CSL

As a company dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with rare and serious diseases, we believe that helping our patient communities and those who support them is part of being socially responsible.

• The life blood of our business
• Ensuring access to life-saving therapies
• Supporting young medical researchers
• Aiding disaster relief
• Involvement in our local communities

CSL has long supported the World Federation of Hemophilia, the Primary Immune Deficiency Foundation and the Alpha 1 Foundation, as well as their affiliated national foundations and local chapters. These organisations play a critical role in supporting people who live with rare diseases and use plasma-derived and recombinant therapies to manage their conditions.

CSL’s contributions help fund awareness, education, research, advocacy and outreach programs such as children’s camps, sports events and local fundraisers. This year in the US, CSL launched a new patient advocacy program which provides grants for grassroots advocacy initiatives and youth-focused advocacy training.

The life blood of our business

Blood donors are literally the life blood of our business. Without them, we couldn’t produce the therapies that help save and improve so many lives. Our plasma collection centres throughout the US are very much a part of their local communities. We work alongside donors to support neighbourhood initiatives, critical charity needs and civic events.

In Australia, the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS) collects blood and plasma from voluntary and non-remunerated donors. Plasma is sent to CSL Bioplasma’s fractionation facility in Melbourne where we manufacture life-saving plasma products on behalf of the Australian Government. CSL supports the work of the ARCBS, participating in its annual Youth Leadership Day, conducting plant tours and education sessions for ARCBS staff and volunteers, and hosting on site blood bank visits that enable our staff to donate during their working day. Around the world, we also contribute to Red Cross fundraising.

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Ensuring access to life-saving therapies

Helping financially disadvantaged patients and people in developing countries access our life-saving therapies is important to CSL. In the US, our Patient Assistance Program provides medically necessary therapies to patients who are uninsured, underinsured, or who cannot afford their prescribed therapy. CSL’s Assurance Program is designed to ensure that patients who rely on our therapies continue to receive treatment even if they experience a lapse in insurance.

In Australia, we are working to improve access to snake antivenom in developing countries. We also supported the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation to pilot a HPV vaccination program for schoolgirls in Nepal, and donated influenza vaccine to non-profit organisations who provide medical services for disadvantaged groups. In Germany, CSL donates coagulation therapies to the Chernobyl Children’s Project International.

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Supporting young medical researchers

At CSL, we also support programs that advance and encourage the professional development of promising young medical researchers. Ensuring continued innovation in health care is critically important to us all, particularly with the significant global health challenges ahead. The next generation of medical researchers will become key partners in improving treatments for the patient groups we serve.

This year, we awarded our eighth CSL Medical Research Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and continued our contribution to the memorial fellowship established in honour of the late Dr Jian Zhou, co-inventor of the technology used in GARDASIL*. In Europe, CSL launched a new awards scheme for young researchers in memory of Professor Dr. Norbert Heimburger, a pioneer of modern coagulation therapy and CSL employee for more than three decades.

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Aiding disaster relief

In times of disaster, affected populations can become more vulnerable to infections and health systems can be challenged to provide life-saving therapies. CSL has responded to many of these crises by donating plasma products and vaccines to countries in need through international medical aid agencies.

This year, CSL donated 10,000 doses of influenza vaccine to assist families affected by fires in California and kept tetanus immunoglobulin on standby following natural disasters in Myanmar and China. Many people in China’s Sichuan Province are living in tents because their houses were destroyed by the earthquake. 1,000 hand-held fans were supplied to the region by our office in China to offer people some protection from the extreme summer heat. CSL staff also came together in the US to support relief efforts following floods in the Midwest and Kankakee and tornados in Colorado.

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Involvement in our local communities

CSL continues to open its doors to local communities, patients and their families, industry and governments, visiting dignitaries, students and trainees. We support various apprenticeship schemes and participate in our local Chambers of Commerce. For the past two years, CSL was an active member of the Bern Euro 08 Association, helping to make Euro 08 a major celebration and unforgettable occasion for the City and region, as well as nearly a million visiting soccer fans.

CSL encourages the involvement of our employees in the community by supporting volunteering, facilitating workplace fundraising and matching staff donations at various sites. Throughout the US, our employees support their local communities through United Way, a major US charity. This year our staff in Kankakee received the Pinnacle Award for being the highest local contributor to United Way.

In addition to getting involved in events that support our patient groups, our employees raise funds for cancer research and volunteer for local charities that provide services for disadvantaged people. In Australia this year, our employees packed Christmas food hampers for families in need while in the US our staff helped to repair homes of low-income families as part of National Rebuilding Day.

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*Fucidin is a trademark of Leo Pharmaceutical Products Limited AS.