Recipharm’s reputation is built on using our expertise and capabilities to support pharmaceutical companies in taking their products from early development through to commercial manufacturing. Of course, it is our desire to bring life-saving medicines to patients that ultimately drives us. Therefore, it is of no surprise that we have been actively engaged with helping local communities across the markets in which we operate, in the fight against COVID-19. We are proud to report that our teams have been providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to healthcare providers in need and we have included some examples below.
Our manufacturing facility in Holmes Chapel, UK, specialises in the manufacturing of inhalation products and the team produces metered dose inhalers (MDIs), dry powder inhalers (DPIs) and nasal sprays. To show their support for their local community of Cheshire East Council, the team donated 2,000 face masks to all the key frontline health workers fighting COVID-19. As well as donating PPE, they are also going to be collating non-perishable foods for those who are self-isolating or shielding in their local area.
Another one of our UK based facilities, based in Ashton, specialise in manufacturing and packaging tablets and capsules. The Recipharm team here has donated several PPE equipment to their local NHS and hospices, including masks, gloves, suits and 100 bottles of hand-made hand sanitiser.
The team in Wasserburg, Germany is one of our sterile manufacturing facilities. This site is a place of excellence for lyophilisation in vials with highly automated, state of the art equipment. In the past few weeks, the team has provided PPE to the local community and important health-workers, as well as producing and donating disinfectant. They have also provided hand sanitizers, surface disinfectants and protective equipment for various district offices and medical clinics across Wasserburg.
Three of our Recipharm facilities located in France have come together to show their support to their individual communities, in the fight against COVID-19. Our Recipharm team in Fontaine has supplied surgical masks, normally used during tablet and capsule manufacturing, to Dijon University Hospital, as well as other members of the hospital profession and the fire service. Another one of our sterile manufacturing facilities based in Monts has delivered 10,000 surgical masks and additional disposable PPE such as Tyvek suits, head and shoe covers, gloves and aprons. Finally, the Recipharm team in Kaysersberg, which specialises in blow-fill-seal (BFS) technology for sterile liquids, has donated 6,000 face masks to their local hospital when they were in urgent need at the start of the COVID-19 crisis. They also donated over 400 pieces of PPE to various local medical houses in Orbey, Ammerschwihr and Turckheim. They have helped the nurse associations at local hospitals, which assist patients who are at home but need care, the elderly and several supermarkets. The local pharmacy also sent alcohol to the team to produce their own disinfectant.
Our Recipharm colleagues based in Brescia, Italy, who specialise in manufacturing parenterals in the form of sterile dry powder penicillin and cephalosporin, have participated in a fundraising activity for the local hospitals. This has involved each member of staff donating the equivalent of an hour’s wages. As a further action in support of the country's needs during the COVID-19 emergency, the team has also decided to donate to the Italian Civil Protection.
Finally, our Recipharm team in Bengaluru, India, where much of our development and analytical work takes place, is supporting daily wage earners local people in and around the neighbouring villages. Thanks to the Recipharm team, around 200 families have been provided with rice, wheat, lentils, oil, salt, spices and soap to support them for fifteen days. Unfortunately, some of these citizens have no access to cooking facilities, so our employees, along with our canteen staff, have provided them with cooked meals. In addition to this already fantastic support, the senior employees have donated a part of their salary to provide some of the supplies to those who need it most.
We are beyond proud of all our regional and international Recipharm teams who are pulling together and supporting their local communities, frontline health workers, healthcare facilities and hospices at this testing time. It is vital that we all do what we can to fight COVID-19 and we will be continuing to support in the effort to save lives across the globe.