As a company dedicated to the health and well-being of people around the globe, we recognize our responsibility to do as much as possible to help people in need due to the Coronavirus outbreak. We are proactively and creatively supporting our employees during this unprecedented time and moving quickly to develop
TAK-888, a plasma-based therapy that shows promise in treating COVID-19. Yet, we know there is so much more that needs to be done. The negative impact of this outbreak on our economy, healthcare system, families, and communities can’t be overstated, which is why Takeda is donating more than $6.25 million dollars to organizations in the United States to help those impacted by the Coronavirus and to help enable organizations to continue helping the communities they serve.
The American Red Cross will receive $4 million from Takeda to help ensure the organization can deliver support and services nationwide and maintain a sufficient supply of blood to help patients in need due to this public health emergency. Funding will be across the US, including states where Takeda has a key presence. Takeda will match employee donations to the American Red Cross dollar for dollar, up to a collective total of $500,000. In Massachusetts, where Takeda is the largest biopharmaceutical employer in the Commonwealth and has campuses in Cambridge and Lexington, the City of Cambridge Mayor’s Relief Fund will receive $2 million and the Town of Lexington’s Emergency Assistance Fund will receive $250,000 to provide aid to families in need due to the impact of COVID-19.
We are grateful to the Red Cross, the City of Cambridge, and the Town of Lexington for giving us the opportunity to partner with them on this important work.
While financial donations are critical, we are also looking internally to find ways in which we can offer “in-kind” support of much-needed supplies and equipment. To this end, we are working with MassBio’s Life Sciences Emergency Supply Hub Coalition and other industry partners across the US to identify ways we can contribute.
We realize we are dealing with a situation that most of us have never experienced before, while also managing the needs of our own families. The situation demands new ways of working and thinking from all of us. But given the tremendous response we’ve seen already, we are confident in our collective ability to address this outbreak and learn from it to better respond to these types of situations in the future. We look forward to working with our partners in industry, academia, government, and within our communities to bring better health and a brighter future to people worldwide during these uncertain times.
