Month: April 2023

When I came to Gilead in 2019, I did so in part because of the revolutionary way this company thinks about bringing therapies to those who could benefit. Health equity and access are more than goals or ambitions – they’re woven into the fabric of who we are and what we do. Gilead has a long legacy of making medicines available around the world, working toward the goal of ensuring cost isn’t a barrier to access.

Across our therapeutic areas, we’re working diligently to help remove barriers to access, especially in areas that are most acutely impacted by the diseases on which we focus. In our efforts in HIV in the United States, for example, we work closely with patient advocacy groups, providers and healthcare systems to support education, outreach and access initiatives in the communities that would most benefit from prevention or treatment.

Outside the United States, Gilead has partnered with governments and communities to reduce the disproportionate burden of multiple diseases in dozens of countries. We’ve signed non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements in HIV and viral hepatitis, as well as in COVID-19, which we offered royalty-free. Last year we were proud to reach the milestone of making more than 30 million treatments available around the world, primarily in low- and low-middle-income countries. This includes 8 million people who have been treated with our antiviral therapy for COVID-19 to date. In addition, our Global Patient Solutions business unit serves approximately 96 resource-limited countries in Africa, India and Southeast and Central Asia, which account for roughly 4 billion people, of whom more than 30 million are living with HIV.

Effectively expanding access to new medicines across our therapeutic areas is an important, but complicated endeavor, and one that requires political commitments to public health, strong healthcare infrastructure, well-trained health workforces, investment in screening and linkage to care and empowered patient communities. We’ll continue working with partners around the world to make progress in these areas. Time is of the essence, especially as we prepare for potential new HIV prevention options in development in our journey to help end the epidemic for everyone, everywhere.

We must rethink our access strategies across every disease area, and to illustrate why that’s important, HIV again provides an interesting example. There remains a large unmet need for HIV prevention options. Only about one in four people in the United States who could benefit from pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are using it, and those numbers are even lower in Europe. As we pursue and potentially launch other options, we continue to face many headwinds, including limited access to affordable healthcare, low awareness of prevention medicine among healthcare providers and potential users, stigma, discrimination and other structural inequities. That is an imposing list, but the opportunities are even more inspiring. We’ll need to work closely with governments, medical organizations, community groups, policymakers, people who could benefit from PrEP and other stakeholders to come up with solutions and ensure that the therapies are accessible to all who need them.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I’m inspired and energized by the future. And I’m proud to work for an organization that not only strives to deliver innovative medicines but that takes a holistic approach to breaking down barriers to access.

Johanna Mercier is Chief Commercial Officer at Gilead.

Originally published by Gilead Sciences

Whirlpool Corporation announced that it has been named one of Newsweek’s Most Trustworthy Companies in 2023. To create the list, Newsweek partnered with Statista, a leading provider of market and consumer data, to evaluate companies’ business practices and relationships with key stakeholders. The recognition reinforces Whirlpool Corporation’s commitment to always do right by its employees, customers, investors, communities, and the planet.

“At Whirlpool Corporation, we believe there is no right way to do the wrong thing and have built our business through core values such as integrity and respect, “ said Ava Harter, global chief legal officer for Whirlpool Corporation. “We are honored that Newsweek has recognized our commitment to these enduring values and I want to thank our employees worldwide for putting our culture of integrity into action and earning the trust of our consumers each and every day.”

We are honored that Newsweek has recognized our commitment to these enduring values and I want to thank our employees worldwide for putting our culture of integrity into action and earning the trust of our consumers each and every day.”

As part of its ongoing commitment to integrity, Whirlpool Corporation maintains a robust Global Ethics and Compliance program that is focused on enhancing and sustaining the corporate culture and empowering employees to make ethical decisions. As part of these efforts, Whirlpool Corporation launched its Integrity Manual in 2019, which outlines the company’s values and helps translate these values into everyday actions. The manual also provides employees with tools and resources to act with integrity within a risk-based framework.

In addition to its Global Ethics and Compliance program, Whirlpool Corporation continues to build trust with its consumers by providing high-quality products, industry-leading customer service, groundbreaking innovation, and an unwavering responsibility to the communities in which it operates.

America’s Most Trustworthy Companies in 2023 were identified based on a sample of approximately 25,000 U.S. residents who rated companies on three main public pillars of trust: customer trust, investor trust, and employee trust. A total of 95,000 evaluations were submitted and the top 700 Most Trustworthy Companies across 23 industries have been chosen based on a holistic approach to evaluating trust.

Click here to see the full list of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies.

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Originally published by Waste Today

Juno, a recycling technology pioneered by Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific (GP), has been recognized by three entities for innovation and sustainability and the impact it is having on recycling and landfill diversion.

GP developed the technology to recycle highly contaminated recovered fiber and mixed materials, piloting it at its plant in Savannah, Georgia, starting in 2013. It installed the technology at its Toledo, Oregon, material recovery facility (NRF), which opened in the spring of 2021.

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Where do we stand in the fight against climate change? What is the role of food and agriculture in the climate conversation? How should we look at the results of the recent 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt and what needs to happen leading up to COP28?

In a new episode of “Headlines of the Future”, the former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, Ertharin Cousin, and Bayer’s Head of Public Affairs, Science and Sustainability, Matthias Berninger, explore these questions. Join them inside the conference rooms of COP27 for on the ground conversations with high-level climate experts from WWF, the World Resources Institute, Nature Conservancy and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Headlines of the Future

Ertharin Cousin is a member of the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG and an internationally renowned expert in the area of nutrition and agriculture. She served as executive director of the UN World Food Programme in Rome from 2012 until 2017 and is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a think tank dedicated to topics such as global food security and nutrition, urbanization, energy and water supply. Cousin also serves as a Visiting Scholar in the Stanford University Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Center for Food Security and Matthias Berninger is Global Head of Public Affairs, Science & Sustainability at Bayer. In his role, he has strengthened Bayer’s global public affairs practice and leads the development of a coherent global sustainability strategy that has been be published in December 2019. Matthias has seen many sides of the food and agriculture space over the course of his career: in the public sector, he was a vice minister in Germany’s Green Party; and in the private sector, he previously worked on health and nutrition strategy at Mars.

“Compared to previous years, the most glaring difference was the fact that agriculture and food security were even on the agenda of COP27.”
Ertharin Cousin, Supervisory Board of Bayer AG

“If we create a food system that reduces carbon emissions, that removes carbon out of the atmosphere, and if we make this food system resilient, we actually have not a problem, but an engine to solve the climate problem.”
Matthias Berninger, Global Head of Public Affairs, Science & Sustainability

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HAMILTON, Bermuda, April 19, 2023 /3BL Media/ – This Earth Day (April 22), family-owned Bacardi is unveiling a ‘greener makeover’ at its global headquarters in Bermuda to further cut its carbon footprint and to create a working environment that promotes even greater wellbeing for its employees.

The world’s largest privately-held international spirits company has recently installed new solar paneling on the office roof which will generate more than one third of the site’s energy requirements, while a new state-of-the-art chiller system will cut the building’s total energy usage by more than 40 percent annually. Together, these improvements will cut the building’s CO2 emissions by more than 70% every year.

Also on the roof, four large tanks capture rainwater used for the lawn and fire sprinklers; the beautiful fountains at the front of the building; and after careful filtration to clean the water, for the office bathrooms and kitchens.

Investing in these environmental upgrades will create spaces that promote even greater wellbeing at work too. The new chiller system improves indoor air quality, while newly installed LED lighting improves the quality of light, at the same time as creating further reductions in energy use. To encourage more outdoor time, additional seating and community spaces for hosting events and activities will be added outside.

“Doing the right thing by both people and planet is a top priority for us,” said Douglas Mello, Managing Director of Bacardi in Bermuda. “From planting trees, to helping reduce plastic pollution, to launching our Shake Your Future bartender training program – we take every opportunity to make a positive difference to the environment and communities in our home of Bermuda.”

Just last year, Bacardi partnered with the Beyond Plastic Bermuda campaign, a collaboration between Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) and Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB), to educate the local community about the dangers of plastic pollution and encourage actions to reduce single-use plastic on the Island.

The focus on plastic and recycling extends to the company’s global headquarters, where all single-use plastic has been removed, and replaced with reusable cups, plates, and utensils.

“With our goal to be the most responsible global spirits company, we are constantly exploring opportunities to have a positive impact across our offices and production sites,” says Rodolfo Nervi, VP, Global Safety, Quality and Sustainability for Bacardi. “Taking these steps to invest in our planet, and to be more environmentally friendly at our global headquarters in Bermuda in celebration of Earth Day, is another fantastic example of that commitment in action as we continue this important journey.”

The team in Bermuda achieved Great Place to Work® certification last year, with 97% of employees saying they feel good about the many ways the company contributes to local communities.

Just this year, Bacardi launched its ‘Shake Your Future’ program in Bermuda as part of the program’s global expansion, helping unemployed people in Bermuda gain skills and training to secure jobs in the hospitality industry as bartenders. The company also celebrated its 161stanniversary in February by planting cedar trees in Bermuda’s Riddell’s Bay Gardens and Nature Reserve to help protect the biodiversity of the island.

Through its extensive Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) program, named Good Spirited, Bacardi has set itself ambitious targets. Find out more about the sustainability commitments of Bacardi and its vision to become the most environmentally responsible global spirits company at https://www.bacardilimited.com

-ENDS-

About Bacardi Limited

Bacardi Limited, the largest privately-held international spirits company in the world, produces and markets internationally recognized spirits and wines. The Bacardi Limited brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including BACARDÍ® rum, GREY GOOSE® vodka, PATRÓN® tequila, DEWAR’S® Blended Scotch whisky, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, MARTINI® vermouth and sparkling wines, CAZADORES® 100% blue agave tequila, and other leading and emerging brands including WILLIAM LAWSON’S® Scotch whisky, ST-GERMAIN® elderflower liqueur, and ERISTOFF® vodka. Founded more than 161 years ago in Santiago de Cuba, family-owned Bacardi Limited currently employs approximately 9,000, operates production facilities in 10 countries, and sells its brands in more than 160 markets. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited. Visit http://www.bacardilimited.com or follow us on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Media enquiries:

Phillippa Williams, Communications Director, Global Supply Chain for Bacardi, pholmes@bacardi.com

Always drink responsibly.