New Partnerships Added to World Federation of Hemophilia Twinning Program
Collegeville, Pennsylvania (ots/PRNewswire)
- Wyeth and Advocacy Community Mark Continued Commitment to Patient Care on World Hemophilia Day
In honor of the twentieth Anniversary of World Hemophilia Day, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), together with the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH), announce the addition of five new partnerships to the WFH Twinning Program. Begun in 1994, the Twinning Program aims to increase the level of diagnosis and care for people with hemophilia by pairing emerging treatment centers and patient organizations with more established centers and organizations around the world. Wyeth has been the sole corporate sponsor of the program since 2001, which now includes a total of 31 partnerships worldwide.
"Wyeth recognizes that effective collaboration between advocacy organizations and industry can help people with chronic illnesses such as hemophilia," says Angela Rossetti, Assistant Vice President, and Global Business Manager for Wyeth Hemophilia. "Our continued support of the Twinning Program -- now in its 16th year -- and other advocacy initiatives is part of a global collaborative effort designed to help patients with hemophilia and their families receive access to better care."
The new Twinning partnerships include the following Hemophilia Treatment Center Twins: Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Chapel Hill (North Carolina, USA); Dakar (Senegal) and Paris (France); Quito (Ecuador) and Caracas (Venezuela); Manipal (India) and Albuquerque, (New Mexico, USA); Skopje (Macedonia) and Bonn (Germany). For more information on the Twinning Program and to view a video of the Lima (Peru) and Fort Worth (Texas, USA) Twin in action, visit www.wfh.org.
"World Hemophilia Day is an opportunity for all of us in the bleeding disorders community to celebrate our achievements and raise awareness," said Mark Skinner, WFH president. "The theme of this year's World Hemophilia Day, 'Together, we care' embodies our spirit of collaboration to work together to improve care for people with bleeding disorders. We are grateful to Wyeth for its support of our programs, especially the Twinning Program, which play a key role in achieving our vision of Treatment for All."
THE HEMOPHILIA COMMUNITY AND WYETH: A HISTORY OF PARTNERSHIP
Support of Children's Camping Initiatives
For years, Wyeth has recognized the importance of the summer camp experience to children in the bleeding disorders community. Since 1998, Wyeth has been a major sponsor of Barretstown in Ireland -- an innovative recreational facility -- where children with serious illnesses, including children with hemophilia, can participate in a range of fun activities that also are designed to promote self-confidence, independence, trust and coping skills. In addition to its ongoing support, Wyeth works with Barretstown to help run special camps for children with hemophilia.
Wyeth is also the founding and exclusive sponsor of NACCHO (North American Camping Conference of Hemophilia Organizations). The annual NACCHO conference is dedicated to the sharing of best practices for bleeding disorder summer camps. Through NACCHO, children attending summer camp also have the opportunity to participate in Leading Edge: Exploring the Outer Limits, a nationally run adventure program that focuses on self-confidence development for youth and adolescents in the bleeding disorders community. Through its grants to NACCHO, Wyeth has supported 1,000 campers nationally, and 500 campers internationally.
Wyeth-Sponsored Support Programs
Education and access to care are critical to the health and well-being of patients with hemophilia. In addition to other initiatives that support the bleeding disorders community, Wyeth proudly awards scholarships to deserving students who have hemophilia. For the 2008-2009 academic year alone, Wyeth awarded up to US$100,000 to students with bleeding disorders seeking collegiate, graduate and vocational degrees. Wyeth also works to help patients with hemophilia maintain access to hemophilia therapy. Through its Factor Resource Program, Wyeth provides services designed to assist patients experiencing financial hardship or treatment access issues, including the Insurance-Coverage Program and the Patient Assistance Program. Individuals can get more information about these programs through the Wyeth Hemophilia Hotline (+1-888-999-2349).
Assisting Advocacy Organizations
Wyeth also provides assistance to numerous advocacy organizations and their initiatives, including:
- WFH's Global Alliance for Progress (GAP) program, a 10-year healthcare
development initiative to facilitate earlier and accurate diagnosis and
treatment of people with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders in
developing countries.
- National Hemophilia Foundation's Campaign for Our Future, a program
designed to provide access to care for all members of the bleeding
disorders community.
- Hemophilia Federation of America's Helping Hands program, which
provides emergency financial assistance for members of the bleeding
disorders community. Last year, Wyeth supported 122 families through
its grants to the Hemophilia Federation of America.
- Coalition for Hemophilia B, an organization that provides information
about treatment that will improve the quality of life of patients with
hemophilia B.
- International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, which fosters and
advances science relating to the important medical problems of
thrombosis and abnormalities of haemostasis and vascular biology.Wyeth and Hemophilia
Wyeth works to help improve the health of hemophilia patients through education, patient assistance programs and by supporting associations throughout the world. For more information on Wyeth and hemophilia, visit www.hemophiliavillage.com, a comprehensive site that serves as a resource for patients, parents, and caregivers in the hemophilia community.
About Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, has leading products in the areas of women's health care, infectious disease, gastrointestinal health, central nervous system, inflammation, transplantation, hemophilia, oncology, vaccines and nutritional products.
Wyeth is one of the world's largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products, nutritionals and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide. The Company's major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health.
The statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks related to our proposed merger with Pfizer, including satisfaction of the conditions of the proposed merger on the proposed timeframe or at all, contractual restrictions on the conduct of our business included in the merger agreement, and the potential for loss of key personnel, disruption in key business activities or any impact on our relationships with third parties as a result of the announcement of the proposed merger; the inherent uncertainty of the timing and success of, and expense associated with, research, development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our products and pipeline products; government cost-containment initiatives; restrictions on third-party payments for our products; substantial competition in our industry, including from branded and generic products; emerging data on our products and pipeline products; the importance of strong performance from our principal products and our anticipated new product introductions; the highly regulated nature of our business; product liability, intellectual property and other litigation risks and environmental liabilities; the outcome of government investigations; uncertainty regarding our intellectual property rights and those of others; difficulties associated with, and regulatory compliance with respect to, manufacturing of our products; risks associated with our strategic relationships; global economic conditions; interest and currency exchange rate fluctuations and volatility in the credit and financial markets; changes in generally accepted accounting principles; trade buying patterns; the impact of legislation and regulatory compliance; risks and uncertainties associated with global operations and sales; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K, particularly the discussion under the caption "Item 1A, Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2009. The forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified by these risk factors. We assume no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
Contact:
Media, Danielle Halstrom, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, +1-484-865-2020, or
Douglas Petkus, Wyeth, +1-973-660-5218, or Investors, Justin
Victoria, Wyeth, +1-973-660-5340