CSR and Sustainability in the News

Bristol-Myers Squibb awarded two new Together on Diabetes grants in India support programs in Jodhpur and Mumbai. Humana People to People will receive US $355,991 over two years to reduce diabetes-related morbidity and mortality and prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes among those at increased risk for the disease through timely intervention and home-based diabetes care. United Way Mumbai Helpline will receive $205,362 over two years to use community-based lifestyle interventions for the prevention, early detection and management of type 2 diabetes among working adults and municipal and public school workers in Mumbai. Together on Diabetes is a five-year, $115-million initiative launched in November 2010 by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to improve health outcomes of people living with type 2 diabetes in China, India and the United States by strengthening patient self-management education, community-based supportive services and broad-based community mobilization.

Eli Lilly gave a gift of $12.4 million to the United Way, the the largest gift in the company's history. The donation represents the contributions of Lilly's US employees and retirees, plus a matching gift from the Lilly Foundation. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the Lilly Foundation also donate $200,000 to the American Red Cross in support of relief efforts in affected areas of the United States. Additionally, the foundation is contributing a $1 match for every dollar donated by Lilly employees to the American Red Cross or Salvation Army.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) ranked top of the Index for Access to Medicines, which measures the performance of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies on their efforts to improve access to medicines and healthcare in developing countries. GSK scored the highest in four categories, including general access to medicine management, R&D activity, capability advancement, and drug donation and philanthropy. The Index , the first of which was published in 2008, followed by a second in 2010, provides an overall ranking of 20 pharmaceutical companies who are measured across a range of strategic and technical areas. It also analyzes industry trends in commitments, transparency, performance and innovation. GSK is also contributing $80,000 through the British Red Cross for relief efforts in the wider Caribbean region, specifically Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, where Hurricane Sandy initially made landfall. GSK is also matching dollar-for-dollar all employee contributions to the Red Cross and other relief organizations in the US. The company is currently working through the process for an additional donation to support relief efforts in New Jersey.

Merck & Co. through Merck for Mothers , a 10-year, $500-million initiative to reduce maternal mortality, has launched “Once Upon a Birth,” a campaign designed to raise awareness of maternal mortality in the United States.

In partnership with the Pfizer Foundation , Grantmakers In Aging (GIA), a national association of funders, today launched Community AGEnda: Improving America for All Age and announced five grants of $150,000 each to local groups in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, and the greater Kansas City area to accelerate their efforts to become “age-friendly.”

Sanofi through its Sanofi Foundation for North America is contributing $500,000 in cash, for disaster relief efforts to help assist the victims of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. The funds will be distributed to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and the Children’s Health Fund for both immediate and long-term needs. A special Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief program sponsored by the Sanofi Foundation for North America will match dollar-for-dollar all donations between $25 and $2500 made by US employees directly to the American Red Cross. Sanofi US will continue its year-round matching gifts program through AmeriGives, which will match donations to 501(c)(3) organizations that meet program criteria.

Roche Diagnostics and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) announced a public-private partnership to improve the capacity of laboratorians and strengthen laboratory systems in African nations highly impacted by HIV/AIDS. Valued at $12 million over five years, the goal of the partnership is to build institutional capacity of regional and national partners by developing certification programs for laboratory technicians, strengthening pre-service curricula, and institutionalizing quality improvement in diagnostics services.