February 3.

As a responsible corporate citizen, Sanofi also took prompt actions and announced the donation of 1 million yuan (US$140,000) to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation on Lunar New Year's Eve.

The donation will be used to purchase relevant equipment and supplies for the epidemic area, including goggles, protective suits, masks, gloves and disinfection equipment.

Additionally, Sanofi Pasteur China announced the donation of a batch of virus testing devices worth 500,000 yuan to the Hubei Provincial Center for Diseases Control and Prevention.

Sanofi Pasteur will leverage previous development work for a SARS vaccine which may unlock a fast path forward for developing a COVID-19 vaccine. Sanofi will collaborate with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. It plans to further investigate an advanced pre-clinical SARS vaccine candidate that could protect against COVID-19.

In terms of treatment for chronic disease patients, Sanofi's Internet Hospital team works closely with Internet hospitals to provide online professional healthcare interactions and direct medicine delivery to home.

Meanwhile, the company's retail pharmacy team is striving to serve chronic disease patients better. With the help of a digital store map with coverage of all of its products and over 70,000 pharmacies, patients can easily find a drugstore nearby. It also partnered with drugstores to provide medication delivery service.

In early February, Hornstein updated China employees on the action and plans during an online meeting and also called on Sanofi staff to continue to support customers through digital means. This crisis boosted the digital models and applications that are widespread in China, and also validated that Sanofi has made a right decision on the acceleration of its digital healthcare transformation.

Hornstein also expressed confidence regarding the future.

"While we need to recognize that we always can do more, we’re proud of our contributions to public health and are committed to leveraging our unique expertise in healthcare to continue to help China, and the rest of the world," he said. "We want employees to stay confident that with the solidarity of the medical community, the measures taken by the government during the last weeks and days, and the contributions made by healthcare companies like ours, we will overcome the epidemic in the near future and be able to operate in a sustainable way."

Ti Gong