4P Framework: Philanthropy

We are particularly excited by a new Crucell CSR program initiated by our Corporate Communications team in 2009: Footprint. This CSR outreach program offers Crucell employees an opportunity to contribute in a very direct and practical way to development activities in disadvantaged communities. Groups of Crucell volunteers will participate in projects set up in cooperation with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and institutions active in the local community. This will ensure that the help given is the help that is really needed. We expect the experience to be equally rewarding for the Crucell employees who take part.

“ Crucell has developed a very promising tuberculosis vaccine candidate which we hope will play a major role in combating the TB epidemic currently afflicting much of the developing world.”
Associate Professor Willem Hanekom, Co-Director SATVI

After talks with a number of organizations, Crucell has chosen to work with two that are tackling major health challenges in our area of expertise: infectious diseases. One is the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI), which conducts clinical trials of the tuberculosis vaccine Crucell is co-developing with the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation. The other is Friendship, an NGO that is doing wonderful work to improve access to essential healthcare, such as immunization, in isolated and under-served communities in the Northern part of Bangladesh.

Crucell employees have responded enthusiastically to this special CSR initiative, and the first outreach team was selected from a large number of applicants. The seven participants—drawn from different Crucell sites and departments worldwide—went to South Africa in February 2010. They helped out with a local SATVI community project in Worcester, near Cape Town, and observed child immunization programs in action.

“ We as a TB vaccine trial site are honored to host an outstanding internationally respected collaborator such as Crucell.”
Dr Hassan Mahomed, Co-Director SATVI

Enrique Rioperez, Crucell’s Director Finance and Administration in Spain, was one member of the first outreach team. His reaction to that experience sums up the value of this program for Crucell’s employees, as well as the communities themselves. “Taking part in Crucell’s outreach program ‘Footprint’ gave me the opportunity to be in touch with the real mission of our organization, the real reason for our existence, the core of our business. It was a great and exciting chance to expand my horizons by learning new things, meeting new people and other cultures. An experience I will never forget!”

Friendship is a value-based national organization dedicated to improving the lives of people living in the remote riverbank and Char areas of northern Bangladesh. The Chars (nomadic islands) are isolated from the mainland in terms of physical distance, access to healthcare, and other basic resources. Outbreaks of infectious diseases are very common, due to high population density, a continuous influx of new infectious agents, and low levels of immunization coverage. Rates of morbidity and mortality due to vaccine-preventable diseases are high, especially among children.

Friendship is endeavoring to help the government improve vaccination coverage in the region by providing support with logistics and infrastructure. Crucell has joined Friendship in this effort, pledging ongoing support for the development of a river-based health service delivery system with floating hospitals, satellite clinics and community medics. Crucell will not only provide financial support for developing this infrastructure and vaccine storage capacity, but also technical expertise and practical help in the field. For example, Crucell employees will provide training in cold chain and vaccine management. “This direct involvement is a very important part of Crucell’s commitment, and perhaps the most exciting from the company’s point of view,” says Oya Yavuz, Crucell’s VP Corporate Communications and Investor Relations.

Runa Khan, Executive Director Friendship:

Bangladesh is a ‘land of a thousand rivers’. Scattered on these rivers are the ‘nomadic islands’ or Chars. These lands are migratory, shifting and reappearing across rivers that are often 30 km in width. These islands are home to over eight million people, who live below any documented poverty line. Every year the rivers overflow their banks, bringing 80% of the country under water. For those marooned on the Chars of the rivers Brahmaputra and the Ganges, survival becomes the goal. It becomes impossible for them to access the mainland even for food and relief. None have access to healthcare, for themselves or their children.

Here, thousands of children are not receiving the vaccine protection prescribed by the national Expanded Program for Immunization (EPI). Time is running out for meeting the Bangladesh government’s Millennium Development Goal target of making EPI services reach 100% of the population by 2015.

Friendship, with the help of Crucell, has made a commitment to ensure that every child on these islands gets the fulfillment of their basic rights to have access to the EPI services. The Crucell–Friendship EPI support program will assist the government of Bangladesh to provide awareness of the importance of the immunization program to each and every household on these islands, and to carry the services to the population, dependably throughout the year.

The Crucell–Friendship program will develop a river-based infrastructure, using safe boats for regular service delivery, which will be operated jointly with the government health workers. A team of 300 Friendship community medics will be deployed to mobilize the children in the various islands, to increase the acceptance and awareness of inoculations amongst them, and to identify any drop-outs or non-procedural cases. This public-private partnership program will be the first step towards meeting the vision to reduce the mortality and morbidity of vaccine-preventable diseases for children of the Chars—and to help them face their futures with health, strength and courage.

Crucell reaches out to communities in need in cooperation with both non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governments. A good example of the latter comes from our Korean organization. In September 2009, Crucell Korea supplied 14,000 free doses of Inflexal^® V, our virosomal influenza vaccine, for use in the national ‘Dream Start’ program. Dream Start is a government program targeting low-income families. It focuses on preventive healthcare and welfare services in order to break the vicious cycle of poverty from one generation to the next. Children from six months to 12 years received the influenza vaccine at their local Dream Start centre.

“ We reach out to communities in need.”

The successful vaccination program triggered the idea of finding other ways to help children attending the Dream Start centers, and involving Crucell employees in these activities. Many of these children live in urban squats and lack access to even basic amenities like hot water, so they do not bathe often. They tend to be rejected by classmates as a result. When Crucell employees heard this, the idea for a fun ‘bath day’ was born. A group of 20 employees organized a trip to the public baths combined with games, presents and a barbeque. The day was so enjoyable—for children and adults —that the Crucell bath day has become a regular event.

In addition to the donation of Inflexal^® V in Korea, Crucell donated 690,000 doses of MoRu-Viraten^® vaccine against measles and rubella to Unicef to assist earthquake victims in Haiti. The donation was made as part of the emergency aid campaign organized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), of which Crucell is a member. Crucell also offered 879,000 doses of Hepavax-Gene^® to the disaster relief campaign. The offer was under consideration when this report went to press.

Raising awareness

The launch of Footprint is part of a coordinated effort to raise awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in our organization. Throughout 2009 this ambition was manifest in many ways. For example, our Christmas present for employees (see image below) was a responsible choice: a leather-bound notebook designed and made exclusively for Crucell by local craftspeople in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We ran a global photo competition linking the theme of CSR to The Crucell Ambition—and discovered how active some of our employees are in local volunteer work. Our employees in Leiden gave generously to fundraisers for good causes, including the Red Cross fight against malaria and children’s projects supported by the Stichting Kinderpostzegels. Crucell management doubled their contribution.

Crucell’s work with Friendship is an example of a targeted local initiative to solve problems of access to essential healthcare. Crucell also works on this issue at the global, international and national level, through close and continuous engagement with a wide range of government and non-governmental organizations. Examples of our involvement in 2009 are as follows.

• Crucell was the vaccine industry representative on the formal advisory Program & Policy Committee of the GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership with the mission to improve access to vaccines in the world’s poorest countries. In 2009, this advisory committee focused on issues such as support eligibility and continuity, strengthening health systems and building capacity, the sustainability of established programs, and the conditions on which GAVI should accept vaccine donations.
• Crucell contributed, as a member of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) Biologicals & Vaccines Committee, to discussions with the World Health Organization (WHO) on general vaccination policies.
• Crucell served on the advisory group for Project Optimize, a WHO/PATH collaboration aimed at developing innovative delivery systems to ensure that vaccines get to the right place, at the right time, in the right condition. Crucell’s representative on the advisory group presented the issues of vaccines and cold chain management to a broad audience at the GAVI Partners’ Forum in Vietnam. Crucell’s participation in this advisory group is ongoing.
• Crucell is a member of the European Vaccine Manufacturers (EVM), part of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, which is committed to working in partnership with EU institutions to support vaccine policy development and promote vaccine innovation. Crucell representatives serve on the EVM board and task forces. In 2009 this group focused on developing the concept of life-course vaccination (vaccine policies for all ages, a highly relevant issue because of aging populations), pandemic influenza and market access in Europe.
• Crucell has been instrumental in bringing together the worldwide stakeholders in the field of typhoid fever with an ultimate goal of creating a Coalition against Typhoid (CaT) that will have its leadership in the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, DC.

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In 2009 Crucell participated in 37 global scientific conferences and events.

Crucell contributes to the advancement of science and healthcare by sharing knowledge and expertise. In 2009 Crucell participated in 37 global scientific conferences and events, and many more informal meetings and media presentations. As in previous years, Crucell organized symposia during 2009, to facilitate information exchange among key opinion leaders and public health officials. A total of 29 scientific papers by Crucell researchers were published in peer-review journals in 2009.

As the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus emerged, Crucell was part of the expert community examining the evolving situation, in terms of viral transmission and pathology, and helping to guide appropriate action. One way in which we did so was through our regular meetings with SAGE (Strategic Advisory Group of Experts), the principal advisory group to the World Health Organization (WHO) for development of policies related to vaccines and immunization.

Crucell also assisted non-governmental organizations (NGOs) doing early research into the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus strain. For example, we supplied serum samples from seasonal flu vaccination campaigns in past years to assist research by the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) in the UK, one of four WHO reference centers. The NIBSC wanted to determine whether antibodies generated by vaccines against previous seasonal influenza strains provide cross-protection against the pandemic virus. The finding that there is some degree of cross-protection in older populations has helped to guide thinking about who should be vaccinated against the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus.

As mentioned in section 2 of this CSR chapter (Transparency: Developing our approach to CSR) Crucell has taken significant steps to define and develop its commitment to sustainability issues. Crucell’s listing on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2009 is one objective measure of this. Continuing this development is one of Crucell’s CSR ambitions for the years ahead.